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Till Death Us Do Part

Cut to shreds for political correctness on Granada Plus (February 2004)

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:-(
A former member
What the hell is the point in showing a situation comedy, made for it's time, on late and night, when they take out literally minutes of it, totally screwing up the whole episode?

Incidentally, the bits they cut out involved Spike Milligan dressed up as an Indian and also a rant about Jews in a taxi, but the point is, why bother showing the programme such as this if they are going to seriously dilute it?

If they showed Fawlty Towers - The Gerrmans, would the timid Guardian readers in charge at G Plus remove the funny walk near the end?

Or would they also cut out all the Zulu scenes in, um, Zulu?

Considering also that we have a stream of porn from Sky One Mix at the same time, I suppose seeing Spike Milligan as an Indian is thought to be more offensive then the soft core humping on Sky One.....
NW
nwtv2003
bloodmakesnoise posted:
Incidentally, the bits they cut out involved Spike Milligan dressed up as an Indian and also a rant about Jews in a taxi, but the point is, why bother showing the programme such as this if they are going to seriously dilute it?


I thought that was the very bad and racist Curry and Chips transmitted in 1969 by LWT and ITV.

For some reason people like Alf Garnett, like you I can't stand it myself, it is out of touch, though it might have been funny in 1970 it isn't in 2004 as times have changed. For some reason I watched Mind Your Language the other week, though that wasn't racist or anything like that but it has a certain bad taste to it and I didn't find it that funny.

They have also shown The Comedians on Plus and that for the same reason has come under fire. Though these shows are very Un-PC they still show them as some people like them, I don't.

Its p*ssing me off big time that they are showing Roy Chubby Brown on Men and Motors, as he isn't funny either and it is wasting time where porn would be. Sad

EDIT: They have to fit TDDUP into 30 mins with a break, usually consiting of 3 mins, so they have to cut stuff out of it. Like they do with Canned Carrott when it has been shown on Plus, the bits they cut out can be decent.

Though for some reason I noticed they edit Bullseye! I don't know if it is because of time, an out of date news event or something to do with ITV.
:-(
A former member
nwtv2003 posted:
For some reason people like Alf Garnett, like you I can't stand it myself, it is out of touch, though it might have been funny in 1970 it isn't in 2004 as times have changed. For some reason I watched Mind Your Language the other week, though that wasn't racist or anything like that but it has a certain bad taste to it and I didn't find it that funny.


A lot of it is still funny in the historical context of it all and it has been widely praised for standards of acting and writing back in the 60s/70s as of now. (In deed that bastion of PCness the Radio Times guide to TV Comedy absolutely raves about it.)
GS
Gavin Scott Founding member
nwtv2003 posted:
For some reason people like Alf Garnett, like you I can't stand it myself, it is out of touch, though it might have been funny in 1970 it isn't in 2004 as times have changed.

The Alf Garnett character was deliberately grotesque as a joke at the expense of the type of bigot he portrayed. Warren Mitchell has spent years trying to explain that to the public. He's a very gentle, liberal and intelligent man.

Its surprising that even now some people misunderstood what the show was about.

It wasn't my cup of tea, but that was because there was too much shouting and I was just wee.
:-(
A former member
Gavin Scott posted:
nwtv2003 posted:
For some reason people like Alf Garnett, like you I can't stand it myself, it is out of touch, though it might have been funny in 1970 it isn't in 2004 as times have changed.

The Alf Garnett character was deliberately grotesque as a joke at the expense of the type of bigot he portrayed. Warren Mitchell has spent years trying to explain that to the public. He's a very gentle, liberal and intelligent man.

Its surprising that even now some people misunderstood what the show was about.

It wasn't my cup of tea, but that was because there was too much shouting and I was just wee.


I loved the shouting, even when watching the repeats and the later series in the late 70s. A lot of that was so true to life - I have relatives that could be dead ringers for Garnett, and say the same illogical stuff as him - and it wasnt just the race issues - Garnett was ignorant about everything and everyone, that was the whole point.
RE
Re-it-er-ate
Even so - I think its a wonderful comedy - some parts are unsuitable today, but to me that only makes it more enjoyable. They should not cut sections out though, butchering parts of the sitcom due to risk of "offence" - its already been broadcast before, and many episodes and clips repeated.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/images/400/tilldeathusdopart_2.jpg

And its still a lot better than most of the sitcom drivel that the BBC produce today - name the Two Pints of Lager and A Packet Of Crisps etc....
:-(
A former member
Re-it-er-ate posted:
Even so - I think its a wonderful comedy - some parts are unsuitable today, but to me that only makes it more enjoyable. They should not cut sections out though, butchering parts of the sitcom due to risk of "offence" - its already been broadcast before, and many episodes and clips repeated.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/images/400/tilldeathusdopart_2.jpg

And its still a lot better than most of the sitcom drivel that the BBC produce today - name the Two Pints of Lager and A Packet Of Crisps etc....


I agree. Again, 'PC' comedy dressed up as being 'cool and with it' (and Game On did this whole sort of thing a great deal better.)

The BBC have also so rigged the Best Sit Com top ten - I mean, Vicar of Dibley? You have simply got to be joking when you have programmes such as Father Ted, Steptoe and Till Death seriously outside the ones chosen. But again, Dibley is 'PC' and fits in with the Guardian clan.

Back to topic - I would seriously recommend the Till Death Us Do Part DVD release that has come out recently - all uncut too!
:-(
A former member
Quote:
The Alf Garnett character was deliberately grotesque as a joke at the expense of the type of bigot he portrayed. Warren Mitchell has spent years trying to explain that to the public. He's a very gentle, liberal and intelligent man.

Its surprising that even now some people misunderstood what the show was about.


Very true. The great irony of the character was that the bigots loved him, and the PC brigade hated him. Johnny Speight dedicated his life to railing against racism and bigotry.

Incidentally, Plus's cuts are more to do with getting the programmes trimmed to 24 minutes rather than the original 29.
JE
Jez Founding member
Ive noticed Plus sometimes edit Coronation Street too, I had the original episode of the Rovers Fire on video, and when Plus showed it back in 2000 they edited out a couple of scenes.
:-(
A former member
jason posted:
Quote:
The Alf Garnett character was deliberately grotesque as a joke at the expense of the type of bigot he portrayed. Warren Mitchell has spent years trying to explain that to the public. He's a very gentle, liberal and intelligent man.

Its surprising that even now some people misunderstood what the show was about.


Very true. The great irony of the character was that the bigots loved him, and the PC brigade hated him. Johnny Speight dedicated his life to railing against racism and bigotry.

Incidentally, Plus's cuts are more to do with getting the programmes trimmed to 24 minutes rather than the original 29.


I'm very surprised that the 'Liberals' on here havent pounced on this thread and accused us (ie those involved in intelligent discussion) of being racist.
RE
Re-it-er-ate
bloodmakesnoise posted:
Re-it-er-ate posted:
Even so - I think its a wonderful comedy - some parts are unsuitable today, but to me that only makes it more enjoyable. They should not cut sections out though, butchering parts of the sitcom due to risk of "offence" - its already been broadcast before, and many episodes and clips repeated.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/images/400/tilldeathusdopart_2.jpg

And its still a lot better than most of the sitcom drivel that the BBC produce today - name the Two Pints of Lager and A Packet Of Crisps etc....


I agree. Again, 'PC' comedy dressed up as being 'cool and with it' (and Game On did this whole sort of thing a great deal better.)

The BBC have also so rigged the Best Sit Com top ten - I mean, Vicar of Dibley? You have simply got to be joking when you have programmes such as Father Ted, Steptoe and Till Death seriously outside the ones chosen. But again, Dibley is 'PC' and fits in with the Guardian clan.

Back to topic - I would seriously recommend the Till Death Us Do Part DVD release that has come out recently - all uncut too!


Yes I think thats true - with some of the comedies on the list it is surprising how the Vicar of Dibley came up so high - with the un-politically correct ones pushed down the list - such as the splendind It Ain't Half Hot Mum.
CW
cwathen Founding member
Quote:
Yes I think thats true - with some of the comedies on the list it is surprising how the Vicar of Dibley came up so high - with the un-politically correct ones pushed down the list - such as the splendind It Ain't Half Hot Mum.

Indeed, I think the beeb have more or less confirmed that IAHHM will never see the light of day again on BBC Television itself, it's just been relegated to a life on UK Gold. But, they will happily repeat Dad's Army and 'Allo 'Allo ad nauseum even though they mock the Germans and the French - is that because these comments are about white people and thus don't constitute racism in the wonderful PC world where racism exclusively means white people making comments about black people?

Quote:
Though for some reason I noticed they edit Bullseye! I don't know if it is because of time, an out of date news event or something to do with ITV.

Incidentally, are they showing a wider selection of Bullseye now? It ran from 1981 to the mid-90's, but every episode I've seen on Granada Plus over the last 5 years or so has been from the 1989, 1990 and 1991 series. Do they have any more?

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