I suppose the debate below brought this question on...

[Loosehead]

Do you think shows like "Till death us do part" and "Love thy neighbour" in the 70's where the start of the fight against racism? ie Alf Garnett was tended to be shown as a foolish bigot and the targets of his prejuduces regularly where the catalysts of his undoings. Similarly in Love they neighbour, Eddie Booth was always the fall guy? Do you think the program makers saw this a a way of attacking the bigots by making them look the idiots. I believe that Warren Mitchel is on record as saying that he believed it was. I think the most racist sitcom of the era though was "Mind your language" where just about every non British nationality was ridiculed with caracatures, any thoughts? Please, I don't want to extend the Bernard Manning debate!

[sp1814]

jackthehat

I think part of the reason why 'Mind Your Language' is so derided now (over and above 'Til Death Us Do Part etc) is...well...it wasn't really very good.

I don't mean it wasn't funny per se - I mean that it was extremely one dimensional. All the comedies that have stood the test of time deal with complex human relationships and frailties (Hancock, Steptoe and Son, Fawlty Towers), whereas MYL, from my recollection, just seemed to be a string of cliches, one after the other.

One question though - were any of the students black? I remember a sexy French girl, a stern German woman, a randy Italian man, a Pakistani and an Indian, but no Africans.

Is it just my memory failing me???

[Reverandfunk]

SP just as an aside Reg Varney was in his mid 50's when he was in On the Buses lol so god knows how old his Mum was.

[gina32]

i watched and have been watching the re runs of goodness gracious me and they slag off the white people all the time in the sketches and nothings said, whats the difference? i must say though i find it qiute funny, maybe more people ought to look beyond pc and just have a good laugh, goodness knows we dont get much to laugh at these days!

[sp1814]

gina32

I only know of the 'going for an English' sketch which (apparently) is supposed to reflect the experiences of India restauranteurs dealing drunken English lads after closing time.

I thought it was pretty clever and spot on for accuracy.

However, I didn't see that as slagging off white people...were there others???

[Loosehead]

I love the "going for an English" sketch. I don't see it as slagging off anyone in particular. I think it seeks cleverly, I think, to parody how a bunch of drunks behave in a curry house after load of booze. It's a bit like the "Your my best mate you are!" sort of exchange when alcohol has replaced all reason. I see myself in there sometimes, you know when you try and explain what you want to someone who allready knows because they've served it a thousand times. "Can we have some B r e a d ---- R o l l s" priceless! I think it also is mocking the condescending attitute some people take in Indaian resturants but I would say it was mockingwhite people. I mean where I work we go out for a curry with indian guys that work here all the time.

[joko]

yes but we all think the world was idyllic - when we were kids!!
unless you are nearly 80, you were a child in the 50s.
how on earth would you have known what society was like?

the only reason racism was not so much of an issue in the 50s is because there were few people of any other colour here.

there were women though, what about the way they were treated...? hardly all lovely and fair and nice...

anyone here 80?

[Pippa68]

No Africans in 'Mind Your Language', sp..obviously because Africans were already fluent in the English language ;o)

I was about 7 or 8 when that show was on..and I loved it. I saw a clip not so long ago and realised it wasn't actually that funny. I don't think this was because of the racial sterotypes ~ after all, we have lived with the stereotypical attitudes to all kinds of race for years and it seems that the Teacher in MYL was always the one who looked a fool, too!

I also enjoyed 'Till Death Us Do Part. Mainly because I loved the idea of Alf getting into a tizzy everytime he was questioned (I GOT that idea even at a young age). One I remember was when his wife reminded Alf he was Jewish..he got into a rage, went purple and yelled ''I AM NOT A JEW!!!!'' I mean Garnet? please :o)

I also adore 'Goodness Gracious Me'. I think the cast consist of Muslims, a Sikh and a Hindu? they manage to gain laughs from stereotypes too. The 'Going for an English' has already been mentioned, and is way up there in the top ten comedy moments for me. I also love the matriarchal mothers, the Asians who want to be English.. ''The name is COOPER'', the overfed boy & the Indian father who claims everything British to be Indian.