Alan Simpson's work with Ray Galton finds comedy in people who cannot stop making each other miserable. Steptoe and Son earns our recommendation by letting that misery remain uncomfortable, though the quarrels can wear us down.
Fi1m perspective
Harold and Albert know enough about each other to keep an argument going indefinitely. In Steptoe and Son (1962), Alan Simpson and Ray Galton make that familiarity painful without ceasing to make it funny. Neither man needs to manufacture an offence; the writers have given them sufficient reason to quarrel. We laughed, then felt uneasy because the disagreement was allowed to stay ugly after the joke. The series is worth the discomfort, especially with Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell making the relationship so convincing.
The partnership developed its character-led comedy with Tony Hancock, writing Hancock's Half Hour for radio from 1954 and television from 1956. Their method gave a half-hour a complete storyline, with the humour coming from the people rather than a collection of unrelated gags. After parting with Hancock, they created Comedy Playhouse (1961). Its episode 'The Offer' led to Steptoe and Son. The family setting gave their interest in working-class people trapped by their circumstances a particularly uncomfortable closeness.
Corbett and Brambell have more to play than the next punchline. Simpson and Galton give both men reasons to be difficult, so we can understand how an argument starts without wanting either of them to continue it. We can recognise the grievance without being asked to approve of the behaviour. This is where the partnership's bleakness works: the family bond gives the men ample opportunity to hurt each other, and the writing allows that hurt to register. It takes confidence to leave an audience uncomfortable when another joke might let everyone off.
The partnership also wrote The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963) for Peter Sellers. Later projects did not match the popularity or impact of Hancock and the Steptoes, but that is no reason to treat the earlier programmes as beyond criticism. Our reservation about Steptoe and Son is substantial: knowing why these men argue does not always make another argument welcome, and the repeated quarrelling can become wearing. The performances remain the reason to return. Leave a little space between visits.
Biography
Alan Simpson was an English scriptwriter best known for his long partnership with Ray Galton. Together they wrote for radio and television from the 1950s, including the BBC sitcom Hancock's Half Hour (1954–1961) and its television version.
They created Steptoe and Son (1962–1974), which Simpson also wrote, about a father and son rag-and-bone team in London. The series ran for eight series and spawned international adaptations such as the American Sanford and Son. Simpson was born in Brixton, London, on 27 November 1929 and died on 8 February 2017.
