Re-edited to include the missing scenes omitted from the dvd release. According to the BBC the original tapes have sustained damage so to this is the reason why the ones that are available on dvd are the edited versions
@@philmasters9486 in the late 70s a neighbour of ours their children n ours where playing together moved to Whaltham chase near Southampton we went to visit them n my John was playing football with Norman's boy Martin the ball went next door n this man picked the ball came by the fence n said here you are boys I be your referee If you want me then John run to me said dad this man is so kind is this how England was when you first came here is that why you like England so much it almost made me cry then it does now, its like day n night then n now mate, it was Honesty n kindness them days people cared n helped each other, my consolation at least I lived in them honest great times take car mate
@@tom.lox.ralphs Open all hours Dell boy porridge a much less violent society more respect for females n a more honest society n of course much more helpful people
Just watched this again in Sep 2022. Comedy gold. Loved it when I was a boy and still love it decades later. Harry H and Wilfred B were perfectly cast as father and son. Brilliant
Whenever I feel fed up I put this timeless classic 70s comedy cant beat it for great pick me up..memories of how great tv was back in the 70s watching it now in 2022...
Finding this just made me proper cry my grandad got me into this god rest his soul 🙏🏻 I’m 40 now and this takes me back when we had real good British humour and not the pc stuff we have now
My GP in Gloucestershire was Wilfred Brambell's brother, my house was built in his orchard and when ever I visited his surgery he had a joke ready. On one occasion the joke was so good O forgot what I went in for.
Watching in DEC 2021, and still enjoyable.. classics, as only the Brits can do...... those were the days...... nothing of today can compare....🙂🙂😀😁😂.. 🇺🇸♥️🇬🇧
I'm 43 in New York, just found it about steptoe & son, and on the buses, about 3 years ago. I can watch them over and over.. Those are straight up facts
These old shows are what real comedy is all about, so cleverly written, so brilliantly cast and acted. Remarkedly observant, oh for those good old days before everything was contrived and dumbed down, long live British comedy....
Those were the best years! Good old 70's. Brings tears to my eyes when I compare those times to this present day. So much has changed and most of those changes are not really good, thats for sure.!!!!
Yes i know what you mean im also always thinking about the 80s and 90s and thinking the good old days. This is before my time but i enjoy it very much.
When ever I feel down just put a bit of steptoe and son on just listening to the theme tune at the start makes me smile and takes ne back to being a nipper watching with me grandad who's sadly long gone
Still amazes me that this entire series was made on a tiny shoestring budget yet it survives today with all age groups loving its dry humour, a timeless classic never to be bettered imo.
This is fantastic. This Christmas special was special in 1973 and as the years roll by you realise just how special Steptoe & Son was and this Christmas episode completely shows up the so-called comedy that the BBC serves up now. I was 12 when I first saw this and I never tire of it because it has it all - it's shows society as it was then - truly brilliant acting and writing with pathos, comedy and portrays life as it was in 1973. Forty four years later it stands out as the best comedy you can watch IMO. Ah, how I miss those times and television. Todays 12 year olds are on Facebook, headphones on, smartphone in their hands and wondering if anyone likes them. Looking back I was so lucky!
We are the past. Politics and junior busters are the future. Sniveling about politics and the injustice about not eating steak and chicken and the future of nothing reality matters. Like when I was a junior buster. It all seems silly to me like my granddad and grandmother told me. It’s a bunch of hoey.
55 years old..living in Germany. - grew up on this stuff..still love it...having a complete semi-drunken trip down memory lane..they don't do comedy like this anymore.. pathos..just love it..
How London & Britain have changed! Brilliant seeing London streets of the 1970's This brings back memories of my families 1st color TV staying up & watching Steptoe & son, Porridge,& Sweeny, real quality TV, well worth the tv licence back then, NOT any bloody more though!!!
@@brendanstephens9053 You said this 6 years ago, I agree, and 6 years on TV has not changed for the better. Much better TV in the 60's, 70's and 80's, as was the films and music. No internet back then, and those tablets that youngsters today are addicted to !!
@@Loverboy19691 True though what HAS changed is the price of tv sets! 65" 4K ultra HD for £450! Only the wealthy could afford colour tv in the 70's.....now anyone can.
@@Bulletguy07 I like to disagree! There are still family's today, who can't afford such luxuries. Or if they do buy them, they get themselves into financial difficulties! Gosh! Just keeping up with the ordinary things like food and paying their bill is a struggle, for some.🤔 As they say, nothing really changes! Have a nice day! 👍 And stay safe, stay enjoying the good old British comedies.😀 Moira From England.
@@contact3604 Moira.....the point i was making is the retail price of colour tv's over the years has plummeted as technology has improved. When i got married in 1972 we couldn't afford either a colour tv or the licence and 'made do' with an old B&W set. Today i don't know anyone without a colour tv and i actually gave the last one i owned away to a recently divorced guy who had fallen on hard times. The main expense of course is the licence and also, for those that indulge it, subscription channels such as Sky, the cost of which i find horrendous so never had it. I'm nearly 70 now so from an era when even a home telephone was a luxury.....now everyone has either a land-line or mobile phone. And yes, i still enjoy good old British comedies....especially the Ealing ones such as "The Ladykillers" with Alec Guinness and a very young Peter Sellers which is one of my favourites!
Rachel Anne Adams My son is 25 and he loves watching them as well "since he was 13 lol .he didn't have much choice when I had them on everyday 😁 .tell you a good comedy ,they banned it years ago due to racism , . " Love thy Neighbour ,its brilliant
I loved all of them: "You dirty old man"; "Don't tell him Pike", "they don't like it up them"; "The Rag Trade"; Paddy Fleming , (or was ir Arthur Scargill?) with the catchphrase "Everybody out!" ; ""Are you being served"; "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (1969- 1971)! ; "Mr.Bean"; "Farty Towers"; "The Black Adder"; (A cup of coffee, Darling?"); The last good ones were "The Office" and the "Extras".
This is my favourite comedy of all time. It breaks my heart when Harold gets treated as lesser by the rude stuck up snobs at the beggining. Harold has manners and is decent. They may have money but they have the souls of peasants.
MAD CONNER. Same, watching this show always made me sad when I see how people treat them, like the episode when he goes to buy the bed. Harold is definitely richer than any of them on the inside
I was brought up on British Comedy having been born in England 1956... as a kid I must say Steptoe & Son slightly stressed me out! It was possibily one of the earliest series I can remember - so much comedy on the 'telly'... half-an-hour every evening from 7.30 - 8.00; first programme of the day "Childrens' Hour" at 5.00 (start warming the tv set quarter of an hour beforehand so as not to miss the beginning), "The Evening News" at 5.45; a documentary maybe after the news, Comedy Half Hour then ending with a film... never a break for pubblicity with BBC, not even a glimpse of a name-brand by mistake; at 11 o'clock closing of transmissions with the National Anthem and a reminder to switch off your tv set as it could set fire... God Save the Queen
But they were up and coming. I remember being treated like that too. And poor my mum was manipulative like Steptoe. They must of understood the mentality of the old Londoners. Our house full of old clutter like that.
Steptoe and Son was and still is a brilliant funny comedy. Harry and Wilfred was gr8 2gether, a superb pairing. And whatever Wilfred did in his private life, as an entertainer on screen he was marvellous. I watch S&S again and again and never get bored of it. RIP Harry and Wilf.
British comedy was the best when I twas but a lad... Dave Allen, two ronnies, to the Manor born, the bounder... Thank you for sharing these classics here!! Merry Christmas everyone!
I was 9 in 1973. I remember this christmas special watching it with mum dad and my brother. Loved this programme acting superb. The comedies today not in the same league. Too politically correct today.
Wonderful comedy in a country called Great Britain, not UK, and with out the political correctness of today to worry about, the stuff of legend, today's comic actors haven't a clue, unforgettable moments.
I grew up in the UK and myself and my family watched Steptoe and Son every week in black and white. Amazing comedy, and brilliant acting. Thanks for having this on RU-vid. It's a gem.
Pure,unadulterated comedy greatnes. Thank god they never destroyed the original recordings so we can enjoy Steptoe and son for many future generations.... If the human race lasts that long.
Thank you from across the pond where the American version of this show was "Sanford and Son." The characters were black except for one dumb cop (white) and the neighbor with a goat who was Hispanic. Time of equality of the races and sexes when tv shows allowed for everyone to laugh at each other and themselves. Precious indeed. PBS ran lots of Britcoms and in the 90s, with VCR, I taped 50 8-hour tapes which I later had to re-record on DVDs. However, "Steptoe" was not shown anywhere I lived so I am most grateful to have the chance to see it. I agree you have the best oldies comedies. I know many by heart and still laugh till I cry. Thank you for posting. Please continue to make this work available on YT; we need the laughter more than the BBC needs the cash (I think). Cheers!🙋🇺🇸
I missed that special. 1973 was the year my father died. How I missed it throughout the following years I don't know, but 46 years later I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you so, so much for sharing it. xx
There is a scene cut in my DVD (The ending of the travel agents scene). When i contacted the BBC to ask why i got this email back Quote/Copy and paste "Sadly, there are no high quality copies left of this scene. It was decided to exclude this one scene from the DVD release" .... I have it on retail VHS copy and it's as good of quality as the rest?! It's very odd.
British comedy from the 60s and 70s was very good - and the acting talent was through the roof! The highly popular TV show Sandford And Son, with Redd Foxx, was based on this.
1973 was my best Christmas ever,i was 9 years old,i was never aloud to watch Steptoe and Son it was on too late and too rude we were told but me and my sister use to creep down and watch it from half way down the stairs through the living room door.I got Hot Wheels a talking Action Man and a Joe 90 car plus loads of other prezzies.My mom had three jobs and me my mom and my sister all slept in the back bedroom of my grans house.We were poor but we never went without and Christmas was a happy magical time which if i could would return there without a second thought to escape waking up tomorrow, a sad fifty year old loser with no wife no job no house or money with one last hope that the number 78 bus which goes past my rathole of a council flat veers off the road and puts me out of my misery.Oh yeh Slade were no 1 with Merry Christmas Everybody.Enough said.
I hear you Jacob loud and clear. Candy, 1961 Barry, South Glamorgan, South Wales. By the way, you're NOT a loser and you're dear mum wouldn't want you to talk about yourself like that. Enough said.
Thank you Candy,that's very sweet of you and you have brighten'd my day.I have happy childhood memories of day trips to Barry Island and the seafront at Penarth. Happy days.
jacob freemans My grandfather, Bill Stedman was the caretaker at Barry Island for many years. He gave us free passes to all the rides, free candy floss, toffee apples you name it. Then he was the caretaker at Barry Zoo and we got to touch animals like a Cheetah and a wolf etc and go behind the scenes. Yes, happy memories. We were poor like everyone else in that neck of the woods (except the bastards at the council offices who always had the nice cars and houses and looked down on the rest of us), but I digress. we were poor but we were rich in so many other ways. We are left now with only memories. Our loved ones are gone but believe me they are not far away...... Get the movie 'Badder Santa' (there is Bad Santa and then there is the unrated version 'Badd'er Santa") and have a good laugh....
Fantastic comedy from the golden age of TV. I dont believe for a second the rumours these two could not stand each other, they just lived very different lives thats all. Wilfred was deeply upset when harry passed away.
Lovely memories. Friends and neighbours bothering to get dressed up and coming to my parents house for Christmas at tea-time. Did you notice the men at the door wearing ties and the women loads of jewellery. Once inside it was one liners, wise cracks and people shrieking with laughter and getting tipsy. We didn't have that much but Christmas was fabulous in the 70s with family and neighbours. It was such a laugh.
I'm 53.and this is the first time I've caught this Xmas special.....brilliant..manipulative by older Steptoe to keep his son from going abroad..which is of course....what we all want to do now to get away from family....ahead of it's time.
Just simply brilliant television. Great script, fantastic acting, and a slice of life back when everything seemed so much easier to understand. I was twelve when this first aired, and l remember it like yesterday. It was such a shame that the two actors didn't get on away from the camera. Harry H Corbett was in my opinion a very underrated actor. And who doesn't know a old man Steptoe ? Thanks for the laughs guys.
Dec.26, 2021. Boxing day. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE and God bless. Ive been bingeing on my Christmas britcoms all day. I'm blessed.🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🎅🤶🍭🎄❄☃️⛄🌲
Loved that bit when Wilfred sang Enoch's dreaming of a white Christmas, listening to this in 2022 I don't think Enoch's the only one dreaming of a white Christmas ☃️☃️☃️🎄
Comedy gold, I've seen it countless times over the years and i still get proper "belly laughs" each time i watch it. I was brought up on programmes like this, i feel so lucky , television today is rubbish in comparison.
Watching in 2024. I've never seen this show. Never heard of it until Ade Edmondson references it somewhere. 1973, the year I was born. I'd kill to go back to the 70's. Life was so easy and simple.
Wonderful classic comedy. Splendid actors doing great stories. Never get tired of watching these. No modern day so called comedies come close to these.
@@spmoran4703 you can't blame the writers, if it's offensive it won't get show. So they have to write to lots of rules and that would be hard to keep a comedic mindset.
@@spmoran4703 So many things now would never be allowed, even some comedy from the 90s is deemed offensive nowadays and that wasnt all that long ago. People seem to forgot there is always the off button if they dont like something, or they can change channels, there are plenty of others who do :)