Triggered: Americans React to Love Thy Neighbour 

Let's just face it. This is funny as hell. I'm black and shows like this and in sickness and health were family viewing in our house. People are too easily offended.

I'm half Jamaican and grew up on this show, Absolutely brilliant!

I’m black British and this was my childhood. Laughed every episode

This guy totally gets it. And he is astute enough to describe it as an historical record, which it is. It doesn't need to be censored.

We watched every episode of this back in the 70's and loved it. Okay, I'm white but I loved the way this series highlighted the stupidity of racism in a way that was entertaining to everyone. Unfortunately, this series will never be shown on mainstream TV anymore, and would never be made in these days thanks to the snowflakes. Thank god we were able to make this back then, it stands up for racial equality far better than protests, pulling down statues and Black Lives Matter banners ever can.

It’s sad that these shows have been axed, the irony is the joke was usually on the white man, I have a Jamaican mate, this show is huge in Jamaica

They are making fun of the white guys ignorance, he's the fool.

The 2 wives just got on with it. The male actors were really good friends in real life.

Programs like this really helped race relations back in the 70's. They took all the bigoted racist views and put them in to one character it really showed everyone just how stupid these views were.

Loved "Love Thy Neighbour", even as a child it was a lesson on not what to be, don't be an Eddie.

I worked in a factory when this became popular and a strange thing happened. Without any direct reference to this show different ethnic groups started to talk to each other. This was new. I had not seen any interaction other than just work stuff. This show and others in the same vein bravely held a mirror up to all our outdated empire based world views and made us better for it.

The show was supposed to be cringeworthy, it was written to show just how ridiculous racism was at that time, in the episodes that followed the wives were the level headed ones, the 2 guys were as bad as each other but more often than not the black guy got the upper hand, I believe the 2 actors that played the main characters were good friends in real life.

Alf Garnet was the real deal --a classic comedy series to make your toes curl up!!! all the best x

Never judge a person by the colour of their skin, judge them by their character.

I think its good that this show was straight forward, it helped to educate and dissolve ignorance in a comedic way.

It was a interesting show. Its that fine line between what seems to be racist but is in fact trying to make a fool of the troll. Shows how foolish a person can be for hating a different nation or colour etc.

If you watch the whole series, it ends up the 2 guys become the best of friends which is great and a mesage i think the producers of the series were trying to portray! but some instant snowflakes at the time jumped upon and tried to derail!

In later episodes they stick up for each other, it's really great. There's one where they get kicked out of a restaurant when they are both sticking up for each other against a racist 'crummy old tory' type. The story arc is that politically & racially they both become more understanding

This was a very popular and well loved program and good family entertainment. It showed just how ridiculous the male white character was (Eddie, played by Jack Smethhurst) was. Even his on screen friends made fun of him. The show wasn’t racist, it just made fun of those that were. Making fun of and ridiculing their argument and attitudes. I challenge everyone to watch this today, it would do us all good to see how ridiculous the arguments were (and are) about racism. We should be ashamed of ourselves if we are offended by programs such as this. You can’t even sneeze today without being called a racist. Common sense has been lost. Racism does exist, and it works both ways. I have seen and witnessed that, and it should indeed be frowned upon. This program and its scripting was many times milder than the majority of stand up comedian’s repertoires of today, and the innocent and extremely funny content of it should be seen and appreciated. I say bring it back so we can all see how ridiculous we are now.

I urge you to watch the whole series. The two men begin to get along together and become drinking buddies at the local pub.

At a time of racial confrontations; after the first big waves of non-european immigration into the UK, this show was trying to make a point. A positive point. Yes, the language is shocking to modern ears - but it's simply the reality of that time; censoring that would be to make this inaccurate. But with that backdrop of genuine racial tensions and genuine racism, this show tried to point out both the silliness of racist thinking and the fundamental similarities of family life, regardless of race. The joke was always at the expense of the bigoted character....which is why I think this was a really positive force in the effort to improve race relations in the 70s. I don't think it should be a surprise to anyone who knows even a little about the social politics of the era, that this was loved by many black families and white families alike.

It's great to see that you've got the idea of the show right from the start, to depict the racist as a fool. This show was anti racist, and did so much to educate white people in Britain about why their attitude to black people back then was so wrong. Unfortunately, we now live in a Politically Correct society which don't have the intelligence to understand that Love Thy Neighbour was so important in breaking down the racist attitudes of Britain. It hasn't been repeated on British tv for decades, despite being a perfect tool to educate the right wing.

Your laughter was contagious, especially when the furniture remover had his handshaken. I couldn't stop giggling

This I think is the unaired pilot. The first episode that was actually transmitted has a reworked script as the pilot, but with better dialogue - and it includes Eddie Booth's reaction to learning his new neighbour is black!

A few of the British viewers may not be aware that Rudolph Walker (the black man) now plays Patrick Trueman in Eastenders

There is a moral to the story and it is that they actually become best friends despite their differences. It really was pioneering for its day in the U.K.

The two actors were best mates in real life , Speaks volumes ❤️

The actor is from Manchester and so he has a Mancunian accent.

Would love to hear your comments on the British TV show "Mind Your Language."

Nina Baden Semper was so hot in this

UK here. Great that you guys discuss things on your videos. Great to have you here in the UK analysing our culture.

My wife is American, so I have done this on occasion comparing and watching etc.. You could try our 'Steptoe and Son', this is where you adapted 'Sanford and Son'. Also 'Man about the house' was the blueprint for your 'Three's company' (Complete with the Ropers downstairs, who also had a spin off series called 'George & Mildred') Anyway, I like your family and enjoy watching your reactions. Al.

PLEASE TRY 1970S TV SERIES [RISING DAMP]

Give The Good Life a try. Think you should like it. It's a sitcom from the 70s about self sufficiency in the suburbs. Very funny

I love how you understand that this was the norm in that period of time , obviously in real life the interaction between the two wouldn't have been comical , but in comedy can see the problems with racism without it being so controversial. This is why its hard for todays generation to understand people in there 70s and 80s that inevitably say certain words and phrases and get torn to shreds by a younger generation that hasnt lived through this , and not saying it was ok then to act like that but it was society then . Glad to see it didnt shock you as much as it would others as you are a very level headed couple . Oh and by the way the black guy in it is still on tv now he plays in eastenders as patrick trueman

The socialist not being a real socialist is the main part of the story. It is a fact that the majority of socialists don’t live their lives as socialists at all.. This is very well constructed with the guys next door being not only the most sensible, but Tory's to boot!! Very funny and even better because it isn’t strapped with today’s political correctness. It addresses real life issues up front. We should adopt that approach again.

I remember my mum and dad laughing at this when I was young. They took me to the pictures to see the film version of it. We lived in Bradford and it was already happening to us with Pakistanis.

Hi Lillian and Felipe, A flashback to my childhood here, the series ran for 4 years and it is surprising that RU-vid haven't censored it, thanks for the memories ..

This programme isn't racist but it shows how ridiculous racism is

perhaps you could watch Steptoe and son (the inspiration for Sanford and son) or till death us do part ( the inspiration for all in the family).the character Archie bunker was based on Alf Garnett a reactionary bigot who like Eddie booth from love thy neighbour was meant to prove the bigot always is wrong in the end. Rudolph walkers role in this series was the first time a black person was on equal billing and pay as jack smethurst.

Just wanted to say bless you and your lovely family 💝

I remember watching this when I was 8. I can't believe some of the words used. Some of it was funny, some of it a bit cringy. I can't remember Eddie being such a chain smoker.

I think the thing that people miss in this kind of tv show is that it shows racism and stereotyping goes both ways. Obviously socialism and racism is an oxymoron but I think today’s pc culture would be too preoccupied with the overt racism rather than the message it actually intends. And I think too many people are constantly worried about feelings and being offended rather than there being more important things in the world. Thanks for the upload guys.

Ironically, this is maybe one of the most anti-racist shows out there. It's the central figure that is always portrayed as the bigoted, butt-end of the joke. His outlandish language and blissfully ignorant behaviour, is a metaphor to how the programme itself views racism. I absolutely love this show. Don't get duped into the harsh superficial surface level humour, but instead look at the overall context being played out. A class series, if ever there was one. An era when "real", unencumbered comedy was allow to exist.

The Nazis weren't socialist. I mean, maybe I'm just being triggered because I'm a socialist, but in actuality the Nazis weren't socialists anymore than the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea is a democracy. They co-opted socialist language and rhetoric to capitalize on its popularity and undermine their rivals, but once they achieved power they condemned socialists to the concentration camps, outlawed strikes and unions, and preserved private ownership of the means of production. The Nazis wanted to create a totalitarian, militaristic one-party state built on racial supremacy, not the egalitarian worker-run state envisioned by socialists, they couldn't be more different from each other.

As someone else has said on here, 'Rising Damp' is a very good series, you may want to give that one a try sometime. It's a 70's sitcom set in a boarding house with a landlord called Rigsby.

They develop into really good friends which is the whole premise of the show. Start off being ignorant and racist and once you get to know someone and "share the same space" for a while, you realize we're all the same under the skin. Looking back to the 60's, 70's, 80's and even 90's TV, you would never get away with it. Not necessarily because of the language because it is what it is. The UK had a huge influx of blacks in the 50's and 60's (mainly England and Wales) and there was a genuine fear of the unknown. A famous politician (Enoch Powell) even made a speech proclaiming there would be "rivers of blood in the streets", so this was the perception at the time. I was born in Scotland, early 60's and I was 6 before I saw a black man and even now, there are very few blacks. Scotland has a lot of Indian, Pakistani and Chinese communities and are the better for it. I believe that there's very little racism in the UK (although of course there will always be bigots) but endemic racism is long gone. We tend to have more division between Catholics and Protestants than we do with racial tensions. Personally I couldn't give a stuff what race, creed, colour or religion you are. We're all here together and we need to live together and get on with life. Anyway, I'm a new subscriber. Love the videos. I've lived and worked in the US (Houston) so I've seen it the other way around, so your videos are a very interesting view of what you actually think of us here. Keep up the good work.

One British comedy routine that never fails to make me cry with laughing is Peter Kay’s “misheard lyrics”. If you haven’t seen it you definitely should, but like the other videos of yours which I’ve seen so far, these comedy acts were always much funnier to an audience already familiar with the performers, than to somebody seeing them for the first time. Another utterly brilliant pair were the Two Ronnies (Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker). Some of their sketches were legendary.

I was very interested to see what your reaction to this series would be as a reflection on that part of our history. I grew up in one of the less affluent areas of Leeds when this was being shown, but even as a kid I found it silly to say the least. Keep up the great work you guys, love the vids.

One foot in the grave was my favourite, highly recommended

The show makes the two of them realize they are both equal you need to watch to under stand

The fun part of this programme was that both men were racist bigots and when it was originally aired the joke was that the men were as bad as eachother and the women were friends.you should watch an old "Till death us do part".we laughed at the stupidity of the head of the household. In a way these programmes used the absurdity of prejudices to open our eyes to how accept diversity .

You should try watching "The fall and rise of Reginald Perrin", it is brilliant 70's comedy about a man loosing his mind due to the monotonous daily routine of life.

It was a big hit in Jamaica. The beauty of the programme is that Jack always lost and Bill always won.. and that is how it should be.

This show was from an era where we still left our doors unlocked during the day, those days are well and truly over now and I miss them.

This is funny AF.! If people think mocking racism is racist then they are stupid.

the black guy always came out on top and it always showed the white guy as the fool . and it was all said in fun the black couple were the best looking and had more class . and in real life they were all friends having a great time and earning a load of money and fame . and we all knew it was said in fun . it went both ways and that's what missing now in the UK , a seance of humor . you were both giggling at the jokes

I watched this in the 70's when my school was about 5% people of asian and colour. I revisited the same school a few years ago, pictures on the wall of students 90% asian.

The black guy is now in a soap opera "Eastenders"..... his character is called patrick trueman and the woman who played his wife in love thy neighbour was also in Eastenders.. :) they aire it on the BBC.... :)

They had a different actress as Joan and a different street of houses (terraced-more working class) in the actual series also neither husband owned a car till partway through the series (and both lost their cars in the same episode where they bought them).

Loved this as a young kid on the 70s

I feel like you definitely have to watch more, as this episode was just setting up the premise. In future episodes you see they're all as bad as each other the whole point is to show how ridiculous prejudice is. It does a great job

I'm a Midlander and left wing working class,and proud of it. I can assure you I lived through these times of adjustment, not only Jamaicans, Indians, Pakistanis, Polish, Ukrainian, and numerous other nationalities, where I live. City with many Factories. Mills, etc. Both BritIsh men and women worked alongside each other, children went to the same school.where you work and play together, (many factories used to have football teams,) Sports days, Works clubs, where you could have a drink.You soon got to know each,and Lose inhibitions and become friends. With a small exception.I object when the working class are portrayed in this fashion. I've met many very intelligent working men and women.

Most definitely a show of its time. Another suggestion to watch would be Steptoe & Son (the episodes in colour). They are considered classics, and were remade in The States as Sandford & Son. Very funny, very well acted.

This is my first time seeing this, and I thought it was damn hilarious.

Wow this brought back old memories of my childhood. Believe when i say this Black West Indians loved this show and another show called Till Death Do Us Part with the Alf Garnet character. My West Indian grandfather used to cry with laughter watching these old comedies.

A show like this would be good today. Its not a racist show. Its a show that exposes racism for how stupid they are

There is a feature length film of "Love Thy Neighbour" also, where Eddie's mother and Bill's father become very friendly together.

Review father Ted? It's irish but a big hit in the UK

They don’t make comedy like they used to. They can’t with the likes of this though. It’s not a racist comedy, it’s a comedy poking fun at racism and the stupidity of it all.

In the series the wife was played by a different actress, and there were additional characters at the working men's club (Jacko, Arthur and Nobby)

Being the pilot episode one person was changed they got another actress (Kate Williams) to play Joan booth Eddie's wife Plus there's a film version to concide with the tv show The actor who plays bill (the black neighbour) is currently in the British soap opera EastEnders as Patrick trueman

This is the pilot episode. The real series featured a different actress as Eddie's wife.

Have a look at 'The Brittas Empire' , I'd love to see your review of this classic British sitcom.

Love this show, Eddie gets as good if not more than he deserves!

It's just a show about breaking down stereotypes. We are laughing about the mans attitide towards it, not what he's actually saying. It's a great show.

Have a look at , "Thin Blue Line" with Rowan Atkinson, hilarious.!!!

Another show to watch would be "Mind Your Language".

Just classic comedy takes me back to the good old days

If you can find it, try the Spike Milligan show 'Curry and Chips'.

I'm white and as a young lad when I started work in the 60's I ran up against people like Eddie . It was my first introduction to racism which I didn't understand but I hated it , and still do

The Young Ones and Bottom would be great for reaction videos too.

You were wondering what a Wop was. Wop was firstly an American derogatory term for an Italian meaning either 'Without Papers' or some say Wop comes from 'Guappo'. First used in the US in 1908 it became in usage for the English during WW2

I applaud you for going back to a time when racism was a real problem. The barriers for acceptability was too high. Some of the language makes you cringe but it does show how far we have come.

My favourite program as a kid. Makes me cringe watching it back now. They both give as good as each other as the episodes and the series moves on it really gets more outrageous and funnier. Try to find the episode where Bill and his mates in work scare Eddie and put him in a big cooking pot.. The program is so funny but just so politically incorrect. It was meant to be ironic and poke fun at racism, which I believe it did It actully did great things to break down some ratial stereotypes at the time as in a funny way as it delibrately poked fun at them. It wasusually Bill that got the last laugh on Eddy. Another series that could never be shown again would be "til death do us part" again was portrayed as supposidly helping to challenge racism it got a lot of stick from anti racists.

Absolutely love your reaction videos. Would like to suggest some for you to try: On the Buses One Foot in the Grave Only When I Laugh Open All Hours Porridge Steptoe & Son

This series was shown in the early 1970's. This was an attempt to 'acclimatise' the English people to understand and accept other people of other races being in England. It was NOT an anti-racist show. It was a gentle introduction into the very opposite!

This show I remember from being younger. That’s how it was. Pure ignorance. It’s kind of poking fun at the way the white male acted. Even in those times it made some people think about how they interacted with black people. It gets better as the series goes on. The banter between the two men, the insults and the friendship between the women was genius scriptwriting.

Your casual misrepresentation of British socialism as Nazism appears to have summoned a whole bunch of racists and alt-Right antisemites out of the woodwork. If you wish to get a clear picture of the part socialism played in the fight against Hitler and everything he stood for - as well as the British experience in World War II as a whole you could do worse than read Angus Calder's "The People's War".

What a beautiful couple.

The black guy you referred to is Rudolph walker CBE. he is originally from Trinidad, he is presently in EastEnders Patrick Truman he is 81 Jack Smethurst lead actor love thy neighbour is from Manchester he is 88 His onscreen wife Gwendolyn Watts left the series in 73 and Kate Williams took over. I liked her.

Brings back happy memories. One of the most misunderstood programmes ever made. Both use racist remarks but people only ever talk about the white mans attitude towards the black man. The black man currently plays Patrick in EastEnders.

National socialism is actually right wing fascism. Left wing socialism is closer to Marxism

All the best sitcoms were from the 70s, early 80s Rubbish now.....

Love the way you put your hands over your mouths when laughing

When the Labour government decided to open up the borders a large number of working class men joined the National Front which then morphed into the BNP. Several BNP councillors a few years back used to belong to the Labour party but Labour scream "extreme right" just the same.

you laughed all the way through it. yet you say you would not watch any more of it. It was funny both men were racist. It's not meant to be taken seriously.

That is balanced with Alf Garnett in Till Death do us Part who was Conservative. The success of that program then went to the USA which became All in the Family. The point of programs like these was to openly take issues head on and show up human stupidity. If they were uncomfortable to watch then good because that was the whole point because it raised issues that could be openly debated. The thing is programs like these actually worked in greatly reducing bigotry. Unfortunately we now live in a modern brain dead World where say a wrong word the World goes into total meltdown. Also a lot of modern TV is no longer balanced but extremely left wing and they dictate they know more about equality, even though they wouldn't understand equality if it got up and bit them. If there was a program to deal with modern day issues like there is today, it couldn't be made. If anything even if they did rather than resolve issues you could guarantee they'd make matters worse, or create issues that didn't exist.

Love thy neighbor was one of my favourite tv shows in the 70s whomever was the guy displaying intolerance in each episode, black or white, their bigotry always caused them to lose face. It was a serious attempt at challenging racism and intolerance in the country and as usual, the wives were the voice of reason. another programme that touched on the real issue of class difference - upper class v working class is worth checking out Look for George and Mildred , these shows really showed the state of play in the 70s. small wonder the youth of the day rebelled and started the punk movement, God i miss the punk era, happy days :)

I'm old enough to have seen this as a kid. But in 1970's Britain, my dad was liberal enough to know that this was never going to be ideal family viewing. I'm amazed at what was acceptable back then. However, 'Mind Your language' was something we all sat down together to watch. Strange.