Love Thy Neighbour

I absolutely loved this show when I was a kid in the early/mid 1970s and was interested to see it running on an Australian network several years ago. I imagined it would have dated badly and no longer seem funny, but no, it's still hilarious. The format of Love Thy neighbour was quite simple. It explores the culture clash and constant bickering between bigoted working-class trade unionist Eddie (Jack Smethurst) and his upwardly mobile Black neighbour played by Rudolph Walker. Their wives constantly act as both 'straight men' and referees in the battles between Bill and Eddie. Was it racist? That's the question everyone asks. I'm confident in saying, no. Eddie often refers to Bill as "sambo" or "nig-nog", but then Bill calls Eddie a "white honky" just as often. Either both sides are guilty, or neither, and I don't see anything nasty or 'dark' in these jibes. Eddie's not hostile to Bill because he's Black, he's hostile because he's JEALOUS of him and in 9 out of 10 episodes it's Eddie who comes off worse. I particularly loved the episode where Bill convinces Eddie he's the victim of a voodoo spell and has him dancing - naked - round a tree at midnight yelling "pinky ponky, me white honky". I grew up in a 99% White town and my abiding memory of Love Thy neighbour is how beautiful Nina Baden-Semper was. I had quite a 'crush' on her as a pimply youth. I don't know what became of this lovely talented lady or Jack Smethurst, but Kate Williams (Eddie's wife) and Rudolph Walker remain familiar faces on British TV. They both have current roles in 2 of our most popular 'soaps'. The humour in Love Thy Neighbour was always the stupidity of Bill and Eddie's prejudices, so I think it presents an ANTI-racist message. Sadly, that's not much of a defence in the Britain of 2004. BBC2 recently had a major show in several parts to find "Britain's Favourite Sit-com" and Love Thy Neighbour was completely airbrushed out. To quote the Amon Goeth character in Schindlers List: "It never happened". That's a shame because it was funny and extremely popular at the time. it also showed that Black British characters can be attractive, successful and get the upper hand. we take this for granted now, but it was a brave thing to portray 30 years ago. It's worth watching, IF you ever get the chance to see it.

Remembering this as a kid, I seem to recall finding it very funny with strong characters and a memorable them tune. From an age when situation comedy was far funnier than its modern counterparts.

Listening to people talking about it today, you would think it was racist - the main complaint that you laughed with Eddie Booth rather than at him. However, i always remember his black neighbour coming out on top most of the time. So I'm not so sure it really did reinforce those stereotypes. At least it was a depiction of how some white working class people felt at the time.

Maybe it was a little over the top and certainly wouldn't be shown in our present PC times. But you've got to take it as a period piece. For me it was very memorable and at least broke one mould for me in having the first black actress I fancied in the shape of Nina- Bade Semper - She was gorgeous.

It would be interesting to see a couple of episodes again to see if it really was that offensive and perhaps to gauge how we have moved on as regards to race relations.

This show has to be taken and viewed in the context it was written in.

As a black man born in the early 70's, this show is funny for all the people of my parents age I mentioned it to. 'Political Correctness' is more about white people feeling comfortable with what other white people say in their presence, than making black people feel comfortable about whats said to them by white people. Eddie Booth takes the brunt of nearly every episode as his ignorance shows him to be the fool so often. His bigoted ways always showed him up to be the narrow minded, unintelligent idiot he is and regularly needed his wife's help to set him straight.

Fair enough, its not everyones cup of tea, but it is funny and to think it got shelved from being re-run because of our over protective PC fanatics thought it would re-ignite racism in our streets is a shame. News is that racism hasn't gone and will never go and considering racism is a learnt behaviour, if parents want to educate their young children to be racist, they will just get the DVDs at home and let them watch it that way. ted00043 from Australia just doesn't get the show. Its like a die-hard Columbo viewer watching Bablyon 5; it messes with their head.

If your going to do it, do it properly. Ban it all together (from our shelves, TV and archives) or let it be seen by everyone, everywhere.

This show was the antithesis of racist. Bright, fashionable black couple live next door to ignorant, brutish white man and win the upper hand in every episode. Most black characters at the time were laughed at whereas here we clearly are meant to laugh with him. The script was amusing rather than funny, but it makes for an enjoyable comedy of manners.

A fun enjoyable comedy, good for forgetting your troubles to. It has a bad reputation these days as a racist show. And it's true that racial tension is the main theme, and racist slurs are often used.

However, this is not a show that a white supremacist would write. A black guy (Bill) and a white guy (Eddie) have petty conflicts, and Bill usually wins. The white guy in most episodes makes a total idiot of himself.

Neither do they really hate each other. One episode has Eddie dance naked round a tree to release a voodoo curse he believes he's put on Bill. It's basically macho posturing between the two guys which leads to them falling out and making.

So while it does have racist language, its underlying message is far more "woke" than is often imagined. It never punches down at the black characters. And it's genuinely funny.