The Curse of Steptoe

The story of Harry H. Corbett's (Jason Isaacs') decline in fortune, from an aspiring star of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop to a pathetic wreck in the mid-Eighties, reduced to playing pantomime and embarking on a pointless tour of Australia in a stage version of Steptoe and Son, is a familiar one. Although brilliant in his portrayal of Harold Steptoe, he became so typecast that no one could see him performing anything else. Wilfrid Brambell (Phil Davis) experienced no such agonies - as a character-actor, he was glad of the regular work. Nonetheless he had his own personal problems - as a closet homosexual at a time when it was illegal in Britain, he was reduced to making brief assignations in public rest-rooms. Apparently Brian Fillis' drama upset the Corbett family due to its portrayal of the Brambell/ Corbett professional relationship; as a result, the drama is now prefaced with a warning that some of the scenes are fictionalized versions of the truth. One wonders why there was so much fuss: the relationship between the two actors is portrayed as cordial on set, while off-set they chose to lead totally separate lives. Once the series finished in 1974 (on television, at least) they said goodbye to one another quite civilly. The drama suggests that Corbett was in a sense a victim of his own desire for fame and fortune - goaded by Tom Sloan (Roger Allam), the BBC's long-serving head of comedy - he agreed to make series after series, even though he protests to his wife Sheila Steafel (Zoe Tapper) that he will quit as soon as humanly possible. Isaacs and Davis give convincing characterizations; they capture the mannerisms of the two actors quite uncannily.

Steptoe & Son (remade in the U.S as 'Sanford & Son') was one of the seminal British TV sitcoms of the 1960s, and owes a lot to the 'Angry young man' style of theatre and film that came the decade before. Out of that theatre came a slew of gifted actors like Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay, Richard Harris, Richard Burton, Laurence Harvey and the underrated Harry H Corbett.

That Corbett's career never reached the heights of the others is the subject of this solid and extremely well acted drama about how he found such success in the BBC sitcom that he was forever stereotyped and unable to break the mould or be accepted as the accomplished stage actor he was. 'Curse' is indeed apt to this predicament, the shows immediate success destroyed any chance he had of regaining his serious career. As he so poignantly states in one scene (and i admit i'm paraphrasing here) "I will forever be known as a rag and bone man".

Jason Isaacs does a splendid job as Corbett, his optimism slowly wearing away as his TV star shines. Trapped by immediate success he rues the day he agreed to do the show. At first the resemblance between the younger Corbett and Isaacs is superficial but once the show reappeared after a 5 year break in the 1970s, the resemblance between the two is striking, and the mannerisms are uncanny too (even the voice). Praise too for Phil Davis for his excellent portrayal of the sad and lonely Brambell, a man who also rues the day he did the show, but for very different reasons.

I cannot fault the two leads and all the actors are marvellous as is the period detail. My grumble is that this could have been a much better drama if the script had been longer and taken the film to a more logical conclusion (Corbetts death in 1982). It is well known that Corbett or Brambell didn't really get on (amazingly Brambell was only 13 years older than Corbett)so a deeper insight into that conflict would have been good. It would also have made more sense to show the ill fated tour of Australia and their post-Steptoe careers, and oddly no mention is made of the two Steptoe feature films they did in the early 1970s.

However this drama shows that Isaacs is a much better actor than his Hollywood career has so far shown. Phil Davis is also still one of the best supporting actors in Britain.

The Curse of Steptoe was reputedly a film about how abrasive the relationship between the actors who played the roles of Steptoe and Son were. How the popularity of the sitcom damaged the reputation of actor Harry H Corbett who was once touted as the young British Brando.

Well Corbett's family were unhappy with the film and future broadcasts will mention that the work is based on facts but some scenes have been dramatized.

According to the Corbett's both Harry and Wilfred got on well and when Wilfred appeared on the news shows after Harry had died he seemed to be visibly upset.

Also Harry H Corbett was only a year younger than Marlon Brando, so it seems rather weird how he would be touted as the young Brando of the British theatre.

Factual inaccuracies aside this is still a terrific film with well judged performances.

Jason Issacs was on top form as Corbett and Phil Davis was absolutely stunning as the tragic Wilfred Brambell all in all one of the best pieces of drama to grace the BBC in a hell of long time. The whole affair although telling a sometimes very dark tale was handled with a great deal of affection and care. Having loved Steptoe & Son from an early age I will certainly view it in a different light knowing the heartache it appears to have caused the Brambell and Corbett. Costumes and sets were spot on and the piece really gave you a feel for how writers and performers of that era behaved towards one another. Much like the actual show I regret this show having to end as it left me wanting more from two of the finest most underrated actors in the UK.

I have just finished reading Susannah Corbett's biography of her father. I have seen The Curse of Steptoe and this abomination of a production forms the basis of the last chapter. Simply, there was no bad blood between Harry H and Wilf B. Yes, they weren't close, and they did have their minor fallings outs, but there was always an immense respect between the two. I find these BBC revisionist biopics very strange and suspicious - trading on much loved memories, with the view of turning them into cheap sensationalism. All a bit gutter press in my view, though most peoples' responses today will undoubtedly be 'whatever - anything goes'. For anyone wishing to read the truth, I wholeheartedly recommend 'The Front Legs of the Cow' by Susannah Corbett.