Love Thy Neighbour

A controversial, yet classic sitcom from the 70's. Based around the lives of Eddie (the proud British unionist), his wife Joan, Bill (the proud black ethnic tory)and his lovely wife Barbie. Often stereotyped by those who have never really watched the series as 'racist', Love Thy Neighbour was far removed from such a stereotype. Looking at the lighter side of the attitudes at the time, Eddie's and Bill's disagreements were perfectly balanced with friendship (who could forget the episode when Eddie drags Bill out on the town?!).

Eddie and Bill's characters are presented as equals, and both have different views on life (whether it'd be labour, tory, or black power!) but more often than not, when they argue and bicker, both come out looking as bad as each other.

Anybody faulting Love Thy Neigbhour for it's views should take a closer look at the series first. A show that positioned Bill (Rudolph Walker) in such a prominant powerful role, and presented him as such a strong upstanding character was way ahead of it's time (when other shows were still presenting ethnic minorities as 'comedy' characters).

This excellent, cleverly written sitcom was first aired when I was 6 & even as a child I adored it. Sadly it has been panned by accusations of racism, over the years, mostly by (I feel) people who have never really watched it or even understood it. Here we have Eddie (Jack Smethurst) who is a white British, progressive, socialist, he is bigoted & rather dim, & most of the comedy is from the stupidity of his character. Bill (Rudolph Walker) is an educated black conservative who moved next door with his beautiful wife Barbie, who Eddie actually lusts after. Eddie's long suffering wife is Joan puts up with him, however she is good friends with Barbie & between the three (Bill, Barbie & Joan) they often set Eddie up to expose his bigoted attitude & narrow mindedness, with some comedy gold situations. The thing I think people need to remember with this, it was quite ground breaking for it's time, (early 70's) when there were very few black people on British TV, yet this show has a surprizingly lovely level of diversity with many other black characters & Rudolph Walker went on to become one of Britian best loved character actors starring in TV & film, & he ha always defended his starring in "Love Thy Neighbour" saying... "These days we can't take the p**s out of each other & just have a laugh" (2003)

Yes there are racial slurrs on both sides, with sayings like "white honkey" & "sambo" but this IS a SITCOM, & not a detailed social study into critical race theory & white fragillity! & lets face it no one uses these words today & the whole point of this sitcom is just having a laugh at Bill & Eddies antics of one up-man-ship which always gives Bills character the upper hand. This funny series is certainly worth another look with eyes that are not clouded by cultural Marxism & though a lens of non discrimination & just enjoy. At the end of the first ever episode (not the pilot) we laugh at Eddie when he says he wants to move. Joan his wife asks why, is it because Bill is black, Eddie retorts "It's not that he is black. He's a BLOODY CONSERVATIVE!

I think with the previeling globalist socialist attitudes today which obviously lean left, they really don't like this series because the series pokes fun at white progressive "Eddie" who is a dim witted socialist, rather than being racist. This is the REAL reason.

This is a simply comedy from a more innocent time & it deserves to be enjoyed, again!

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.

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.

Watching this for the first time on DVD. Updating as I'm getting through them. I had only watched the movie back in the early eighties as the show was never repeated on TV.

So, yes it's very racist, but also misunderstood by many critics. Did it promote racism or mock the bigotry? Depends on your point of view. Both sides seems valid. My view is both, but any promotion of it was unintentional, and unforeseen at the time due to less culture awareness during the 1970's. These days, racism is far worse than it ever was back then (and not due to this show). Besides, both Rudolph Walker (who still defends the show) and Nina Baden-Semper would never have taken part otherwise. Who'd think they'd be naive enough to? Personal view over.

This show reverses political sides from "Til' Death Us Do Part". Alf Garnett is a right wing Tory whilst Eddie Booth is a left wing socialist. It showed that anyone can be racist. What's even more interesting is that Bill is a tory. For back then that is progressive which shows that nobody is politically pigeonholed.

Although Bill is black, he only ever retaliated with racist remarks back at Eddie after he is pushed to by him. Bill's wife understands his frustration but reminds him that his racist slurs back are unacceptable too. Why stoop to Eddie's level as Bill clearly isn't a racist she is really saying. Onto a brief review of each series.

Series 1-3: Starts off strong. It has plenty of great comedic moments. Few duff episodes towards the end of series 3 with some overly silly moments.

The movie adaption was released between series 3 & 4. Worth a watch.

Series 4-5: Apart from the racial slurs from Eddie they then tamed it right down turning it into a more mild conventional ITV comedy sitcom, moving the focus more away from Bill & Eddie onto other characters, and then just making them all completely bonkers making less sense. They even broke the fourth wall right at the end of series 4. I'll say no more on that. Series 5 was marginally better.

It becomes too repetitive with weaker storylines and jokes and doesn't get any better as it goes on. They made Eddie more a clueless gullible buffoon than before. Stories become a bit too ridiculously silly. Bill also becomes way too soft on Eddie's racism, and that's apart from Bill still often threatening to give him "a bunch of black fives" in anger and never does. Gets old quickly by then. Why does he still try so hard to be friends with someone so continuously unbearable? His own added gullibilities and foolishness helps kill these seasons. He should remain the more sensible if the two.

Series 6 & 7: Better storylines. Making it more fun to watch again. Eddie is still gullible as ever. Fewer duff moments, particularly a silly medieval dream scene. Haven't gotten around to watching the final eighth series yet, so will update again in due course.

Barbie is is very likeable but also a bit too sweet, she should have been just as cutting as Joan (who's hilarious). The original Joan in the unaired episode was too nice for Eddie, so good switch. They both put up with cheating hubbies though. I'm more dismayed by the wive's attitudes of only mildly chastising their husbands for whenever being caught cheating, like they were just being late home from the club. This kind of further tarnished their characters a little for me too. I feel this aspect is more dated today rather than anything else. Eddie always seems like a fool for anything though.

Jacko & Arthur are great extras though. Particularly "I'll have half" Jacko. Always perplexing Eddie. "...Pardon?". Arthur on the other hand often cracks funny jokes about his mostly unseen overbearing wife. The original landlord was more background. The new meaner landlord who is more hostile towards Eddie plays a bigger role, but his character quickly gets toned down into someone more likeable.

I feel that they missed a big opportunity in not making the racist slurs cut both ways equally towards each other. Eddie's slurs are continuous whilst Bill's remain too few and far between. Perhaps more people might have understood the shows intentions better if they had not these few issues. This is worth watching at least once or twice anyway. It has never been aired on TV since its original run but is available in a complete DVD boxset.