YMMV / Love Thy Neighbour

• Critical Dissonance: Critics and social commentators hated this show. Fans loved it then - and still love it now. This massive polarisation of opinion was a phenomenon at the time.
• Fair for Its Day: Similar to creator Vince Powell's follow-up Mind Your Language, the series is widely criticized for its racist language and use of ethnic stereotypes, but at the time was looked at positively for allowing non-white performers the chance to appear in major roles, something which they had previously been denied the opportunity to. It is also often pointed out that the black character of Bill always had the last laugh on his ignorant, racist white neighbour.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In 2003, DVDs of the series were reported to be selling well in Nigeria, parts of the Caribbean and Australia.
• Poor Man's Substitute: Many reviewers consider the show as a poor man's Till Death Us Do Part, an attempt by ITV with its inferior writing staff to capitalise on the success of the BBC series.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • A barman from "Refused a Drink" is played by Frank Thornton, who would later be best known for playing Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served?.
  • Mr. Simpson from "The Protection of the Law" is played by Robin Parkinson, who would later be best known for playing the third LeClerc in 'Allo 'Allo!.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: A major contributing factor to the show's divisive reception is the fact that it's very difficult to root for either Bill or Eddie, as both are depicted as petty, vindictive, thin-skinned bigots. While Bill's anti-white sentiments are at least somewhat understandable given the sheer amount of crap he has to deal with from Eddie, the fact that he's shown to be just as racist towards other ethnic minorities^note Asians and Chinese still makes him hard to empathize with.
• Values Dissonance: The heavy usage of racial slurs and the broad stereotypes of people of colour, combined with the shallow portrayal of racism as a reciprocal, inevitable and petty process without any wider societal factors, all mean that the series could never be shown on mainstream television today.

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