Trivia / Steptoe and Son

• Dawson Casting: There was only a thirteen year age gap between the two stars.
• Fake Brit: Wilfrid Brambell, despite being Irish, spoke with a received pronunciation English accent
• Hostility on the Set:
  • It was long rumoured that Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell couldn't stand each other in real life and had recurrent problems working together on set. Family members and production members have argued against this however. The docudrama The Curse of Steptoe focused on this, prompting Ray Galton and Alan Simpson to state in a letter to The Times that "during this entire [12 year] period we were unaware of any conflict between the actors save from the occasional gritting of Wilfrid's false teeth when Harry had the perceived audacity to give him a little direction. At all other times they were the acme of professionalism". Though they were never close friends due to their very different lifestyles (Brambell was a closet homosexual with refined tastes, Corbett was an extroverted heterosexual and committed socialist) and approaches to their craft (Brambell was classically trained, Corbett was a Method actor), the only real argument between them during the TV series came over who should get top billing (the BBC compromised by alternating their credits each episode).
  • However, what tensions there were between them exploded during a 1977-78 stage tour of Australia and New Zealand.
    • Brambell and Corbett signed on for the tour as their careers were in the doldrums, and they found the money impossible to turn down. However, they were starting to tire of being typecast as Albert and Harold, seeing each other as symbols of something they wanted to move past. As Brambell was drinking more heavily than ever while Corbett was smoking multiple packs of cigarettes every day, the punishing schedule took its toll on their mental and physical states. Corbett was deeply fond of Australia and New Zealand, both of which he had visited extensively, but Brambell knew little about them, and his feelings of being set adrift in an unfamiliar land caused him to seek further solace in the bottle. At one point, he drunkenly lashed out at Corbett for travelling with his wife and children - in front of them. An enraged Corbett grabbed Brambell by the collar and snarled, "Never my children."
    • Brambell's alcoholism led to a steep decline in his professionalism, particularly if he and Corbett had been fighting; at one point, he simply refused to go on stage, instead joining an usher he had befriended for a roast beef dinner with his family while Corbett struggled through the performance on his own. Eventually, Corbett gave up trying to cover for his co-star's antics, and his wife Maureen took over the task of keeping Brambell in line. Things hit rock bottom during a promotional radio interview in Christchurch; when asked what they thought of New Zealand's landscape and architecture, a seriously hung over Brambell growled, "I hate your fucking town, and it's the lowest place I've ever been in all my life," to Corbett's horror. The blowback was immediate, with the broadcast being cut, the switchboard flooded with angry phone calls from politicians, and the actors and their entourages smuggled out of the studio. The tour never recovered, although Brambell and Corbett's relationship did; they continued to make joint appearances as Albert and Harold right up until Corbett's death in 1982 (just before a planned second tour of Australia).
• Missing Episode:
  • A notable aversion to the state of most BBC 60s TV Shows, every episode exists, but many of the early 70s episodes, although taped in colour, only survive in black and white copies (including an episode revolving around the characters buying a colour TV, ironically). A couple were only preserved in the form of domestic off-air recordings made by Galton and Simpson themselves.
  • The sixth episode of the fourth series, "My Old Man's a Tory" (originally broadcast on 8th November 1965) was thought to be lost until 1994, when an optical transfer made from a domestic 405 line reel to reel videotape was obtained from Galton and Simpson.
• Real Life Writes the Hairstyle: Harry H. Corbett was losing his hair when the series began. He began wearing a hairpiece to cover his bald spot in 1963, before wearing a full wig from 1972 onwards.
• Recycled Script: Season six's "A Star is Born" is lifted from one of the 'Classic 39' episodes of The Honeymooners titled "On Stage", in which Ralph Kramden in order to raise money for his lodge (The Racoons) takes part in a play directed by a Mr Faversham, the "polo-ponies" joke is identical.
• Sequel in Another Medium: The 2005 stage play Steptoe and Son in Murder at Oil Drum Lane, co-written by Ray Galton, brought an end to the series, explaining the two protagonists' lives together and their deaths.
• Series Hiatus: The series took a break from 1965-1970 due to Wilfrid Brambell wanting to move on to other projects.
• Typecasting: Both Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell suffered from this in their later careers.
• Underage Casting: Wilfrid Brambell was only 49 when he began playing Albert Steptoe, who was supposed to be 63 when the series began; he was just 13 years older than Harry H. Corbett.
• What Could Have Been:
  • When Wilfrid Brambell left the series in 1965 to star in the Broadway musical Kelly, Galton and Simpson toyed with the concept of killing off Albert in order to continue the show without having to await Brambell's return. The character would have been replaced with Harold's illegitimate son, Arthur (a part thought to be intended for actor David Hemmings). This idea was detested by Harry H. Corbett, who thought it ridiculous and was abandoned when Brambell returned when Kelly closed after just one performance.
  • There was talk of reviving the series in 1981 but it never happened.

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