Full “Curse of Steptoe” on YouTube

A BBC4 biodrama about the lives of the actors portraying beloved stars of seminal sitcom "Steptoe and Son". Jason Isaacs earned a BAFTA nomination for his portrayal of Harry H. Corbett! First aired 19 March, 2008.

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servalan
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Re: Full “Curse of Steptoe” on YouTube

Post by servalan » Wed Jul 14, 2021 4:58 pm

I don't know which version of The Curse of Steptoe you saw, Anniemouse, but I suspect it was the edited version.

The original show had Harry H Corbett starting an affair with his second wife Maureen while still married to Sheila. However, IRL they had already split up when this happened. The surviving family of Harry H objected to this depiction of him as an adulterer, especially as Maureen and he were both dead so could not speak for themselves. So the BBC edited the show by cutting out a few bits and putting the meeting in at a later point in the story. When you have seen the original, the new join looks a bit clunky.

I believe the script for the show was influenced by interviews with Sheila Steafel which may not have painted Harry H in the best light, and was a rather biased source.

If you look at the Wikipedia entry for The Curse of Steptoe, you can see all the other complaints about the inaccurate facts of the show. Galton & Simpson, the writers of Steptoe & Son, distanced themselves from the drama, saying that Harry H & Wilfrid Brambell did not hate each other:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_Steptoe

I think the bottom line is that Jason & Phil Davis both gave great performances, but the drama was so inaccurate the BBC won't show or sell it.

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Anniemouse
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Re: Full “Curse of Steptoe” on YouTube

Post by Anniemouse » Wed Jul 14, 2021 5:23 pm

I feel awful for dragging all this up again.

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thunder
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Re: Full “Curse of Steptoe” on YouTube

Post by thunder » Thu Jul 15, 2021 3:38 am

No worries, Annie. :hug

And thank you, Servalan :D

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servalan
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Re: Full “Curse of Steptoe” on YouTube

Post by servalan » Tue Jul 20, 2021 4:43 am

The good thing is that you actually got to watch it, Annie. :D

Another weird inaccuracy was that Jason wore brown contact lenses, but Harry H had blue eyes, so it was completely unnecessary.

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Anniemouse
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Re: Full “Curse of Steptoe” on YouTube

Post by Anniemouse » Tue Jul 20, 2021 5:26 pm

I did enjoy it and Jason has such a great ear for accents and voices. He got Harry H Corbett to a T. Yes the contact lense issue is weird.

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