Till Death Us Do Part

Television series
Original title	Till Death Us Do Part
Country of production	Great Britain
original language	English
Year (s)	1965-1975
length	20-40 minutes
Episodes	54 in 7 seasons
genre	Sitcom
idea	Johnny Speight
music	Dennis Wilson
First broadcast	July 22, 1965 on BBC One
German-language first broadcast	October 4, 1969 on West German television
occupation
Alf Garnett Warren Mitchell Else Garnett Dandy Nichols Rita Rawlins Una Stubbs Mike Rawlins Antony Booth

Till Death Us Do Part (German Until Death Us Part ) is a sitcom from Great Britain that aired from 1965 to 1975 with a few interruptions. From the pilot to the series finale in 1975, 54 episodes were produced in a total of seven seasons. Six years later, the TV station ITV continued the sitcom under the title Till Death… . From 1985 to 1992 the BBC produced a sequel called In Sickness and in Health .

The idea comes from Johnny Speight . Till Death Us Do Part is set in the East End of London . The Garnett family lives there and is patriarchally run by Alf Garnett, a reactionary white working class worker with racist and anti-socialist views. His gentle and indifferent wife Else and his daughter Rita have to endure this. The situation is exacerbated by Rita's sly but lazy husband Mike Rawlins, who is a socialist. The figure of Alf Garnett achieved a high level of recognition in British culture . Mitchell played him on stage and on television until Speight's death in 1998.

Numerous offshoots of the series were produced in different countries, including the German cult series Ein Herz und ein Seele . The British series also served as a template for the US sitcom All in the Family and the Hong Kong version All in a Family .

series

Successful years

The series quickly became a hit because, despite being a comedy, in the context of the time it portrayed working class life in a comparatively realistic way. It raises the political issues of a troubled time in British society. The attitude of those Alf embodied in his role was so clearly unacceptable that they became ridiculous. Some of Alf's statements were also uncomfortable and annoying. But there were also viewers who did not realize that Johnny Speight was only treating these racist attitudes in a satirical manner. Ironically, the show had a high level of acceptance among those who shared Alf's views. Mitchell gave the character Alf Garnett his own note and served him with his own humorous charm, which made Alf likeable. In interviews, Mitchell said that some viewers ignored Alf's views and viewed him as a diamond in the rough, which disappointed Speight.

The show reveals the essential characteristic of Britain in the 1960s - the increase in the generation gap that resulted in the '68 movement . Alf (and to a lesser extent his wife) represent the old guard, the traditional and conservative attitude of the older generation. Alf's struggles with his politically left-wing son-in-law were not only ideological, but also a generational and cultural conflict. His son-in-law and daughter (a fan of her husband as an active protagonist) represent the younger generation. They saw the positive aspects of the new time with their relaxed approach to sexual morality, fashion and music. These things were anathema to Alf. This liberalism was the epitome of everything that went wrong in the younger generation.

Alf has been portrayed as an archetypal Conservative Party worker . The subjects that excited him were mostly football or politics, but his actual knowledge of these was limited. He used a language that was considered unacceptable on British television in the 1960s . He often referred to racial minorities as "coons" (German negroes ). He liked to call his Liverpool- born son-in-law "Shirley Temple" or "Randy Scouse -Git" (German Geiler Scouse-Depp ). His wife had to be called "silly moo" (German "stupid cow"). Mary Whitehouse cited the show as an example of the BBC's moral laxity because the vulgar word "bloody" (German "cursed") was used on a mainstream show .

A show of satirical skills is an episode of Speight - after a successful defamation suit brought by Mary Whitehouse against Speight - in which Alf Garnet is seen as a fan of Mary Whitehouse on her first television broadcast on February 27, 1967. Alf was proud to read her latest book. “What are you reading?” Asks his son-in-law. When he said it was Mary Whitehouse, his son-in-law giggles. Alf's reply: "She is concerned about the moral bleeding of the nation!"

The saying "Silly moo" became the slogan. Another Garnett slogan was "it stands to reason" (German "We speak reasonably"), which he uses in front of obviously unreasonable comments. Politically, Alf was a supporter of Enoch Powell , a politician who was counted on the right wing of the Conservative Party. Powell was best known for his stance against the immigration of non-white immigrants to Britain. Alf was also a fan of West Ham United . In this context, there were also Alf's statements to Tottenham Hotspur as "the Jews up at Spurs" (German "the Jews at the Spurs"), as this club has a considerable Jewish fan base. These connections were a playful note on Speight, knowing that Mitchell was both a Jew and a Spurs fan in real life.

In interviews, Speight explains that the original of Alf was based on his father, a staunch reactionary East End docker with an “unenlightened” attitude towards black people. Speight made it clear that he had attributed such attitudes to his father.

From 1972 the series aired in color and Rita had a son (Michael).

Discontinuation of the series

Towards the end of the series, Dandy Nichols fell ill and it was impossible for a live audience to be present during the recording. Their sequences had to be copied into the show afterwards. When this too became too much for Nichols, Else, to Alf's dismay, left the family for Australia . Patricia Hayes , who had played the neighbor Mrs. Reed from time to time, was given the first name Min. It was expanded to a leading role. The role of her husband Bert was also expanded. The role was changed from Bill Maynard to Alfie Bass .

The ratings dropped, so that the series was canceled in 1975. In the last episode, Alf lost his job and he received a telegram in which Else requested a divorce.

production

Like most BBC sitcoms, Till Death Us Do Part was recorded in the studio in front of a live audience. The recording was on 2 inch quadruplex video tape. From 1966 to 1968 the show was recorded and broadcast in black and white . With the return of the series in 1970, the production and broadcasting of the show switched to color . For the opening and closing credits of the first color episodes, the sequences from the 1960s were used and colored red.

Missing black and white episodes

Except for one tape, the 26 episodes of seasons 1 to 3 in black and white (broadcast between 1965 and 1968) no longer exist in the original. They were deleted from the BBC in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The episodes currently in existence are one of the original tapes, as well as copies on film and broadcast copies made by private collectors. In 1997 the 21-minute 16-mm television recording, the long-lost episode “Alf's Dilemma” (German “Alf's Dilemma”) was found in a private collection. This episode was repeated on UK Gold in 1998 .

The other completely preserved b / w episodes: "Arguments, Arguments", "A House With No Love In It", "Peace & Goodwill", "In Sickness and In Health", "State Visit", "Till Closing Time Do." Us Part ”,“ The Phone ”and“ The Blood Donor ”.

Excerpts from: "Intolerance", "Sex Before Marriage", "The Bulldog Breed", "The Workers' King", "The Puppy" and "Aunt Maud".

The further search for the lost episodes is coordinated by the BBC archives.

Episodes

All of the episodes in the series were broadcast on BBC One . The episodes in the 1960s were in black and white, those in the 1970s in color. The pilot broadcast BBC 1 on July 22, 1965.

After that, a total of 49 episodes were broadcast in seven seasons. In the first block, the first season ran from June 6 to August 1, 1966, the second season from December 26, 1966 to February 27, 1967 and the third season from January 5 to February 16, 1968. After a four-year period Break broadcast BBC 1 the second block with the fourth season from September 13 to October 25, 1972, the fifth season from January 2 to February 28, 1974, the sixth season from January 8 to February 12, 1975 and the seventh season from November 5 to December 16, 1975.

There were also special programs on special holidays. Between the second and third seasons, one for Easter , which was broadcast on March 27, 1967, one for the British general election , which was broadcast on June 18, 1970, and two for Christmas , on December 26, 1972 and December 31, 1974 were sent.

Sequels

In 1980 the television station ATV , which was then part of ITV, produced a Christmas episode entitled "The Thoughts Of Chairman Alf At Christmas". The program aired on December 26, 1980. It was recently discovered that the original tape had been deleted, which is unusual. The deletion of archive tapes at ITV was discontinued in 1977. However, this depended on the individual broadcasters in the company. In some cases, archive material was still deleted up until the mid-1980s, including at ATV. After a search, two recordings were found - one in low quality ( VHS ) and one in medium quality ( Betamax ). This special edition is available at the television shop of the "Film and Television Museum" in Bradford .

In 1981, ATV six more episodes under the title Till Death ... ago. Here Alf and "Else" lived in a retirement home in Eastbourne , along with their now widowed friend Min. Although Rita 's cast remained unchanged, the actor Antony Booth refused to return. Rita's son Michael is now a teenager and a punk rocker. This sequel was not a great success.

1985 returned Alf Garnett with a series entitled In Sickness and in Health (German In sickness and in health ) back to the BBC. This happened well into the old age of Alf and Else (who was now in a wheelchair) when it was found that Alf was revising some of his most extreme views. Eventually, Mike and Rita got divorced and Rita began dating a doctor. After the first season, Dandy Nichols passed away. In the following episodes it became clear that Alf had to deal with the great loss of his wife Else, whom he had loved so much.

The loss of Else and Rita as the regular cast required new characters for Alf. These included, in particular, his housekeeper Winston (played by Eamonn Walker ), a homosexual black, and Alf's direct upper neighbor “Mrs. Hollingberry ”(played by Carmel McSharry ), who could possibly imagine marrying Alf. In 1988 Speight was warned not to continue using the radical language. After further discussion it became clear that Garnett's crude language would no longer be continued. Speight wrote the character Winston from the script. With these changes in the basic concept, the "Sickness and Health" series ran until 1992.

Warren Mitchell has also appeared on stage and on television with a solo program as Alf Garnet. He performed variations of Alf's self-invented and reactionary philosophy and old variety pieces. The show An Audience With Alf Garnett (German An Audience with Alf Garnett ), which allowed Alf Garnett to return to his basic racist attitude, received special attention .

Another show was called It Stands To Reason - The Thoughts Of Chairman Alf (German we speak reasonably - The thoughts of Chairman Alf ); one reviewer concludes that "Speight and Mitchell should be congratulated for understanding the thoughts of a man they hate."

Film adaptations

Two feature films were based on the series. In the film Till Death Us Do Part from 1969. The first half of the film shows the young "Alf" and "Else" during the Second World War , the second half deals with the presence of the "Garnetts" as they move from the East End slum Moving to Hemel Hempstead's New Town , with all the changes and adjustments the family has to face.

Another film is The Alf Garnett Saga from 1972. Adrienne Posta plays Rita and Paul Angelis plays Mike. It is noteworthy that Alf Garnett is on an LSD trip in this film .

DVD

In the UK, Network released the first two color series on DVD. This DVD edition is no longer produced, however, because the license was returned to BBC Worldwide , which markets the episodes under 2entertain . Some fans have asked the BBC to reissue this DVD edition. Until recently, only all six seasons of In Sickness & In Health and the Christmas special were available on DVD from 2entertain .

Season four was released in the United States and Canada prior to Network release . There were only changes in the title sequence. The 1969 film is available in both the UK and the US. The film from 1972 is not available on DVD. There are only a few pirated copies in circulation.

Differences from All In The Family

The American series All In The Family is inspired by Till Death Do Us Part . However, there are some differences:

• While Else's image Edith in All In the Family was a "dingsa", loyal and loving wife, Else Garnett was a clever but long-suffering woman. The bitterness over her unhappy marriage was also shown by her heavy smoking. She was often humiliated by her husband (when he said "stupid old cow" to her), often also by the family because of her simple living conditions.

• In All in the Family , Mike and Archie Bunker were always at odds and seldom got along. In Till Death Us Do Part Alf and Mike could never agree, but always went to the bourgeois pub together. Alf and Mike also went to the World Cup and Mike protected his father-in-law.

• The bunkers, despite their working class membership, lived in comfortable, if somewhat shabby, surroundings; the Garnetts lived in a simple row of houses.

literature

• Gavin Schaffer: Till Death Us Do Part and the BBC. Racial Politics and the British Working Classes 1965-75 . Ed .: Journal of Contemporary History. 45th edition. April 2010, ISSN  0022-0094 , p. 454-477 , JSTOR : 20753595 (English).

Web links

• Till Death Us Do Part in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Episode guide on lostshows.com (English)
• Detailed articles and episode guides from Til Death Us Do Part and all other "Alf Garnett" spin-offs ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

Remarks

1. ↑ "Randy Scouse-Git" is a music track by the Monkees , which was released in Great Britain under the title "Alternative Title" in order to avoid a confrontation with the Conservatives.
2. ↑ The word "moo" was chosen as a replacement for the word "cow", because "cow" failed due to the veto of the then comedy resort manager of the BBC Frank Muir. However, Michael Palin writes in his diary on July 16, 1976, Warren Mitchell had told him that “silly moo” was not in the script: “It occurred to him when he said the line 'Silly old mare' (German, 'stupid old mare ') had forgotten. "
3. ↑ Color scheme was shown on UKTV Gold in 2006
4. ↑ Some sources say this episode is an edited version. Other sources speak of a short episode in itself.
5. ↑ Chronologically incorrect, as Michael was born in 1972 and could therefore be no more than ten years old.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mark Ward: A Family at War - Till Death Do Us Part. A war of roses - until death do us part. (No longer available online.) In: The Main Event (Kalaidoscope brochure) 1996. Archived from the original on October 12, 2010 ; Retrieved March 19, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.