Porn Yesterday was a 1974 episode of Steptoe and Son, from the final series. Harold (Harry H Corbett) picks up an antique âWhat the Butler Sawâ machine on his rounds and brings it home to Oil Drum Lane. He is delightedly running the images of vintage pornography through the viewfinder, until he recognises his father featuring in a scene that also involved a woman and bath full of milk. Suddenly itâs not quite as much fun, and Harold is worried that any scandal might affect his already faltering chances of getting into the golf club.
"What my poor mother must have gone through. She didnât know about this, did she?"
âCourse she did, that was her sister in the bath.â
âThey were desperate times. Everything we had was in pawn.â
Although being played largely for broad comedy with some great one-liners, the writers, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, could still bring out some intense dramatic performances with rapid changes in mood, a technique later used to great effect by John Sullivan in Only Fools and Horses.
Addressing Haroldâs disgust, Albert Steptoe (Wilfrid Brambell) recalls the economic conditions of the time, the poverty and starvation, and how desperate young people were being exploited and misled with the offer of a fiver for being in what they believed would be legitimate films to be shown at the Gaumont. At times, the studio audience seems at a loss as to how to react. When Albert is reduced to tears, there is a brief laugh. The audience also laughs when Albert relates that poor Auntie Rose had died of pneumonia two weeks after being immersed in the milk bath.
Thereâs a happy ending; a deal is done with the local Vicar to make the machine available for the church jumble sale and split the profits. Albert becomes a celebrity in the parish, signing autographs for which the Vicar cheerfully charges two shillings each for church funds.
Steptoe and Son came about as a result of Galton and Simpson being offered a series of ten 30 minute slots for the BBCâs anthology, Comedy Playhouse, with total creative freedom. One episode, The Offer (1962), featured father and son rag and bone men, and was innovative in that actors, rather than variety comics, were cast in the principal roles. Harry H Corbett, at that point seen as a serious dramatic actor with enormous promise, surprised and delighted Galton and Simpson with his interpretation of his role, especially crying real, hopeless tears at the end.
Steptoe and Son ran from 1962-65 and then again 1970-74; a total of 57 episodes. During the early run of the series, Harry H Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell were such big stars they co-headlined the 1963 Royal Variety Performance with the Beatles.
One of the interesting things to note about the series is the intensity of the acting through long, dialogue-heavy scenes, and with very few detectable mistakes. Retakes were frowned upon in those days due to the expense, and so as not to ruin spontaneity with the studio audience. Itâs interesting to compare with Dadâs Army, for example, which retains obvious dialogue stumbles, continuity mistakes and goofs right the way through.
Itâs also interesting to imagine Steptoe and Son without the audience laughter. (We get some idea from the feature films). Albert takes vindictive delight in derailing any attempts by Harold to live a life of his own, while Albert is, at times, cowering in fear in the face of Haroldâs potentially violent temper. The comedic aspects aside, it would actually make a dark, confronting and occasionally frightening kitchen sink family drama.
It was reported that, at the 1964 general election, Labour Leader Harold Wilson attempted to have the Thursday evening screening of Steptoe rescheduled, concerned that potential Labour voters would be staying home to watch it, rather than coming out to vote. The BBC did not change their programming, and Labour won with a four seat majority.
