Love Thy Neighbour

There's little difference when compared with the original, above; still a montage of house photographs, although the sky is now blue and sunny, and the right-hand house has been re-glazed and shed its old bay window. Sadly the characters didn't show such reforms: Eddie Booth (Smethurst) remained a bigot. Had the script been blessed with the genius touch of writer Johnny Speight and exposed him for what he is, fair enough. Alf Garnett had been on TV for some six years by this stage. But Booth is the sympathetic hero: "Hello, is that the Race Relations Board? I'd like to complain about the nig-nog next door…" A dozen of these gags pepper every scene. The black character Bill (Walker) certainly gives as good as he gets, often outwitting Booth, but he still seems to be the under-dog. It seems tasteless to modern eyes.