Vince Powell, the creator of 70s ITV sitcoms including Bless This House, died last week.
As I wasn't allowed to watch ITV as a child - it was considered 'rubbish' - I missed out on this and other Powell creations such as Mind your Language and Love Thy Neighbour (as well as other cultural gems including Tiswas and The Price is Right). But I've seen clips of them subsequently, usually in Channel 4 programmes about how awful 70s TV was before it came along.
And it's difficult not to agree - two feuding neighbours exchanging racist insults and a sit-com set in an evening class where assorted foreigners and racial stereotypes were trying to learn English.
Despite this looking appallingly crass now, the shows were extremely popular with Love Thy Neighbour drawing peak audiences of 17m chortling at a white man calling his new black neighbour 'Sambo' and 'Nignog' and getting called 'Honky' and 'Snowflake' in return.
Hilarious stuff. Powell later defended the shows saying that they reflected the attitude at the time, which I guess these ratings suggest that they did. So instead of sneering at this kind of fodder, perhaps we should be grateful that public attitudes and television have moved on and lay them to rest alongside Vince Powell.
Incidentally, I think that my parents were probably right.
