'Racist' comedy out on DVD

Spike Milligan's Curry And Chips

Two of the most racially controversial comedies of the Sixties are to be released on DVD for the first time.

Curry And Chips, in which Spike Milligan 'browned up’ as an Asian immigrant, and the comic play If There Weren't Any Blacks You’d Have To Invent Them will be on shelves from April.

Both were written by Johnny Speight, who as creator of the bigoted Alf Garnett is no stranger to tackling contentious issues.

In the six-part sitcom – which originally aired in 1969 – the former Goon put on a ridiculous accent for the role of half-Pakistani, half-Irish factory worker Kevin O'Grady –aka Paki Paddy.

The character was the butt of racial abuse from his colleagues, often to the delight of the studio audience, and the script is littered with words like 'wog', 'coon' and 'Paki'.

Speight – who wrote Curry And Chip from an original idea by Milligan – always insisted that he was exposing the prejudices of many people in Britain, and O’Grady is often smarter than his white co-workers, but the show makes for uncomfortable viewing today.

Even at the time, the Race Relations Board branded the show racist.

Despite its provocative title, If There Weren't Any Blacks You’d Have To Invent Them was a more thought-provoking, arty piece, starring Leonard Rossiter as a blind man who 'accuses' a passer-by of being black.

Click here to pre-order Curry And Chips, and here for If There Weren't Any Blacks You’d Have To Invent Them.

Here is a clip from Curry & Chips: