Was 70s comedy racist and sexist?
New ITV3 series to investigate
ITV3 has commissioned a documentary series looking at how Seventies sitcoms treated gender, class and race.The new show, provisionally titled Beyond A Joke, marks a rare venture outside the digital channel’s usual schedule of re-running old drama shows.
The five-part series, to be made by ITV Productions, will examine programmes inlcuding On the Buses, Love They Neighbour and The Young Ones.
And contributors will include John Cleese, Carla Lane, Tony Benn and Paul Nicholas.
An ITV spokesman said: ‘We look at them with our modern world view and are shocked by their attitudes, situations and themes. But look at them more closely and you will see they are a reflection what was actually going on in Britain at the time.’
’ The series will explore how sitcom - and comedy in general - served up these contemporary issues to its audience and how much the shows got it right and how much they got it wrong’.
Each episode will focus on a particular theme: Work Rest and Play, The Birds The Blokes and The Bees, Politically Incorrect, A Class Apart and Voice of the People.
Published: 6 Nov 2008
