THAT'S TV TO SHOW 'MISSING' EPISODES OF TILL DEATH US DO PART NOT SEEN ON TV FOR OVER 50 YEARS

One of the Queen's all time "favourite" shows returns this Sunday including four 'rediscovered' episodes that went missing from the archive in 1960s

LONDON, Sept. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- COR BLIMEY! Classic TV channel That's TV has announced that it will show the long-running sitcom, Till Death Us Do Part, including four episodes which have not been seen on British TV for over 50 years.

Till Death Us Do Part and its successor, In Sickness and In Health, ran for four decades on BBC One with 13 series' made between 1966 and 1992. Described by Prince Philip as The Queen's "favourite show", Till Death Us Do Part lampoons the views of its central character, Alf Garnett, a bombastic big-mouthed buffoon with a reactionary opinion on everything.

The Alf Garnett season on That's TV starts this Sunday (4 September 2022) at 9.00pm. That's TV will show over 80 episodes of Till Death Us Do Part and In Sickness and In Health, including four 'lost' episodes which have not been broadcast since going missing from the archives in the late 1960s.

Although most of the early episodes of Till Death Us Do Part were wiped in the 1960s, a handful of these 'lost' recordings have been discovered by budding technicians and film collectors over the past 20 years.

Thus Autumn That's TV will show all 13 seasons of the sitcom including four episodes from the 1960s which have not aired on British TV for over 50 years. And whilst the lead protagonist, Alf Garnett, may be younger than in the later seasons, his diatribes are no less absurd.

Alf Garnett was played by the late Warren Mitchell, who described the character as "an ignorant, loud-mouthed, stupid pig of a man. A know-all. Nasty, repulsive." In 1967 Mitchell was awarded the BAFTA for Best Actor in the role.

Till Death Us Do Part depicts the life of Alf Garnett and his incessant squabbling with his wife, Elsie (played by Dandy Nichols), son-in-law Mike (played by Tony Booth, father of Tony Blair's wife Cherrie Blair) and daughter Rita (played by Una Stubbs, later famed for such shows as Worzel Gummidge and Sherlock).

The sitcom courted controversy from the outset, being one of the first BBC shows in the 1960s to feature the swear word "bloody" (broadcast 1,436 times during the first seven seasons). The Conservative Party complained that its leader, Edward Heath, was described as a "grammar school twit" in the first episode. TV Clean-Up Campaigner Mary Whitehouse sent a telegram to Harold Wilson, the Prime Minister, describing the series as "dirty, blasphemous and full of bad language."

The show made a household name of its creator, Johnny Speight, a prolific comedy writer who wrote for television stars including Frankie Howerd, Peter Sellers, Morecambe and Wise, Eric Sykes and Arthur Haynes. Speight won three Best Comedy Writer awards from the Screenwriter's Guild for the show.

Speight intended for Till Death Us Do Part to offer a sharp social commentary. Audience research showed that Alf Garnett was seen as "a typical ignorant and prejudiced loud-mouth". Dennis Main Wilson, the veteran BBC comedy producer who received a BAFTA award for his work on the series, said in 1973: "Our intention was to hold a mirror up to the world. Let it see itself – warts and all. With his loud-mouthed bigotries, he was to be the anti-hero. He was to be laughed at – not with."

Till Death Us Do Part represented a radical departure in BBC situation comedy, seeking to ridicule the prejudices that persisted in parts of society. The far-right British National Party recognised that the producers were using Alf Garnett to make racist views look stupid. John Tyndall, head of the BNP, complained in 1967: "The BBC and well-known leftist Johnny Speight had collaborated to put right-wing views in the mouth of an idiot."

In 1972 Mitchell performed as Alf Garnett with his co-stars live for The Queen at the Royal Variety Performance. Following the recording of the charity show Prince Philip introduced Speight to Princess Anne saying: "This is the gentleman who writes your mother's favourite show." With Mary Whitehouse raging a war against the programme's swearing, Tony Booth asked the Queen Mother if she was concerned about the show's critics. The Queen Mum responded: "Don't worry, they're only cranks."

Till Death Us Do Part has been cited as the most influential sitcom in TV history. It reached 20 million viewers and its format was sold around the world. The former director general of the BBC, Sir Hugh Greene, listed the show among the series which "raised the BBC's reputation to new heights."

Till Death Us Do Part's influence can be seen in many comedies over subsequent decades including The Royle Family, The Office, South Park and the Borat films. Comedian Ricky Gervais has described Alf Garnett as one of the most "important characters" in the history of comedy. Gervais wrote in 2015:  "Alf Garnett was one of the most influential and important characters and performances in comedy history."

That's TV Head of Programming, Kris Vaiksalu, said: "At a time of great social change, Till Death Us Do Part set out to challenge ignorance and prejudice and in doing so became one of the most popular sitcoms in British history. Alf Garnett's antics provided compulsive viewing for four decades and That's TV is excited to have secured the rights to show every season of the show this Autumn. Whilst only a small number of the episodes from the 1960s still exist, they represent an extraordinary social commentary of the time. These episodes have a special place in television history and are of wider historic significance, with Alf Garnett rallying against the changing attitudes of the 1960s." 

Vaiksalu added: "We've been working hard to secure the rights to show these extremely rare tapes. Alf Garnett is one of British TV's greatest comic creations and is a significant part of our cultural heritage. Till Death Us Do Part can been seen to have influenced many of the great characters in TV comedy over the decades from Homer Simpson to David Brent. We have been delighted to be able to work with the BBC and the Speight family to secure the rights to show some of these early episodes on TV for the first time in well over 50 years."

Johnny Speight's widow, Connie Speight, said: "It is wonderful news that That's TV will be showing these 'lost' episodes of Till Death Us Do Part from the 1960s. Johnny wrote Till Death Us Do Part as a 'kitchen-sink' comedy, openly ridiculing the politics and bigotry of the era. Alf Garnett will forever be enshrined in the British collective psyche, embodying everything wrong with the nation in one man. The family has been pleased to work with That's TV to enable them to broadcast a number of the early episodes for the first time in over 50 years."

Johnny Speight's daughter, Samantha Speight, said: "Discovering these lost episodes from the 1960s is like finding a time capsule. It should not just be academics that get to see TV shows from the last century and discuss their impact. There is something special about watching episodes which have not been broadcast for so long. My children, Sophia and William, and I and I are looking forward to watching the shows on That's TV and reliving a piece of history."

The name Alf Garnett has become synonymous with anyone ranting at the world in general, and has even found its way into politics, Oswald Mosley dismissed Enoch Powell after his famous Rivers of Blood speech as "a Middle Class Alf Garnett", Denis Healey accused Margaret Thatcher of possessing "the diplomacy of Alf Garnett" and in June 2010 during Prime Minister's Questions David Cameron referred to Ed Balls as "the new Alf Garnett of British politics" following his comments on immigration.

Alf Garnett's status as a British institution was so entrenched by the 1980s that London's Museum of the Moving Image (now the British Film Institute) staged an exhibition where visitors pressed buttons representing particular social problems to be presented by Alf stating his opinions on the subject. Warren Mitchell recorded the sketches free of charge whilst in Australia.

Comedy writers Maurice Gran and Lawrence Marks, responsible for classic shows including The New Statesmen, Birds of a Feather and Goodnight Sweetheart, called Till Death Us Do Part "the bravest piece of programming the BBC ever made".

The writer and racial justice campaigner, Darcus Howe, said: "I loved Till Death Us Do Part, because my wife would sit there and hurl abuse at Alf…Nothing ever engaged her interest in the same way. It was the earliest example of interactive television."

Johnny Speight said in 1995: "I didn't invent Alf. He was created by society. I just grassed on him. I observed him, and unfortunately the world is full of Alf Garnetts. You can't encourage racists to be any worse than they are. And the fact that you raise these points of view and make fun of them makes people inclined to think about them. If you never mention them they just go on."

The irony of Warren Mitchell, a Jewish Labour-supporting Spurs ticket holder, playing a bigoted West Ham fan was clear. As to the question of whether any bigots mistook the point of the show, and took on Alf as their champion, Warren Mitchell told the BBC in 1998: "If they did, hard luck on them. If Alf is all they've got as a champion, then it's a pitiable state of affairs." 

TV expert Mark Ward, wrote in his book about the show A Family At War: "Two things have to be remembered here: Speight's scripts were always anti-racist but always realistic… Till Death Us Do Part thus became the most influential comedy show of all time. Apart from its tremendous popular success, which saw the name Alf Garnett entering the familiar idioms of the English language, it was also partly responsible for the transformation of British television in terms of the ideas that could be presented… Till Death Us Do Part, for better or for worse, changed the face of television."

Till Death Us Do Part was repeated over a decade ago in 2010 on BBC Four – the last time any episode of the series was shown on British television. One 'new' episode (remade using a 1960s script but with a new cast) was also shown as part of the BBC's landmark sitcom season in 2016.

That's TV, which broadcasts on Freeview channel 65, Sky channel 183 and Freesat channel 178 starts showing the surviving episodes of Till Death Us Do Part from this Sunday at 9.00pm.

Till Death Us Do Part is just one of a number of classic TV shows which That's TV has acquired the rights to show this Autumn. Other classic shows and documentary films which That's TV will be airing include:

• The Goodies: Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor star in the sitcom about an agency offering to do good. That's TV has acquired the rights to show all seasons made by both BBC and ITV from 1970 to 1982
• The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin: Leonard Rossiter stars in the black comedy masterpiece about a sales executive whose mid-life crisis results in him faking his own death. First broadcast in 1976
• Whatever Happened To the Likely Lads?: Set in Newcastle upon Tyne, the show follows the friendship of two working-class young men. First broadcast in 1973
• A Bit of Fry and Laurie: Sketch series starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. First broadcast in 1987
• The Kumars at No. 42: Sanjeev Bhaskar stars as a chat-show host who works from home. First broadcast in 2001, winner of an International Emmy in 2002 and 2003 and a Peabody Award in 2004
• Mafia Women with Trevor McDonald: Sir Trevor meets the women 'married to the Mob' & uncovers the stark realities of life in a crime family
• Serial Killer with Piers Morgan: Through intense prison interviews, Piers Morgan revisits the crimes of convicted serial killers
• Dinner Date: An individual gets a chance to go on three blind dates and fill up on meals prepared by the dates themselves. First shown in 2010

In the past year That's TV has also brought back The Benny Hill Show and Monty Python's Flying Circus after many years off air.

The lack of storage space at the time, the high cost of videotape (which could be re-used) and the perception that programmes had little future following transmission were some of the reasons cited by broadcasters for not retaining copies of TV series' in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some programmes have since been recovered following appeals for home video recordings.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

• Interviews with That's TV Chief Executive, Daniel Cass, available on request
• Download imagery here 
• Assets and access to a private screening room available on request