Till Death Us Do Part is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1965 to 1975. First airing as a Comedy Playhouse pilot, the series aired for seven series until 1975. Six years later, ITV continued the sitcom, calling it Till Death.... From 1985 to 1992, the BBC produced a sequel In Sickness and in Health.Created by Johnny Speight, Till Death Us Do Part centred on the East End Garnett family, led by Alf Garnett (Warren Mitchell), a white working-class man who holds racist and anti-Socialist views. His long-suffering wife Else was played by Dandy Nichols, and his daughter Rita by Una Stubbs. Rita's layabout husband Mike Rawlins (Antony Booth) is a socialist. The character Alf Garnett became a well known character in British culture, and Mitchell played him on stage and television up until 1998, when Speight died.In addition to the spin-off In Sickness and in Health, Till Death Us Do Part was re-made in many countries, from the United States, to Brazil, Germany, and Hong Kong, with the most notable remake being the long-running 1970's American series All in the Family. Many episodes from the first three series are thought to hardly exist, having been wiped in the mid 70s as was the policy at the time
In 1980, the ITV company ATV picked up the series and produced a solo show starring Alf - titled The Thoughts Of Chairman Alf At Christmas - transmitted on the 26th December. It was recently discovered that the original copy had been wiped, which is unusual as the wiping of archive material at ITV is usually thought to have stopped around 1977. After a search to find the special, two copies were found by viewers who recorded the show - one a low quality VHS copy, the other a mild quality Betamax recording. The special is currently available to view at The Museum Of Film & Television Bradford - at their television booths.In 1981, ATV made six episodes under the title Till Death.... The series had Alf and Else living in a retirement home in Eastbourne with their widowed friend Min. Although Rita remained in the cast, Anthony Booth declined to return. Rita's son Michael was now a teenager and a punk rocker (even though he was born in 1972 and he should only be about 9 or 10). Critics claimed that "the show didn't have it's original atmosphere of Till Death Us Do Part" - this may be due to the fact that it wasn't recorded in front of an audience (meaning it didn't contain a laughter track). The series collapsed, and when Central Television started broadcasting in 1982, it was decided that Till Death... was not to return.In 1985 Alf Garnett returned to the BBC for In Sickness and in Health. This took Alf and Else (who was now in a wheelchair) onward into old age, and some of Alf's more extreme opinions were found to have mellowed. Una Stubbs made some guest appearances but Anthony Booth apparently wasn't interested in reprising his role. Eventually Mike and Rita divorced and Rita began dating a doctor. After the first series Dandy Nichols died, and so subsequent episodes showed Alf having to deal with the greatest loss of his life - Else's pension. Inevitably the loss of Else and Rita as regulars in the cast meant that new characters had to be brought in as antagonists for Alf. These notably included his home help, Winston (played by Eamonn Walker), who was both black and gay, and Alf's prim upstairs neighbour, Mrs Hollingberry (played by Carmel McSharry), who eventually agreed to marry Alf. In 1988, Speight was warned about the use of racist language - and after discussion it was decided that Garnett's offensive language was to be discontinued and the character of Winston was to be written out. With such characters helping update the basic concept, the "Sickness and Health" series ran until 1992.
MySpace Layouts
MySpace Layouts MySpace Codes MySpace Backgrounds
I made my layout with the Myspace Background Maker . Get myspace layouts , graphics , and flash toys at pYzam .
