Well done... being particular, I must point out it's WilfrId, with 2 i's, not an e.  That's just me being pedantic and irritatingly precise.  Lol.

I'm not surprised you liked it, as you can tell I think it's wonderful.  What episodes did you like / watch?  Were these on television?  Strangely, none of the many foreign Steptoe remakes have ever been shown on british television, not even the film version of the Dutch one. 

The one you mentioned with Pat Routledge was the last regular episode they made.  Other than an extended christmas special and a few guest sketches and commercials, they never made any more!

I haven't heard of the US version - I hope it was better than their version of Dad's Army 

Thanks re the spelling of Wilfrid.

I watched a "best of" video. I don't have it here so I don't have the episode names, but the first one I watched was about Albert being in bed with a bad back and Harold having to run around after him. That one didn't really grab me so much, but then I watched the episode about the seance and was hooked. Interesting that it was the last regular episode. I also watched another one about a "what the butler saw" machine (first time I had heard that expression  I really enjoyed this one too. I also saw most of an episode about Harold buying a new waterbed.

Rogue - the American version was 'Sanford and Son'.  In 1966 they made a pilot for an american version called 'Steptoe and Son' which starred Richard Prior, but it never made it to a series and has never been broadcast.  Sanford and Son doesn't appeal to me, but I guess that's cultural differences - being America the poor had to be black, of course and the first 16 were adapted from the British scripts, the rest by the American writers.  It led to 4 different spin offs!! 

Molly - most of what you saw were all from the eighth and final series.  I will be interested to here what you will think of the earlier ones - by the eight series Steptoe was, like any other comedy, mostly playin for laughs.  But what made the show so different was the fact that the earlier episodes wer ein fact more comedy drama.  In fact, the first ever episode Harry H Corbett thought the script was a drama when he first read it. 

By the last series they were, in essence, 'going through the motions'.  A lot of the pathos and drama had been lost.  I recommend you find some of the earlier ones as they can be a different experience.

There are a lot of them on youtube if you want to save your cash! 

Thanks philglass, I'll watch some of the earlier episodes. I got hold of another "best of" dvd, and I think this one seems to be mostly later episodes too. I must also check out your website.

Hi philglass, thanks for that. I did manage to see one earlier episode "The Bath." I enjoyed it a lot and it was great to see Yootha Joyce. I'll check out the other two you mention.

Part of it I think came because by the later episodes they were more 'going through the motions', especially Harry.  Personally it is those darker episodes I prefer  -that was the point of it really. 

I'm glad you like them.  Although some episodes are better than others, there is not one which I would call a 'bad' episode.

Hi Phil, yes the older episodes do have a certain edge to them that is missing from the more recent ones. They are more powerful I think too.

Thanks Karl - that's the episode name I was trying to think of