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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 427579" data-attributes="member: 23">Here's a series I've never watched but have heard lots about (most of it critical). And its name has come up quite a few times in this thread already.<img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F71OXYmzMOrL._AC_SL1403_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=f5a65a10c868a45e6678fd09708de3185ee4ae714a71c7b2321b7062d666b717" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 620px" />It's quite difficult to separate Love Thy Neighbour from its reputation as a politically incorrect, unfunny relic of its era. This is a shame because I feel obliged to explore this and almost rationalise why I would choose to watch this in 2025, when really it's as simple as the fact that I enjoy daft Seventies sitcoms.I was braced for the worst, but while there is some truth to be found in its reputation, I have to say that overall I'm finding the series quite accessible and, dare I say, enjoyable. Certainly the casual racism is cringeworthy and dated, though there is probably some intention behind that. The writing is very much skewed so that our sympathies are with the nice black couple and the long-suffering wife of the resident bigot with narrow-minded views. Arguably more offensive are the stereotypes that have found their way into most scenarios so far (I've watched the Pilot and the first three episodes of Series One). Limbo contests, mangoes and yams and other "exotic" food (it's amusing to think how relatively recently most British people did not know what a mango tasted like). I'd say these expose the writers' lack of cultural awareness far more than the regular utterances of "nig-nog" or "sambo", because these stereotypical ideas of what black people enjoy, eat, believe or excel at has pretensions of understanding whilst simultaneously placing people into a "comfortable" homogenous group. If anything, the writers are trying to be ambassadors, but you know what they say about good intentions.In many ways this is Till Death Do Us Part Lite. It's not as clever or as challenging as that series, but nor does it really attempt to be. It's really no better and no worse than any of its Thames counterparts of this era, all of which reflect the times in which they were made and the audience towards which they're pitched. Think too deeply and they're all terrible and full of potential offensive material. Disengage brain and relax as prescribed and it's a far more positive experience. It may not be riotously funny, but it's mostly good silly fun.Watching the Pilot and Episode One back-to-back was an interesting experience. It's fascinating to see the changes that are made before the series goes to air. This is one of those scenarios where the Pilot was not transmitted. But while the first episode tells the same story as the Pilot, it's not a word-for-word remake. Lots of scenes are the same, down to wording, but the episode that aired had more going on, with additional scenes and a denser script. Overall, I'd say I enjoyed the Pilot more. Perhaps in part it's because I watched it first, and many of the gags were less funny the second time round because at that point. But I also appreciated the extra breathing room in the Pilot, and example of this being Jack digging up his old neighbour's garden before the new neighbours moved in. In the remade episode he announced he was going to do this and it was taken as read, but in the Pilot we spent a few minutes watching him do this.A notable change between these two episodes are the locations and sets. The Pilot was set in a pair of comfortable-looking pre-war semi-detached houses with bay windows and neat hedges around their tidy front gardens. The series moves things to modest mid-row  terrace Victorian houses, yards away from an ugly gas works. The sets, too aren't as pretty or substantial (as befits the change of house).  It possibly fits the characters better, but I did find the Pilot sets a nicer place to be (especially the Reynoldses' fairly tasteful living room, which is much louder in the remake). The Pilot made more use of location work as well, where the regular episodes move to more obvious sets for scenes set on the street outside and the back gardens.The key casting change was Joan Booth, played in the Pilot by Gwendolyn Watts and in the series by Kate Williams. It was especially interesting seeing the different readings of the same lines between the Pilot and the remake. Gwendoyn's presence was much sweeter and softer, while Kate was instantly more fiery and forceful. It was jarring at first, and I'd just decided I preferred Gwen when Kate won me over. I think perhaps Jack needs someone who is going to challenge him more, and Kate's Joan does this. That said, I'd also have been perfectly happy to watch an entire series with Gwendolyn in the role. I'm curious why the recast happened. It's easy to always assume someone became unavailable, but it's always entirely possible that The Powers That Be wanted a change for other reasons.</blockquote>

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