| The Curse of Steptoe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Written by | Brian Fillis |
| Directed by | Michael Samuels |
| Starring | Jason Isaacs Phil Davis Roger Allam Zoe Tapper Burn Gorman Rory Kinnear Clare Higgins |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Ben Evans and John Yorke |
| Producer | Ben Bickerton |
| Running time | 66 min. |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC Four |
| Release | 19 March 2008 |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
The Curse of Steptoe is a television play which was first broadcast on 19 March 2008 on BBC Four as part of a season of dramas about television personalities. It stars Jason Isaacs as Harry H. Corbett and Phil Davis as Wilfrid Brambell. The drama centres on the actors' on- and off-screen relationship during the making of the BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son, and is based on interviews with colleagues, friends and family of the actors, and the Steptoe writers, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.[1]
The screenplay was written by Brian Fillis, also responsible for the similarly themed 2006 drama Fear of Fanny, which is about television personality Fanny Cradock off-screen. The 66-minute film is directed by Michael Samuels and produced by Ben Bickerton.
The drama was widely acclaimed and won the Royal Television Society Award 2008 for "Single Drama".[2] However, the drama generated controversy due to perceived historical inaccuracies, and following complaints to the BBC by Corbett's family, two revised versions of the drama have been broadcast. Despite these revisions, an investigation by the BBC Trust found that the drama was still unfair and inaccurate. DVDs of the drama have been withdrawn from sale, and there will be no future broadcasts without further editing.
- ^ BBC press release (11/11/07)
- ^ "Royal Television Society Awards 2008" Archived 8 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Grosvenor House Hotel, 17 March 2009. Retrieved on 2011-04-15.