Abstract
In 1972, TV Times announced the new and daring sitcom Love Thy Neighbour (ITV 1972–1976): ‘It is about racial prejudice — with a difference. It should make us laugh a lot … and think a lot, too’ (quoted in Pratt). The main source of humour is the conflict that ensues when the black couple Bill and Barbie Reynolds from the West Indies move next door to the white bigot Eddie Booth and his long-suffering wife Joan. With its central presence of black characters and the neighbour’s squabbling as the prod of racial disputes, this sitcom, according to Alix Coleman’s promotion, constitutes ‘anything but another over-the-garden-wall comedy’ (Coleman 28). Indeed, Love Thy Neighbour’s approach to race and race relations has rendered the series ‘[o]ne of the more controversial sitcoms in the annals of British television history’ (Taylor and Perry 155).
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© 2016 Nora Plesske
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Plesske, N. (2016). ‘Sambo’ and ‘Snowflake’: Race and Race Relations in Love Thy Neighbour. In: Kamm, J., Neumann, B. (eds) British TV Comedies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137552952_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137552952_6
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