Love Thy Neighbour
- TV sitcom
- ITV1
- 1972 - 1976
- 54 episodes (8 series)
Pro-white socialist Eddie Booth is disgusted when a black couple move in next door - but far worse than his skin colour, Bill Reynolds is Conservative. Stars Jack Smethurst, Rudolph Walker, Nina Baden-Semper, Kate Williams, Tommy Godfrey and more.
Press clippings
Fifty Years of Love Thy Neighbour: Out of Order, Overlooked?
Love Thy Neighbour (Thames, 1972-76) is now often cited as one of Britain's worst sitcoms. Lazy, poor quality, racist - all these labels, and many more, have been attributed to it in the last couple of decades. But, having run for eight series over five years, spawned a feature film and an Australian sequel, does that really ring true?
Aaron Brown, Network, 13th April 2022Jack Smethurst obituary
Star of the TV sitcom Love Thy Neighbour, hugely successful in the 1970s but later seen as racist and anachronistic.
Anthony Hayward, The Guardian, 22nd February 2022Were some of the greats really that offensive?
Offensive or just harmless fun? Perhaps we have just changed as a society and comedy may never be the same again.
British Classic Comedy, 1st May 2021Comedy at Home
Even without the unique circumstance of 2020, it's the time of year when we're all looking for something to cosy up with for a good laugh. With more time being spent home than normal, here's a selection of brilliant domestic sitcoms from the Network catalogue to entice your comedy taste buds this winter. Each is set primarily or solely in a home, so snuggle up warm with that glowing feeling that only a comedy escape can give.
Aaron Brown, Network, 10th December 2020Controversial seventies TV shows omitted from Britbox
Politically incorrect 1970s television series such as Love Thy Neighbour and Till Death Us Do Part have been left off BBC-ITV's new streaming service because they are deemed unsuitable for modern audiences.
Matthew Moore, The Times, 7th November 2019'Work dried up after Love Thy Neighbour'
He was the star of one of the biggest sitcoms of the Seventies, seen by up to 17 million viewers a week.
But after starring as racist suburbanite Eddie Booth in Love Thy Neighbour Jack Smethurst found it so hard to get work that he ended up working in a flower shop.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 19th September 2016Watching unPC sitcoms should be part of the curriculum
The BBC's remakes of Till Death Us Do Part and Are You Being Served? are only to be appreciated through the filter of irony. But things like It Ain't Half Hot Mum weren't malicious.
James Delingpole, The Spectator, 1st September 2016Linford Christie is a fan of Love Thy Neighbour
The British sprinter loved the comedy, which is now frowned upon for featuring a racist central character: "It was fun and good banter".
Ben Dowell, Radio Times, 30th June 2015