''Curry and Chips'' is a British television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

broadcast in 1969 which was produced by

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

for the ITV network. Set on a factory floor of 'Lillicrap Ltd', it starred a browned up

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Colonial India, where he spent his ...

as an Irishman of Pakistani heritage named Kevin O'Grady, who also featured in episode 7 of the fifth series of Speight's '' Till Death Us Do Part''. It also featured

Eric Sykes Eric Sykes (4 May 1923 – 4 July 2012) was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor, and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading com ...

as the foreman,

Norman Rossington Norman Rossington (24 December 1928 – 21 May 1999) was an English actor best remembered for his roles in ''The Army Game'', the ''Carry On'' films and the Beatles' film '' A Hard Day's Night''. Early life Born in Liverpool, Lancashi ...

as the

shop steward A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a labor union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the union hold ...

, and other regulars were

Kenny Lynch Kenneth Lynch, OBE (18 March 1938 – 18 December 2019) was an English singer, songwriter, entertainer, and actor. He appeared in many variety shows in the 1960s. At the time, he was among the few black singers in British pop music. He was app ...

, and

Sam Kydd Samuel John Kydd (15 February 1915 – 26 March 1982) was a British-Irish actor. His best-known roles were in two major British television series of the 1960s, as the smuggler Orlando O'Connor in '' Crane'' and its sequel ''Orlando''. He als ...

. The series was written by '' Till Death Us Do Part'' writer

Johnny Speight Johnny Speight (2 June 1920 – 5 July 1998) was an English television scriptwriter of many classic British sitcoms. He emerged in the mid-1950s. He wrote for radio comics Frankie Howerd, Vic Oliver, Arthur Askey, and Cyril Fletcher. For telev ...

, but based on an idea by Milligan. The programme was cancelled for what some (including the ITA) considered racist humour. It was the first LWT sitcom to be broadcast in its entirety in colour, and all episodes still exist.

Controversy

The ambition of ''Curry and Chips'' was purportedly to highlight

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of Racial discrimination, r ...

, rather than promote it. The

Independent Television Authority The Independent Television Authority (ITA) was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 to supervise the creation of "Independent Television" ( ITV), the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom. The ITA existed from 1954 un ...

disagreed, and ''Curry and Chips'' was cancelled by them after only six episodes. Speight himself later remarked, "It was the English who were made to look bigoted in the show but the people at the ITA couldn't understand that. It was London Weekend Television's first year, but only six shows went out. The ITA made LWT take it off, saying it was racist." They were not alone, as amongst those who originally complained about the show were the

Race Relations Board The Race Relations Board was established in 1966 following the passage of the Race Relations Act 1965. The act specified that the board should consist of a chairman and two other members. Its remit was to consider complaints under the Act. It dealt ...

Screenonline Screenonline is a website about the history of British film, television and social history as documented by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute and funded by a £1.2 million grant from the National Lo ...

says of the show, "though it again attempted to raise important questions, tlacked a strong enough voice to challenge the racist attitudes of its characters, and too much of its humour relied on the use of crude racial abuse and Milligan's caricatured performance as the charmlessly-nicknamed ' Paki Paddy'. The shocked reaction from some viewers and cultural commentators led to the show being dropped by ITV after just six episodes, and in retrospect it is hard to understand how Speight and LWT can have failed to anticipate the offence it caused." The show was also controversial for the number of swear words in it. The word '

bloody ''Bloody'', as an adjective or adverb, is a commonly used expletive attributive in British English, Australian English, Irish English, Indian English and a number of other Commonwealth nations. It has been used as an intensive since at lea ...

' was used 59 times in one episode, although Eric Sykes refused to swear until doing so, once, in the final episode. Six years later, Milligan once again blacked up in the BBC series '' The Melting Pot''. Only one episode was shown, and the other five were pulled.

DVD release

''Curry and Chips – The Complete Series'' was released on 19 April 2010 by Network. Catalogue Number 7953165.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Curry And Chips 1969 British television series debuts 1969 British television series endings 1960s British sitcoms 1960s British workplace comedy television series English-language television shows ITV sitcoms London Weekend Television shows Race-related controversies in the United Kingdom Race-related controversies in television Television controversies in the United Kingdom Ethnic humour Stereotypes of South Asian people