Till Death Us Do Part and the BBC: Racial Politics and the British Working Classes 1965–75

Abstract

Historians have struggled to unpick the complex relationship between the British working classes and heightened Commonwealth immigration to postwar Britain and have tended to explain the development of racial politics in this period in terms of the agenda of the Conservative Party and broader forces of the political right. Within this historical analysis, Labour's position has been less clear. This article argues that an analysis of Johnny Speight's BBC comedy series Till Death Us Do Part informs historical discussion about changing racial sensibilities within the Labour Party and its working-class constituencies. Till Death Us Do Part was one of the most popular and controversial programmes of its generation. The story focused on the working-class Garnett family and specifically on the anti-hero Alf Garnett, played by Warren Mitchell. Speight claimed that he utilized this character to explode popular prejudices and attack the British class system. Whilst the relationship between Speight and his character was somewhat more complicated, this article argues that Till Death Us Do Part does offer critical insight into the political and social dynamics of the British working classes and ultimately can enhance historical understanding of British race relations in this period.