We find out that Albert never knew who his father was when Harold finds his birth certificate. But in the scrabble episode Albert mentions his father twice?? e.g I remember when I was seven, my dad bought me a homing pigeon.
I'm afraid this was just one of the many anomalies that crept into the show. For me it doesn't detract from the fact that it was a superbly written and gloriously funny programme, so we could probably forgive Galton & Simpson for the odd historical inaccuracy.
For example, in the episode "65 Today" when Harold takes Albert to the Chinese restaurant, Albert doesn't like anything on the menu - "Pineapple with chicken?!!". But at the end of "The Siege of Steptoe Street", they plan on celebrating with a slap-up Chinese meal (including Chicken with pineapple!!) A joy to watch, if a little wrong. But as I say if it's this funny it doesn't really matter.
Lando Calrissian to Nien Nunb "That was too cloose!"
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Yes, the mistakes between the originals and the 1970s episodes are many. The first series was made in 1962 (when Harold was 37) but when it was resurrected in 1970 he should have been 45 but i guess we are led to believe that the 5 year gap between the fourth and fifth series was not reflected in the story timeline, even though both actors did definately look older. And i won't even go into the anomalies between the TV series and the two films!! For one thing teh horse is called 'delilah' and yet he's called 'Hercules II' in the tv series.
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The father bussines may not be a mistake. Albert did not want Harold to know that he did not know who his father was. So could have made up storys about his father.
shareAccording to IMDb's trivia section:
The "Steptoe and Son" of the title are not Albert and Harold Steptoe. "Steptoe" is Albert's father and the "Son" is Albert (Old Man Steptoe).
Aye it could have been a sob story. I mean, he uses stuff from his "past" to gain sympathy from Harold or to make him feel guilty. Like, in "The Bath", when Harold won't scrub his back, Albert sobs that hisdad was bed-ridden and he had to do everything for him. Albert, as we know is sly as we see from a lot of episodes, like in "The Colour Problem". The lengths he went to to make Harold guilty and literally force him to get a colour TV was disturbing.
Why have boys when you can have men!
In the series 4 episode, Those Magnificent Men and Their Heating Machine, Albert tells Harold about his grandfather. Says he died from whelk poisoning just after Harold was born.
shareIn the series 4 episode, Those Magnificent Men and Their Heating Machine, Albert tells Harold about his grandfather. Says he died from whelk poisoning just after Harold was born.Yes but does he specify that it is his Dads Father, if he doesn't it could just as easily be his Mums Father he is talking about. share
Can't remember but I assume it's Albert's dad because Harold's mother was a schoolteacher and therefore unlikely to have a father who would die from whelk poisoning.
shareCould have been a Stepfather. Gladys, er..., Mrs Steptoe could have shacked up with another bloke, and therefore Albert could be referring to him.
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