Steptoe and Son

- Season 4

(1965)

Harold almost ties the knot, but his bride gets cold feet, much to the joy of Albert.

Harold picks up a porcelain figurine, which an antique dealer authenticates as being genuine Meissen and offers two-hundred and fifty pounds for it. Harold decides he would get a better price for it at an auction but his, and Albert's, attempts to raise the bidding price means that they end up buying it themselves.

Harold decides that the house needs a central heating system and, having got some radiators on his round, he will plumb it in himself. The result is a disaster as the pipes are visible above the floor-boards and, when the system is turned on, all the heaters start moving and making ominous noises.

Due to numerous bills, including for delicacies Harold bought on tick from Mr. Stacey the butcher, the Steptoes find themselves besieged by all the people to whom they owe money plus bailiffs. When the creditors finally break in to take away the furniture, Albert arranges an 'accident' which makes it look as if Mr. Stacey has attacked him and reverses the situation by threatening to sue.

Harold brings his new girl-friend back to the house but, because Albert refuses to go upstairs to bed, he has to entertain her in the yard. He resolves to get a bachelor pad in town but finds that all his old girl-friends are now married. Albert, on the other hand, now that he has no son to cramp his style, can have the pick of all the old ladies at the Darby and Joan Club.

Having bought a Gannex mac like Harold Wilson, Harold hopes to be chosen as the ward's new Labour candidate and calls a party meeting, watched by a baleful, Tory-supporting Albert. However Albert comes to his son's defence when the local party agent Stonelake announces that Harold has not been selected as the prospective candidate because he is too working class and the party are out to court the middle class vote.

Albert, wearing his medals from World War One and accompanied by Harold, is on a plane going to re-visit his former battle-fields. When an American passenger admires Albert's medals, he retaliates by accusing the Americans of always coming in too late. After a row with a Frenchman, whom Albert accuses of stealing Englishwomen, Steptoe and Son are both deported back to England, but Albert considers another pilgrimage next year to Arabia.