Plan B Forum

"A sitcom came on called "My Neighbour is a Darkie". I suppose that wasn't its actual title, but that was the gist of it - that there was something richly comic in the notion of having black people living next door. It was full of lines like `Good lord, Gran, there's a coloured chappie in your cupboard!' and `Well, I couldn't see him in the dark, could I?' It was hopelessly moronic. "

A white, working-class, socialist has his world turned upside down when a black, educated, Tory moves in next door.

The views of the main white male character (Eddie Booth, played by Smethurst) were presented in such a way as to make him appear stupid and bigoted, and were contrasted with the more tolerant attitude of his wife.

The main male black character (Bill Reynolds, played by Walker) was, in contrast educated and sophisticated, although stubborn and also capable of using insulting phrases, such as the terms "Honky", "Snowflake", "Paleface" or "Big White Chief" to describe his white neighbour (often in response to being called "nig-nog" or "Sambo").