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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to wonder whether On the Buses should still be allowed on the television?

112 replies

cocoachannel · 06/04/2012 18:02

DGM is watching ITV's British comedy 'celebration' [buhmm] We currently have On the Buses on the television. DSis and I are agog that it is sooooo sexist. Obviously we know that in a bygone era this type of comedy was the norm, but is it really appropriate for 2012?

I think I probably ABU as DGM is quite happy, and obviously enjoys the nostalgia...

OP posts:

MargueritaaPracatan · 07/04/2012 19:23

Ah, Una Stubbs, Aunt Sally (of her many roles!) - Cup o' tea 'n' slice of cake. [busmile]

hackmum · 07/04/2012 20:40

Sorry, you're right, Bogeyface, I always get those two mixed up. I dunno why!

carernotasaint · 07/04/2012 21:26

Bogeyface i agree with you about the abuse of Olive in OTB. It made me uncomfortable to watch it even as a kid. I was badly bullied at school but because some of the mysogynistic stuff on tv back in the "80s i thought that females had to accept bullying as part of life.
I love Porridge and Rising Damp and have the box set of Rising Damp. We also have a Ronnie Barker box set which includes the complete works of Porridge, Going Straight, Open All Hours etc.
I think Richard Beckinsale was lovely and had he lived he would have been a very big star. (rather see RB on tv than Dennis Waterman.) Sadly Richard Beckinsale died of a heart attack in his sleep at the age of 31 in 1979.

Jusfloatingby · 07/04/2012 21:43

On the Buses is very much of it's time, in the same way that many films made in the fifties and sixties would not be made nowadays because they would be considered sexist. It would be a shame, though, if they were to be banned. On the Buses is so overtly sexist that it is obvious its not meant to be taken seriously. In some ways its a reminder of how simple life was before we all became so PC. I wouldn't want to go back to that, but I can see a certain nostalgia in it all.

BalloonSlayer · 07/04/2012 21:56

"On the Buses is very much of it's time, in the same way that many films made in the fifties and sixties would not be made nowadays because they would be considered sexist. "

I remember the abuse of Olive too, but at least Arthur was shown as a nasty character all round - no one liked him. Of a similar time - what about Jimmy Porter of Look Back in Anger and his treatment of his pregnant wife? He was supposed to be "troubled" and the hero of the play - never could get my head round that one. I would not be surprised to get a lecture from subsequent posters on the subtle nuances of Osborne's work . . . I concede they may exist but I cannot get past the nastiness. Yet LBIA is regarded by many as an "Angry Young Man" masterpiece.

Perhaps tis a high culture/low culture thing - this play is a work of aaaaaaart, showing a man struggling with his class and his consequent sense of self - but your sitcom is a piece of shite depicting a man mocking his ugly wife.

Both abuse though.

southeastastra · 07/04/2012 21:58

yes let's just write off the entire british comedy film history of the 70s

fgs get a grip!

Aboutlastnight · 08/04/2012 01:14

I was watching Carry on Cleo earlier and PMSL. Comedy gold.

Yankeecandlequeen · 08/04/2012 08:34

I love OTB! And there is nothing wrong with showing it. Same as the Carry on films.

Much better that the shite that's being broadcasted now & full of PC.

MargueritaaPracatan · 08/04/2012 08:56

I've so enjoyed the British Comedy stuff on this weekend.

I always watch it tinged with sadness though, so many of the actors are no longer with us, OTB is especially sad, Bob Grant who played Jack commited suicide, he just couldn't cope with the lack of work after OTB. Virtually all Carry On actors are dead too. I think there was lots of heartache behind the scenes.

blobtobetter · 08/04/2012 09:09

When I was very very young and watched OTB I thought Jack was rather attractive ........ no idea why when I watch it now!

He didn't even have a chocolate factory like Gene Wilder.

gettingeasier · 08/04/2012 09:11

How about the Rag Trade I used to love that but never really got Benny Hill or Dick Emery

I havent seen any of this stuff for years and would like to for nostalgia reasons , think IWBU to ban it now it was what it was

startail · 08/04/2012 09:19

By DDs love the Goodies and 'Allo, 'Allo.

Clearly non PC in any way, but Lol funny whether you are 10 or 100 and there is nothing being made for all age groups at the moment.

AwkwardMaryHadAnEasterLamb · 08/04/2012 09:21

You can't ban art (which even sticoms are) because they have outdated behaviour....you'd have to ban half of all literature written before 1970 too!

MargueritaaPracatan · 08/04/2012 09:23

My ds has just spent his birthday money on the big Only Fools And Horses box set, he also loves Steptoe, The Good Life & OTB. He's seen all the older sitcoms because I'm a huge fan. There are some good sitcoms/comedies around now/recently but these will always stand the test of time.

bringbacksideburns · 08/04/2012 13:50

I do a mean Olive impression.

Pop glasses on, screw my face up and part my hair at the side and go "Stan!!! Stan!!"

Sorry

BarryStar · 08/04/2012 13:59

Ooh, this thread gives me the opportunity to tell how I mortally offended my friend's Dh.

Some years ago we had a fancy dress party, the theme being "Dead Celebrities". My friend and her Dh arrived, and I was totally amazed at the dh's fantastic costume. Started complimenting him effusively, saying how he'd got it spot on, never realised how much he looked like Blakey, where did he get the bus conductor's outfit etc.

Awkward pause ensues, followed by friend's Dh saying in frosty tones "Actually, I've come as Elvis".

AwkwardMaryHadAnEasterLamb · 08/04/2012 14:07

MrsDevere it was a hangback from the 50s if you ask me where sex was taboo...even down to the film conpanies not being allowed to show a double bed in a married couple's bedroom for fear people might think of sex!

In the 70s it was no longer AS taboo but you couldn't show a couple in love as the British public were far too self consious for that! Far better to show a woman as some sex crazed harridan as in George and Mildred!

It was the beggining of the turn...where men were no longer always the strong characters.

Lovecat · 08/04/2012 14:26

Did Elvis ever wear a bus conductor's uniform?

I hated OTB as a child (I was 4 when it started and 8 when it ended but I believe it got repeated). I had flat dark hair and big thick glasses and my dad thought it was funny to call me Olive. Even then I thought she got treated like shit and wished she'd just walk out on them all...

Funnily enough, blobtobetter, I also mildly fancied Jack at the time , I think he was set up as this great sex symbol (looking at him now I think wtaf ??) so it was just accepted at the time. Thank God times have changed! Much as I hated OTB I don't think it should be banned, it's a great way to show people how godawful things used to be and how much things have improved since then.

My dad was a huge fan of Love Thy Neighbour (it used to make the rest of us cringe) and Bless This House. He loved anything with Sid James in it so we saw an awful lot of crap telly when we were kids (otoh we also got to see/listen to Hancock becasue of that!).

MrsDV, I also found Steptoe & Son unbearably sad. Poor Harold, he never got away from that foul old man, did he?

I don't remember The Lovers but Richard Beckinsale was beautiful. Just absolutely beautiful. :( That 'rape' line seems to have been hideously common in the 60's/70's - I clearly recall Wendy Richards in the first episode of Butterflies declaring 'I want to be raped !' in something approaching ecstacy. Also I do a lot of amdram and in the musical The Fantasticks (1960) there is actually a piece called The Rape Ballet [vom] with regard to a planned abduction, plus I directed a 1967 Joe Orton play last year and the references to rape in it are such that it seems to be applied freely to any kind of sexual encounter where the participants (?) don't know each other beforehand... (very odd/boak-making to hear it bandied about like that, though). So back then attitudes were very different...

ThatVikRinA22 · 08/04/2012 14:38

i remember all this stuff; first time around! (shows age....)

i have to say i never liked on the buses, but they are just of their time and actually some are really quite funny to watch now, i loved and still love morcombe and wise, the goodies, we have them all on DVD i blame dh....

benny hill is on now....

bringbacksideburns · 08/04/2012 15:05

I think this might just be me but Jack (He had the dodgy teeth and was taller wasn't he?) really reminds me of an older seedier version of the blonde lad in The Imbetweeners.

I've always thought that!

BarryStar · 08/04/2012 15:06

No Lovecat, I don't think Elvis did. Point is, friend's dh was also not wearing a bus conductor's outfit, I just mistakenly thought he was.

blobtobetter · 08/04/2012 15:10

Lovecat - I thought I was the only one!!

Lovecat · 08/04/2012 15:22

No, blob, come join me in the corner of shame

Barry, sorry, what I meant to say was that I couldn't think of what outfit Elvis might conceiveably be wearing that would let you confuse it with a bus conductor's outfit! (and didn't Blakey always wear a mac, being an inspector? )

blobtobetter · 08/04/2012 15:24

I have had so many weird crushes over the years but this one was pretty high up the crazy list! Alongside Gene Wilder I think.

BarryStar · 08/04/2012 15:55

Well, in all honesty, I may have partaken of a small glass of sherry or perhaps even several large glasses of gin at the point of his arrival. He does look incredibly like Blakey though, we still call him that (amongst ourselves) to this day.

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