The Alf Garnett Saga

The second film based on the hit B.B.C. show 'Till Death Us Do Part' picks up where the first movie left off, with Alf Garnett and his family turfed out of their Wapping home and installed in a block of high-rise flats. Alf can't get used to living in the sky, having to ride elevators ( which frequently break down due to power cuts caused by the miners' strike ) and walk long distances to the nearest pub. For many in the '60's and '70's, this situation was only too real. Old people who'd survived the war with their homes intact lost them a decade or so later in the name of urban redevelopment.

Una Stubbs and Anthony Booth ( who played Alf's daughter 'Rita' and son-in-law 'Mike' in both the T.V. series and first movie ) were inexplicably absent. Presumably they'd read the script. I greatly respect Johnny Speight, but here his talent seems to have deserted him. As the film plods on, the humour grows increasingly desperate, culminating in a horribly embarrassing sequence in which Alf has an L.S.D. 'trip'. Paul Angelis and Adrienne Posta do their best, but the characters of 'Rita' and 'Mike' have been changed; 'Mike' is depicted here as a womanising drug addict, while 'Rita' sets out to shock her family by pretending to spend the night with Kenny Lynch. Guest appearances by Arthur Askey, Max Bygraves, Eric Sykes and George Best don't improve things. The best moment is at the end when Alf accidentally sets his bed alight. The first 'Till Death' film turns up on television often, but this has been completely forgotten, and with very good reason.