Wilfrid Brambell was only 49 when he began playing Albert Steptoe, who was supposed to be 63 when the series began.
Harry H. Corbett was already losing his hair when the series began, so in the second season he began wearing a hairpiece. By 1972 he was wearing a full wig.
There were rumours about a new series being made in 1981, but it never happened. However, Wilfrid Brambell and Corbett did appear for one final time together in character in a TV advert for Kenco Coffee. The ad was pulled from circulation when Corbett died unexpectedly.
Wilfrid Brambell planned to leave the series in 1965 because he had been offered a part in the Broadway musical "Kelly" by Eddie Lawrence and Moose Charlap. Realising that they would not be able to re-cast the part of Albert Steptoe, Galton and Simpson wrote an episode showing Harold at Albert's grave, followed by the introduction of a new character, the illegitimate son of Harold whose existence he never knew about. However, "Kelly" folded after just one performance, and Brambell asked for his old job back as Albert Steptoe.
When Harry H. Corbett died in 1982, there was a huge attendance of mourners at his funeral and later memorial service, including many famous names from the world of showbusiness and entertainment, as well as the general public. By contrast, when Wilfrid Brambell died in 1985, just six people attended his funeral - his brother, his partner, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, a representative from the BBC, and Maureen Corbett. Simpson said it was "one of the saddest elements of the whole saga".