In the 1980s opposition to Apartheid in South Africa was reaching a crescendo.
A new wave of comedians emerged with the 'Alternative comedy' tag. They were in opposition with the mainstream comedians who picked on easy targets such as women, gays, ethnic minorities etc.
A Small Problem was a BBC sitcom that was intended to be a satire on prejudice and especially racial prejudice.
Unfortunately many people missed the point of the satire altogether and thought the series was picking on short people and getting easy laughs at their expense.
The show was based in a vision of Britain that practised a form of apartheid based on people's height. Anyone below 5 foot were moved to a ghetto south of the River Thames.
The main star was Christopher Ryan, more famous as Mike from The Young Ones. The series really did not take off because it was weighed down by the controversy of its subject matter.
The writers, one of them being Tony Millan was also famous as a sitcom actor. He tried to explain that the series was a satirical allegory but to no avail. It was sporadically funny and a brave attempt to do something different.
