Life imitating Art.

RIP Alan Simpson. With Ray Galton, he wrote Steptoe & Son, the first and arguably the best sitcom ever written. It was about two rag & bone men, a father and son. The naive, pretentious son yearns to escape his sly, conniving father and Harry H Corbett, who played the son, eventually became uncannily like him. Corbett was a fine Shakespearean actor who only took the part because it was originally just a one-off play called The Offer. However, it was such a hit that the BBC commissioned a whole series. Harry H Corbett, now instantly recognisable as Harold Steptoe, was never again considered for any other role. His ambitions were thwarted and he too became trapped in the life of a rag & bone man. So sad for an actor of his calibre. But would he ever have achieved such professional fame without the matching calibre of Alan Simpson?