The theme song, "Love Thy Neighbour", was composed by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel and sung by Stuart Gillies.

It was first published and recorded in 1934 (using the American spelling, "Love Thy Neighbor"), when Bing Crosby performed it in the musical comedy film We're Not Dressing.

It was made in an era when Britain was struggling to come to terms with mass immigration, and Love Thy Neighbour was said to exemplify those difficulties.

[4] According to writer Sarita Malik, this meant "comedies about race" were really about "blacks signifying trouble" so that consequently "if the White characters did display prejudice, this was deemed funny or understandable given the 'difficulty of the situation'.

[6] In Malik's opinion, in this "mutual racism", racist attitudes were "shown as a reciprocal, inevitable and petty process" rather than being faced with any challenge.

[7] The views of the main white male character (Eddie Booth, played by Jack Smethurst) were presented so as to make him appear ignorant and bigoted and were contrasted with the more tolerant attitude of his wife.

[1] A contemporary reviewer in the Daily Mirror, Mary Malone, believed "the only characters who leave the screen with their dignity intact are the blacks.

[9] It has sometimes been considered that Love Thy Neighbour was an attempt by ITV (with inferior writing) to capitalise on the success of the BBC's Till Death Us Do Part (by Johnny Speight), also the source of great controversy for many of the same reasons.

Rudolph Walker, who defends the series,[1] regrets the programme's reputation in a "very politically correct climate" and asked in 2003 why "We can't take the piss out of each other and laugh".

[11] While Love Thy Neighbour was hugely popular at the time of its broadcast, its commissioner at Thames Television, head of light entertainment Philip Jones, acknowledged in 1972 that it received poor reviews.

The earlier releases were superseded by the Love Thy Neighbour: The Complete Series nine-DVD box set from the Network imprint.

It includes the unscreened pilot episode, all eight series in their intended running order, the Christmas 1972 short sketch for All Star Comedy Carnival, the 1973 New Year Special, and a new transfer of the 1973 feature film in its theatrical aspect ratio.