Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father-and-son rag-and-bone business in 26a Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London.

Many episodes revolve around sometimes violent disagreements between the two men, Harold's attempts to bed women and momentary interest over things found on his round.

Much of the humour derives from the pathos of the protagonists' situation, especially Harold's continually thwarted (usually by the elder Steptoe) attempts to better himself, and the unresolvable love/hate relationship that exists between the pair.

Albert almost always comes out on top, and routinely proves himself superior to his son whenever they compete, such as when they played snooker into the night and pouring rain in 1970, and Scrabble and badminton in the 1972 series.

His father's success is partly down to greater skills but is aided by cynical gamesmanship and undermining of his son's confidence.

In addition, Albert habitually has better judgement than his son, who blunders into multiple con tricks and blind alleys as a result of his unrealistic, desperate straw-clutching approach.

Harold is infuriated by these persistent frustrations and defeats, even going to the extent in "Divided We Stand" (1972) of attempting to partition the house so that he does not have to share with his selfish, uncultured and negative father.

This protective bond is shown in several episodes, such as "Full House" (1963) when Albert wins back Harold's money in a game of cards against Harold's manipulative group of friends, and "The Seven Steptoerai" (1974) when they are menaced by a local gangster running a protection racket and team up with some of Albert's friends to fight off the gangster's thugs.

Earlier shows in the series had cost more than expected, so the writers decided to write a two-hander set in one room.

However, Tom Sloan, the BBC's head of comedy, told them during rehearsals that "The Offer" was a definite series pilot: he saw that the Steptoe idea had potential.

In 2005, a play based on the series was released called Steptoe and Son in Murder at Oil Drum Lane, written by Ray Galton and John Antrobus.

Music Ron Grainer won a second successive Ivor Novello award for the show's theme tune 'Old Ned', to which he gave a different treatment, one year later, during a Rag-and-Bone Man scene in The Home-Made Car.

However, all the instalments from the first 1970 series and all but two from the second were originally made in colour and are only known to survive in the form of black and white domestic videotape recordings.

In 1977, Brambell and Corbett appeared in character for two television ads for Ajax cleaning products, recorded during their tour of Australia.

Books To tie in with the original series, two novelisations were written by Gale Pedrick: In 2002 BBC Books published Steptoe and Son by Galton, Simpson and Ross, which comprehensively covered the television and radio series, films, Royal Variety Shows, commercials and the Sanford & Son spin-off.

When Steptoe Met Son was a 2002 Channel 4 documentary about the personal lives of Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett.

Corbett felt he had a promising career as a serious actor, but was trapped by his role as Harold and forced to keep returning to the series after typecasting limited his choice of work.

[6][7] In October 2005, Ray Galton and John Antrobus premiered their play, Steptoe and Son in Murder at Oil Drum Lane, at the Theatre Royal, York.

It was set in the present day and related the events leading to Harold killing his father and their eventual meeting 30 years later, Albert then appearing as a ghost.

The character would have been replaced with Harold's illegitimate son, Arthur (a part thought to be intended for actor David Hemmings).

The three episodes performed by the company were: Men of Letters, Robbery With Violence and Seance in a Wet Rag and Bone Yard.

The production was designed to highlight the Beckettian nature of Albert and Harold's situation, focusing on themes of over-reliance and being trapped within social class.

The production toured the UK and received positive reviews from the Financial Times and three stars from The Guardian's Lynn Gardner.