Steptoe and Son Come Dancing (1962–2016) Online

Its Sunday afternoon. While Albert snores his head off in his favourite armchair, Harold talks to himself. He is thoroughly miserable because he has set his sights on an attractive woman named Jean and does not appear to be getting anywhere with her.

As Jean is a fan of ballroom dancing, Albert offers to teach his son so that the couple can enter a local contest.

Harold is clumsy at first, but soon gets the hang of it. Confidant of winning the prize money, the trophy and the girl of his dreams, he heads for the contest...

This episode is structured in two parts; the first in which Harold whines about being bored has echoes of the classic 'Sunday Afternoon At Home' episode of 'Hancock's Half-Hour', the second has Albert teaching Harold how to dance. Of course the whole thing ends in disaster; Harold learns too late that he has only succeeded in mastering the woman's steps. Bye bye prize money, trophy and Jean.

I watched this again recently and my wife complained because we did not see Harold's humiliation, merely heard of it second-hand from Harold himself. I argued that it would have been too expensive to stage such a scene, with all the extras and costumes and so on, and that it was funnier the way it was. What's wrong with using your imagination every now and then when watching television?

Funniest moment - Harold, dressed up for the occasion, dances a few steps in the yard, before accidentally treading in horse dung!

Strictly the first episode that exists in colour!

The episode begins with Harold in a miserable mood. It is a wet Sunday afternoon, Albert is sleeping on the chair and Harold is bored and frustrated talking to himself and imagining himself as Henry the Eighth. Even the cuckoo clock is irritating him as he tries to hammer it.

When Albert wakes up we find the cause of his annoyance. He is going out with a lady called Jean and she loves ballroom dancing, trouble is Harold cannot dance ans she wants him to enter a competition.

Lucky for Harold, Albert knows how to dance and shows him the steps from the Argentinian Tango to the Cha Cha. Pretty soon Harold gets the hang off it as they practice all night, even the milkman joins in to show Harold a few moves.

Albert is pleased that he could do something for his son but come the night of the competition, will Harold be the leading man?

This is an episode of two halves and I became concerned about Harold's mental well being in the opening part of the episode. It becomes much more enjoyable as you the see the two men trying to dance and then the milkman who catches the men dancing pulling Harold's leg before joining in.

You keep trying to work out where it would all go wrong as Harold goes off to the dance club in a confident mood, so the twist certainly left me wrong footed.