Unseen Steptoe and Son script found at University of York

The Steptoe and Son script was discovered in the archives of the University of York, shedding new light on the nation’s favourite rag-and-bone men.

Archivists at the Borthwick Institute for Archives uncovered the Steptoe and Son script intended for Christmas 1963, when the show regularly commanded audiences of more than 28 million.

Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson – the duo credited with inventing the British sitcom – the script was likely penned for the BBC’s Christmas Night with the Stars in 1963, the University of York said.

The storyline features the classic dynamic between the aspirational son, Harold, and his manipulative father, Albert.

A University of York spokesperson said the sketch sees Harold trying to throw a “lavish party for his trendy, upwardly mobile friends while dealing with Albert’s lack of festive spirit. But in the end, it all goes wrong as they both come down with a case of chicken pox on Christmas morning.”

The script is a “capsule of British culture”, according to Gary Brannan, the university’s keeper of archives and special collections. “It’s very much all centred around the humour of being miserable at Christmas,” he said. “It’s a very British thing to want to laugh at horrible people having a miserable time at Christmas and all the ingredients of the way Christmas is shaped by our national identity are there: the food, the rows, the moaning, unwanted gifts and dodgy decorations.”

Despite the quality of the writing – which features quintessential comedic misery, including Albert making punch in a chamber pot – there is no record of a contract for the 1963 script.

“I think the main reason they didn’t proceed is that they had just performed a sketch at the Royal Variety Performance at the start of November and were about to begin recording the second series of Steptoe and Son in December,” Gary said. “So, I guess there just wasn’t enough time or availability to do it.”

While the 1963 production was shelved, the writers did not let the material go to waste. Parts of the storylines were eventually recycled and used for a Christmas special 10 years later, in 1973. 

The episode sees Harold attempting to escape the festive family arguments by booking a solo trip to Majorca for the entire Christmas period. But his plans are thwarted when he is guilt-tripped into staying in Shepherd’s Bush by his father.

Galton and Simpson, whose partnership began in a tuberculosis ward in 1948, went on to pioneer the genre that paved the way for classics such as Only Fools and Horses and Fawlty Towers.