Writer Johnny Speight tried to ensure that in each storyline, Alf came off the worst. But when I went to school the next morning, it was always me who came off worst. Context is everything. Alf Garnett was a ludicrous character, and in the right context pretty funny, but put him against the background of Enoch Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech - is he so funny then? (On "Till Death Us Do Part" (1965)) TV producers of the 1960s and 1970s missed a great opportunity. Rather than reflect the reality of multi-ethnic Britain they chose a more xenophobic route - emphasizing points of difference instead of similarities. If they had been more truthful in their observations, who's to say we couldn't have encouraged more young black kids at school or prevented the Brixton riots even? By the time Queen Victoria was on the throne, this country had a sizable black population, so where are they? You can't move for bonnets and crinolines and the people wearing them are all white. (On costume dramas)