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Steptoe and Son actress stormed off set over ‘out of control’ extras in striptease scene
Actress Carolyn Seymour walked off the set of the Steptoe and Son film in her own ‘Me Too’ moment after extras were “out of control” while she filmed a striptease scene
Classic sitcom Steptoe and Son has become embroiled in a Me Too-style sleaze row
Classic sitcom Steptoe and Son has become embroiled in a Me Too-style sleaze row.
Actress Carolyn Seymour said there was inappropriate and “out of control” behaviour as she did a striptease for the spin-off 1972 film — and she stormed off set.
The storyline centred around Harold Steptoe [Harry H Corbett] meeting nightclub stripper Zita, played by Carolyn, much to the displeasure of Harold’s father Albert [Wilfrid Brambell].
Carolyn revealed that a “group of medical students were hired as extras” .
But she claimed their conduct was so appalling that she refused to film any more scenes.
And she told producers they could sue her as “there was no way I was going back”.
Classic sitcom Steptoe and Son has become embroiled in a Me Too-style sleaze row
Carolyn, now 74, said: “The director [Cliff Owen] had put wine on the tables and encouraged the students to drink because he wanted them to be boisterous and a bit lewd.
“He would have been mortified by how it all turned out because he was a good man, just weak.
“But we had a woman producer in Aida Young and she was a nightmare, not interested in what was happening in front of her.
“Eventually, the cameraman managed to halt the chaos.
“But had the ‘Me Too’ movement been around, I would have had a very solid case.
Actress Carolyn Seymour has spoken about the making of the 1972 Steptoe and Son film
Image:
( Getty Images)
A photocall from the film with Corbett, Seymour and Brambell
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( Mirrorpix)
“I had a couple of small scenes still to do, which they fudged.”
Carolyn made her revelations in You Dirty Old Man!, a biography of Brambell.
She added: “I adored Wilfrid but Harry seemed almost suicidal, he was so miserable.”
Brambell, 72, died from cancer in 1985 while Corbett, 57, passed away from a heart attack in 1982.
Classic sitcom Steptoe and Son has become embroiled in a Me Too-style sleaze row
Image:
( Studiocanal/REX/Shutterstock)
Wildred Brambell, Harry H Corbett and Carolyn Seymour in the 1972 film
Image:
( Mirrorpix)
Four series of Steptoe and Son were shown by the BBC in black and white from 1962 to 1965 and in colour from 1970 to 1974.
It was watched by more than 28 million viewers at its peak.
You Dirty Old Man! The Authorised Biography of Wilfrid Brambell, by David Clayton, is out now.
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