A Class of Its Own

Class is at the heart of much British comedy, class-based characters such as Lord Snooty, Hyacinth Bucket and Harold Steptoe have seeped into our consciousness, dragging us one side of the barricades – in the case of Hyacinth, asking us to leave our boots on the other side. Some sitcoms seethed with class issues, others allowed them to simmer gently under the surface. Genteelly, in the case of To The Manor Born, fairly amiably in Rising Damp, searing through the cathode tube in Till Death Us Do Part.

Amongst our Classic Sketches is the famous depiction of class by John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett. Though still meaningful, it’s not quite as prescient now, deference is not quite what it was, decorators do not doff their caps when bosses visit them or assert that better conditions are “not for the likes of us.” They use teaspoons to stir their tea on building sites now, something the Royal Family have always done. Impeccable, though their manners may be, they are not fawned upon unquestionably these days. Why, sometimes, they even have to stir their tea themselves!

Can class-based comedy still be funny, or has it had its’ day? We need look no further than two of the biggest sitcom hitters for the answer: Basil Fawlty and Tony Hancock.

Class was at the core of each of their personas, but was far from everything. Basil felt oppressed, unloved and unable to achieve his goals, a consequence of his character as much as his status. Hancock, in his various incarnations, was full of bluster, railing against authority, using long-suffering friend Sid James, as a litmus test for quirky views and assertions. His famous address at 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam sounds suburban, but his financial situation and level of education gave him a particular place in the pecking order, it was the force with which he pecked, which made him the character he was.

The issues may be different these days, but class is still a potent ingredient on many occasions. For example when UKIP’s Nigel Farage had a go at the European President, declaring that Belgium wasn’t even a country, although extremely embarrassing and discourteous, to say the least, it contained the seeds of a little-Englander mentality, with enormous comic potential.

Similarly, David Cameron and George Osborne being Eton alumni, allow the possibility of satire – and could augment their meagre salaries, by recording a new version of The Boating Song. Working class heroes have, of course, been satirised in the past, though many held their own in the comedy stakes, including Ernest Bevin who famously pointed out to a Labour Party member (in every sense) at a urinal, this was true socialism, the means of production in the hands of the workers!

With the growth of middle class values in middle England, middle Earth and quite possibly Middlesex, there is huge scope for some deft hand to look again at what those values are, what they signify and how conflict arises. Increasingly, families move houses to be within the catchment area of the best state schools, one class-based act ripe for mickey-taking. Whatever next, tunnelling into the highest-rated OFSTED school to gain access?
Of course it’s not just the middle classes who want their children to do well, so do the down at heel upper echelons, found in abundance following the credit crunch, around the edges of Kensington & Chelsea and in some dire cases, near Shepherd’s Bush – where the Steptoes came from, albeit, somewhat regenerated now!

The aspirational working classes bought their Council houses, started reading the Daily Mail and in rare cases, didn’t just open bank accounts, they ran the banks! Somewhat controversially, in the case of Sir Fred Goodwin.
As for the very aspirational Katie Price, David Beckham and Wayne Rooney, well, they’re very much in a class of their own. Not a bank manager among them.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 13th, 2010 at 11:45 am. Both comments and pings are currently closed.