Australian TV network Channel 7 is rerunning 1970s ITV sitcom Love Thy Neighbour. The sitcom has regularly been described as racist in the UK due to the use of words such as “nig-nog”, “honky” and “sambo”. 

Despite the fact that the white neighbour Eddie Booth, played by Jack Smethurst, was often the unsympathetic, bigoted fall guy the language used was controversial. The sitcom, written mainly by Vince Powell and Harry Driver, has not been aired in full in the UK since the 1970s, but will be screened without edits or cuts in Australia, where Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Tim Soutphommansane has been quoted as saying that the show does not breach the Racial Discrimination Act.

“The Racial Discrimination Act rightly includes wide protections for freedom of speech. These protections ensure that we can freely engage with artistic works, scientific debate and fair comment on matters of public interest. Any complaint about Love Thy Neighbour under the RDA would be unlikely to succeed,” Dr Soutphommansane said. 

The series, which currently goes out on Channel 7 on Thursdays at 10.30am and again at 4am, also had an Australian spin-off, Love Thy Neighbour in Australia, in which Eddie moved to a Sydney suburb called Blacktown. Rudolph Walker, who played Bill Reynolds in the ITV version and the movie version, is better known these days for playing Dr Trueman in EastEnders.