Wilfrid Brambell was just about to begin shooting the second series of iconic BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son in November 1962 when he was arrested outside a public lavatory in London’s Shepherd's Bush Green, and charged with "persistently importuning for an immoral purpose" under the Sexual Offences Act. The actor, who was riding the crest of a wave thanks to his role as the cantankerous Albert Steptoe in the show, was apprehended by two undercover policemen, for what the prosecution claimed was “looking and staring at people and smiling at them”.

His defence was he had drunk too much at a cocktail party at the nearby BBC Television Centre and was not aware that Shepherd’s Bush was "an area peculiar people resorted to". He claimed the allegations were "completely foreign to his nature and instincts". The magistrate accepted his explanation and he was conditionally discharged for a year and ordered to pay 25 guineas in costs. As one of the biggest stars on TV there was no keeping this quiet and the news was already in the public domain. He left the court to face dozens of reporters and cameras outside. "Thank God my five weeks of hell are over. Now I just want to get back to work," he said.

However at the time Britain was still five years away from the partial legalisation of homosexuality and such a scandal, particularly for a well known face on the national broadcaster, could be career ending. Despite this Brambell's popularity was such that when he returned to the studio to film opposite co-star Harry H. Corbett who played his son Harold, he was greeted with applause from the studio audience.

While the incident didn't destroy his career it did haunt him. One of his former co-stars recalled the crew on Steptoe and Son made his life misery following the arrest.

Carolyn Seymour, who played stripper Zita in the first Steptoe and Son feature film recalled in the biography You Dirty Old Man! The Authorised Biography of Wilfrid Brambell by David Clayton: "What we had on that crew was a bunch of awful homophobes who put a sign at the public toilets where we shot a scene that said 'Welcome home Wilfrid', because it was apparently the one that he’d been arrested at. I was furious and tried to stand up for him but was just told to be quiet. It was horrible and mortifying for Wilfrid."

This marked the beginning of a lonely and tense period for Wilfrid. Professionally he continued to enjoy success. Steptoe and Son would run until 1974, although it had a five year hiatus in the middle, and he made waves on the big screen when he appeared as Paul McCartney's grandfather in the Beatles' first film, A Hard Day's Night in 1964.

Off screen he had turned to drink following the collapse of his marriage to Mary Josephine Hall in 1955. They were married from 1948 until Wilfrid discovered their child was actually fathered by a lodger. As he continued to suffer personal struggles the drinking only intensified.

Following the end of Steptoe and Son he and Harry took their double act on tour to Australia and New Zealand in 1977.

It has been widely reported Wilfrid was often drunk during the tour. When he missed one performance completely he was discovered drinking Guinness with an usher in a nearby bar. While it has been speculated he and Harry didn't get on his co-star in fact often covered for him when his drinking became an issue.

Wilfrid was said to be "absolutely devastated’" when Harry died of a heart attack in 1982, aged just 57 and he wept throughout the memorial service which had celebrities such as Bruce Forsyth in attendance.

It was a far cry from Wilfrid's funeral service less than three years later following his death from cancer at his home in Westminster on 18 January 1985 at the age of 72. Just six people attended: his brother, his partner Raymond, Steptoe and Son writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, a BBC representative, and his former co-star Harry's widow, Maureen.