Left-wing writer Johnny Speight said he wrote the series as a critique on right-wing, working-class bigots such as Garnett. However, many viewers let Speight and Warren Mitchell know they agreed with the character's views. Black comedian Lenny Henry argued that while the series was well-intentioned, having a central character such as Garnett spout prejudice on national television did actually provide fuel for racist bigotry in society.
In 1973 the BBC suppressed a report showing that Alf Garnett's strident views in the series actually reinforced the prejudices of bigoted viewers. At a meeting on July 18, 1973, BBC director-general Sir Charles Curran said the report had diminished his confidence that it was possible to make "anti-prejudicial comedy".
Warren Mitchell was less than six years older than Anthony Booth, who played his son-in-law. Booth's year of birth was often incorrectly given as 1937, but he was actually born in 1931.
The series was the subject of much criticism by morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse, not because of Garnett's racial prejudice but because of his frequent use of the exclamation "bloody". She even counted the number of uses of the word per episode. The BBC attempted to ration the swear words to six "bloody"s per show. The attempt failed. Alf would praise Mrs Whitehouse in the series (always pronouncing her surname as "White'arse") though once burned a copy of her book in his fireplace.