Last Of The Summer Wine: The Complete Collection [DVD]

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One such incident, regarding compensation to local residents, prompted producer Bell to consider not filming in Holmfirth any more. I remember my Uncle going off the show at series 3, because Clarke shifted the emphasis from a three-way bicker to Clegg and Compo ganging up on the oblivious Foggy (about which I’ll have something to say when I come to the final series 2 episodes), but at least in these three episodes, there was a strong note of Clegg and Blamire ganging up on Compo rather than an anyone-is-fair-game approach. A pre- I Didn’t Know You Cared Li Smith guests as an unn,ed would-be housekeeper from Bradford who never comes near being the answer to Compo’s annual prayer, and runs off with his new suit and tam o’shanter.

Peter Sallis is Norman Clegg, a redundant Co-op linoleum salesman, recently widowed, comfortably established, but no particular leanings. Things were too far advanced, too much money already invested, to postpone, so Brian Wilde was hired to play Foggy. One additional development meant that the extended cast began to divide, explicitly, along gender lines, adopting a caricature pose reminiscent of Peter Tinniswood’s Brandon Family novels, in which the men, overall, took on child-like aspects, dreaming and obsessing over things that were essentially games, whilst the women acted as hard-headed and practical, looking down on their menfolk as idiots in need of firm schooling, as they had received in school. Roy Clarke, however, stated that he was fully aware this was the last series, and preferred the show to have a quiet ending. Between the three characters, there was a perpetual round of sniping, with all capable of, and willing to verbally sting both his comrades in unemployment.It’s been gone now for four years, the longest running sitcom in the world, the series that everyone, except its audience, loved to hate. Meanwhile, a regular audience in excess of five million found their viewing diminished in favour of those who wanted something completely unrelated. Clarke nearly turned the job down as he felt that the BBC's idea for a programme about three old men was a dull concept for a half-hour sitcom.

Clarke introduced new characters in Howard and Pearl, Clegg’s neighbours, and Marina, Howard’s would-be mutton-dressed-as-lamb girlfriend. Once the sequence played through, once Tom Owen had arrived to play the role of his father’s son (this would not work though the younger Owen stayed with the series), I drifted away again.

The 1983 film, Getting Sam Home, used those two verses, with an additional two and played them over the opening credits. Its set-up was that three men, in their late forties/early fifties, who’d been at school together, were unwillingly re-united by the common factor of unemployment. The café has become a tourist destination on the strength of the series, and features a model of Compo outside for photographic purposes. The Cafe stayed until the end, thirty-seven years later, though the Library was dropped after series 1 because Clarke didn’t think he had enough stories to fit it: pity. Forked Lightning’ was about Clegg having problems with his bicycle, and threw together a few homages to the bicycle scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid that only really worked for me in the closing scene, where big Sid rides Cleggy’s repaired bike round the little paved courtyard outside the cafe, showing off gleefully, and the trio break into ‘Raindrops keep Falling On My Head’: a surreal gem.

The advent of Foggy was a necessary change without which the show, in my opinion, would not have outlasted the decade, let alone become television’s longest-running sitcom ever. Toby is beginning to realise that the benefits of going back to his ex-wife far outweigh the advantages of living alone in a sparsely furnished house with no-one to cook or clean for him.On their way to Wainwright's, the trio come across a man intending to 'end it all' because of problems with his wife.

This group consisted of Russ Abbot as Luther Hobdyke, known as Hobbo, a former milkman who fancied himself as a secret agent, Burt Kwouk as the electrical repairman, "Electrical" Entwistle, and Murphy as Alvin Smedley. Thus, when Bill Owen died in 1999, having filmed only two episodes of a twelve episode season, I was curious as to how LOTSW would handle this, and how it would continue without him. At its beginning, the series was nothing like as sentimental or silly as it became, and indeed was based on a relatively grim situation. Gilbert and Clarke then travelled to Holmfirth and decided to use it as the setting for the pilot episode.

For some reason or other, the second series of Last of the Summer Wine, broadcast in 1975, ran to seven episodes instead of the traditional six, so that meant that, one week or another, I would have to take a bigger bite. Main article: List of Last of the Summer Wine characters The most famous of the Last of the Summer Wine trios: From left to right: Peter Sallis as Norman Clegg, Brian Wilde as Walter "Foggy" Dewhurst, and Bill Owen as William "Compo" Simmonite. We use cookies to give you the best possible experience on our site, provide personalised content and advertising, analyse our traffic, and ensure you see more of what you love. The process began as early as the third series, when Michael Bates’ ultimately fatal illness forced a last minute replacement and re-writing to introduce Brian Wilde.