Last of the Summer Wine

[idunnosomename]

Only Howard left now of the old guard.

lmao he was in Xtro. remake set in holmfirth please.

I went to see prog-metal band symphony x in holmfirth. it was very funny when i spotted the lead guitarist going to buy snacks in the sainsburys at the bus station

[Glebe]

he was in Xtro.

Yes, and as previously mentioned he more recently popped up in Cloud Atlas! Reassuring to know he's still with us.

[Harry Badger]

I think I'd do Foggy and Clegg.

I think you are right. Foggy is a silly old fool and would be bloody annoying but you would have solidarity against him with Clegg and he would provide amusement. Clegg himself I would enjoy teasing out the real person behind the enigmatic, mildly cynical persona.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Would anyone shag Nora Batty? I don't know what Compo sees in her tbh.

[chveik]

Rather sadly, my father was a huge fan of the show and Compo in particular. You know how sometimes, when you're a kid, you want to be someone off a TV show/cartoon, so you take on their character and mannerisms? That is/was my father with Compo. I'm pretty sure that he imagined his friends, Ron and George were Clegg and Foggy (even though Ron and George were on solely nodding terms when their paths rarely crossed.

Obviously in dress he never went as far as Compo, but he did affect a certain scruffy look. Worst of all though, he adopted Compo's sense of humour. To this very day he's ringing up semi-acquaintances of my deceased mother and trying to tell them jokes. Add to this sending "cheeky" Xmas cards with the name on the envelope changed to something unsuitable. Word has got back that in one occasion the postman apologised for having to deliver it, the person in question said "don't worry, I know who this is from" and promptly binned it unopened and unresponded to.

Fucking Compo.

peak deso

[PeterCornelius]

I had a thing for Ivy when I was 14. I've never admitted that before.

Also, I could never look at Clegg without being reminded of a bloke who got on the bus that took me home from school. He looked and dressed exactly like Clegg, and persisted in winking and smiling at me. I still shudder at the memory.

You have to hand it to John Comer though. Played the same character in everything he appeared in.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Would anyone shag Nora Batty? I don't know what Compo sees in her tbh.

It's because she plays so hard to get. Never fails.

[Leej88]

Thora Hird's fictional daughter and her son in law they are still alive Russ Abbott the guy who thought he was related to Robin Hood and Tom Owen anyone else?

[Alternative Carpark]

Thora Hird's fictional daughter and her son in law they are still alive Russ Abbott the guy who thought he was related to Robin Hood and Tom Owen anyone else?

Louis Emerick, Jonathan Linsley, Brian Murphy.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Watching Series 10. Compo is looking at a nude calendar and you can see the nude he is looking at. You wouldn't get that these days.

Something I've noticed is that Compo seems to find Nora Batty's wrinkled stockings a turn off in these early episodes whereas I seem to recall in later episodes he found them a turn on.

Going to buy the complete box set of Last of the Summer Wine. There's nothing else on television to watch.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Watching Series 10. Compo is looking at a nude calendar and you can see the nude he is looking at. You wouldn't get that these days.

There's apparently a few episodes like that, ones with top shelf magazines in full view, and they've had to blur out a lot of it for broadcast on UK Gold.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

Did they ever do the match box gag with a dirty book or mag? Feels like they must've at some point.

[greenman]

didn't it have a good international market? For some bizarre reason

There was a track on Moon Safarai that always sounded very like the last of the summer wine theme to me, the French viewing it as some pastoral idyll whilst reading too much into Clegg's musings?

[El Unicornio, mang]

It was broadcast on PBS in the US and Canada, had the same kind of audience appeal as Keeping Up Appearances, Waiting for God and those other kinds of gentle older generation comedies. I guess it translates pretty well for international audiences, quite a lot of visual/physical humour and not a whole lot of pop culture references.

[Leej88]

Jane Freeman died round same time as Peter Sallis and yet there was no coverage of her death did not know she had died till I looked it up.

[PlanktonSideburns]

How many times did people actually get bathtubbed?

Would fukin love a super cut of that

[Ignatius_S]

In cast-related news, Network has announced DVD and Blu-ray release of The Painted Jacket, one of the films featured as a lead, playing a disgraced ex-jockey.

Less news and more fun facts, the rather charming short film, Romance with a Double Bass that starred Connie Booth and John Cleese (who would cameo in LOTSW) based on a Chekhov story, was adapted from a screenplay by Owen.

Owen starred as Mack The Knife in the the first UK production of The Threepenny Opera. And in the spirit of UK firsts, Bates and Sallis were in the cast of the first UK production of Rhinoceros by Ionesco, which was directed by Orson Welles.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

Sallis in Ionesco directed by the big fella? God, that must have ripped.

How many times did people actually get bathtubbed?

I think more oil drums went down the hill than bathtubs. Seem to remember Blakey from On The Buses going down the hill in something or other.

[Ignatius_S]

Was there a big drop-off in quality around series 12? I watched a couple of Series 12 and 15 episodes and they really didn't seem as good. It felt like they had to tick off certain scenes: Howard and Marina, Wesley in his garage, Edie's front room coffee gathering etc. The trio just didn't seem as funny either, I'm not sure why.

Although I would say there was a drop when Foggy returned, wouldn't say it was a big one and suspect if I hadn't watched the show chronologically quite quickly, that feeling, wouldn't have noticed it.

Arguably, the recurring elements you mention were repeating the the same beats too frequently, but at the same time, they were very popular with audiences, which was reflected in what frajer posted. Personally, I'm less keen and think a less is, more approach would have been stronger but on occasion, they worked rather well. For example, Foggy telling strangers about his wartime exploits got very samey, but there was one where he likens engineers on telephone poles to snipers in tress, had an unexpected twist.

The amount of Foggy interacting (or trying to) with strangers is reflective of the trio's own interactions in that period. Each had their own screen time, independent from the others, which perhaps went against what had made the show popular. That said, given that Owen would have been approaching 80, Wilde was in his late-60s and Sallis was in his 70s, it's reasonable that they needed to do something slightly different.

Also, the show had been going 17 years, so if there had been a drop, that's not bad going.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Sallis in Ionesco directed by the big fella? God, that must have ripped.

I think more oil drums went down the hill than bathtubs. Seem to remember Blakey from On The Buses going down the hill in something or other.

I 'ATE YOU BUTLEEEEeeeeeer.......

[Ignatius_S]

Sallis in Ionesco directed by the big fella? God, that must have ripped.

I think more oil drums went down the hill than bathtubs. Seem to remember Blakey from On The Buses going down the hill in something or other.

Not the first time Sallis had worked with Welles, as well - he was also in the play based on Moby Dick that Kenneth Williams was in. One of the reasons I find the series intriguing is how interesting the careers of so much the cast was.

Re: bath tubs - yeah, baths didn't really feature, but there there was a fair bit of people going down hills and falling into water.

[Ignatius_S]

It's funny how most of the female characters were so belligerent and miserable. Maybe that was Roy Clarke's experience of women. Or maybe he was just a sexist pig.

As Mambo says, they have a lot of put up with - e.g. Sid doesn't seem to be particularly industrious when it comes to running cafe - and there is an element of writing what you know. Clarke was a copper for a short while and in the community he worked, it was the women who created some sort of order in their households.

This is taken from the Andrew Vine book:

Clarke said: 'It came from the police force for me, I only did a couple of years, this young bobby with his helmet falling over his ears, thrown into the fringe of Rotherham, a fairly lively area for policing, and you'd go to these houses and meet these people, and the men were feckless, absolutely irresponsible, and you could see why. If they're working down this awful hole all day, what else are they going to do but have a drink, but their lives would have been in much more chaos if not time and time again there was at their house a woman who would be tearing strips off them. They kept the whole bloody show on the road, magnificent, and I do admire them. They're tougher than men, and I admire them. They're maybe better from a distance sometimes, but there's a strong streak of admiration in these comedy women of mine.'

(Clarke, of course, wrote Rosie/The Growing Pains of PC Penrose, two sitcoms about a young constable and the policemen in LOTSW are chiefly competent at avoiding work.)

Jane Freeman, who played Ivy, had concerns early on about the portrayal of women in the series and when she talked about her character with Clarke's wife, the latter replied something like the lines of 'Oh love, didn't you know? I am Ivy.'

Personally, I think that a lot of that Clarke quote can be seen in the series - the women tend to be the level-headed ones, whilst the men gravitate towards irresponsibility, fantasy and general foolishness.

Also, there is definite kindness to the likes of Nora and Ivy; they don't suffer fools gladly but there is a softer side to them. Thelma in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? was often viewed negatively (it's been suggested that this partly came from Clive James dubbing her 'the dreaded Velma') which is more than unjust considering what she is actually like in the series. Possibly, there's a common tendency to view strong female personalities, who look dimly upon others when they play the giddy goat, more disapprovingly than they deserve.

There's also a fair amount of variation in the female characters and a lot (I would guess the majority) don't fit your description.  With the expanded female cast, I think it could only be said about Pearl.

Thinking about it, a fair few of the men do fit that description, and wives can be treated badly. Off the top of my head, there are at least two vicars (Richard Vernon and John Horsley) are absolutely appalling to their spouses.

[purlieu]

had the same kind of audience appeal as Keeping Up Appearances, Waiting for God

??
Waiting for God was frequently bleak, angry and very cynical, the first series in particular. Much closer to One Foot in the Grave than Roy Clarke's stuff.

Actually downloaded the first series of Summer Wine and watched the first one tonight. Pleasingly slow, almost nothing happens (Compo loses his door key in the library, they make a vague attempt to find the library owner before Compo says he can get in through the back window), most of Clegg's lines are quite funny, Compo has a good look through a porn magazine in the hairdresser's. Blamire's definitely a real humour void, though.

[idunnosomename]

How many times did people actually get bathtubbed?

Would fukin love a super cut of that

count me in for someone who would greatly enjoy every time an old person went down a slope in a metal object, enamelled or not

[chveik]

soon enough it will have its own subforum

[Ignatius_S]

...RE: the BBC trail for it, it's one of those things that's like a faded memory in the back of my mind, but I'm certain I saw it. Haven't seen any of the ones with Aldridge in a very long time, maybe those effects were better than I remember!!

Oh, I'm sure your memory is correct! And as for effects, maybe I'm just more easily taken in!

[Ignatius_S]

It's a show I, as a young person, hated at the time or at least professed to hate, but have a kind of fondness for it now. It's so gentle and easy going, like sliding into a warm bath (on wheels), with lovely scenery and the kind of old northern characters I'm familiar with. It seemed forever stuck in a quaint old wartime spirit England that hasn't existed for decades (and possibly never did) which I think made it appealing. It's escapism in its own way which I think was comforting on a Sunday evening as opposed to an episode of Taggart or something like that. I guess a show like Call the Midwife has similar appeal.

I had a friend at college who was obsessed with the show (along with the music of Falco and gay clubs) and once insisted I come over as he'd got hold of an episode where Foggy calls Compo "fuck-face". I went round and he was there with the tape lined up and a girl from college who he had shown it to and also insisted it was "fuck-face". Watched it and it did sound like "fuck-face" but then realised after replaying it about 10 times that it was "frog-face". Quite how we thought Last of the Summer Wine had gotten the f-word into an episode is beyond me.

Although apparently we weren't the only ones: https://www.summerwine.net/community/threads/compo-saying-the-f-word.10731/

@ 24:13 - https://youtu.be/xv2RcJjanqg?t=1450

Beautifully put!

I absolutely love this story.

[Jockice]

It's a show I, as a young person, hated at the time or at least professed to hate, but have a kind of fondness for it now. It's so gentle and easy going, like sliding into a warm bath (on wheels), with lovely scenery and the kind of old northern characters I'm familiar with. It seemed forever stuck in a quaint old wartime spirit England that hasn't existed for decades (and possibly never did) which I think made it appealing. It's escapism in its own way which I think was comforting on a Sunday evening as opposed to an episode of Taggart or something like that. I guess a show like Call the Midwife has similar appeal.

I had a friend at college who was obsessed with the show (along with the music of Falco and gay clubs) and once insisted I come over as he'd got hold of an episode where Foggy calls Compo "fuck-face". I went round and he was there with the tape lined up and a girl from college who he had shown it to and also insisted it was "fuck-face". Watched it and it did sound like "fuck-face" but then realised after replaying it about 10 times that it was "frog-face". Quite how we thought Last of the Summer Wine had gotten the f-word into an episode is beyond me.

Although apparently we weren't the only ones: https://www.summerwine.net/community/threads/compo-saying-the-f-word.10731/

@ 24:13 - https://youtu.be/xv2RcJjanqg?t=1450

Talking of swearing on TV, and in a bit of cross-thread pollination I mentioned liking Marti Pellow's voice in Oscillations yesterday and ended up watching this. Does Tommy Cunningham really use the word 'cunt' 4.24 in here? I've watched it several times and can't think of anything else it could be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr3BQmcrA0Y&t=560s

[Ignatius_S]

I could never understand why it ran for so many years. I remember catching an episode from one of the later series and it redefined 'twee'.

Did it have high ratings?

Huge ratings. At its peak, 18 million plus viewers - the Jonathan Linsley interview I posted touches upon this and says there was a period when it rivalled Eastenders as the Beeb's biggest show. At one time, I think it was getting over 20 million per episode - however, these figures aren't an exact science and various factors are at play, iirc, one time its figures were boosted through ITV being hit by industrial action.

It sold very well overseas and these days, the series is a big hitter for Drama and Gold - there's been a few news stories recently about how well has been doing on those channels recently, particularly on Drama, where it's one of the most popular shows.

[Andy147]

Talking of swearing on TV, and in a bit of cross-thread pollination I mentioned liking Marti Pellow's voice in Oscillations yesterday and ended up watching this. Does Tommy Cunningham really use the word 'cunt' 4.24 in here? I've watched it several times and can't think of anything else it could be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr3BQmcrA0Y&t=560s

"Clown", I think.