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

Product Information

All three set up fairly loose situations and then expect the three stars to carry half an hour with free-form conversation, non-sequitors, ‘Yorkshireness’ and silliness. Unable to take part in filming, he was rapidly written out, to be replaced by Brian Wilde as ‘Foggy’ Dewhurst. In this early form, the sitcom skilfully utilised the British preoccupation with class that’s underlaid so many successful comedies. As I said, each episode had a handful of funny lines, but the overall effect was one of filling up the time with disconnected notions, easily brushed aside, and ultimately too loose to be successful. Peter Sallis starred as his younger self’s father, and the series was very successful in finding actors in their late teens/early twenties who could convincingly portray the people they would grow up to become, forty-plus years later.

And with the accent now upon eccentricity underpinning every character, the show began to develop its own disbelief-suspended reality, in which the characters’ foibles were accepted as normal. Products labelled '*item fulfilled by Exertis on behalf of hmv' will be supplied to you directly by Exertis via their approved couriers. Composing the score for each episode until his death in 2007, [29] Hazlehurst spent an average of ten hours per episode watching scenes and making notes for music synchronisation. Hazlehurst then recorded the music using an orchestra consisting of a guitar, harmonica, two violins, a viola, cello, accordion, horn, bass, flute, and percussion.

All 13 episodes from the first two series of Roy Clarke's popular comedy set in the Yorkshire Dales. What’s also obvious, and somewhat strange in light of the show’s later history, is that the series is egalitarian. An anonymous and barely-glimpsed extra being hauled out of a pub by his ear is all we see of Mr Batty, no Joe Gladwyn yet. That Michael Bates was actually very High Tory and Bill Owen staunch Socialist amplifies their roles and gives a real edge to their quarrels, making the first two series much more political than anything that followed, without every turning overt. Michael Bates was wonderful in the part, and it’s a genuine shame that his (ultimately fatal) illness kept him from continuing after series 2.

Which is just what you'd expect from Britain's oldest, if not wisest adolescents, and their equally eccentric fellow townspeople. Even if each episode was 30 minutes long (some episodes are much longer) it would take you nearly a full week of non- stop viewing to watch them all! It’s the spring, and Compo’s missing a womans touch: someone to do his washing and cleaning, someone to, well, let’s not go into that, someone to shout at him.

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. Repeats of the show are broadcast in the UK on BBC One (until 18 July 2010 when the 31st and final series started on 25 July of that year), Gold, Yesterday, and Drama. He’s just taking advantage in the happy knowledge that there will be no long term commitment, until Blamire and Clegg deliberately bugger it up for him by convincing him that Wally really is going for good, down the airport with his passport, which makes him revert pretty damned quickly. James Gilbert wanted Bates as Blamire because of his reputation as a comedy actor, and Bates loved the role.

The BBC confirmed on 2 June 2010 that Last of the Summer Wine would no longer be produced and the 31st series would be its last. Apparently, there was a live appearance on Top of the Pops which I missed due to the weekly parental ban, though ‘Mr Bloe’, so far as this single is concerned, is a rhythm section assembled by arranger Zack Lawrence (who plays the piano) and a session harmonica played by jazz harmonica veteran Harry Pitch, whose harmonica can otherwise be heard on such diverse items as Frank Ifield’s ‘I Remember You’, and the theme music for Last of the Summer Wine.

In contrast, ‘The New Mobile Trio’ is inspired by Clegg who, after making a hash of things on a Road Safety Exhibition Driving Simulator, gets to hankering to use his barely-touched Driver’s Licence to make the Library Mob mobile, spread their wings, extend their horizons, run into tractors. Ballad for Wind Instruments and Canoe' has the trio embark upon a canoe expedition, Finally, in 'Northern Flying Circus', Compo dons goggles and helmet to become the new Barry Sheen. A photography exhibition at the Library, bringing Bloody Wainwright and Mr Partridge back into the background limelight, inspired Cyril back to his old hobby of photography. 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.

My Uncle, who had also loved the first two series, chose to stop watching now, complaining that, instead of the equality of bickering between the trio, it was now Compo and Clegg versus Foggy. Rumours circulated as early as the 1980s that the BBC wanted to end the show and replace it with a new programme aimed at a younger audience. Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom set in Yorkshire created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010.I also updated the post to include the featurette 'The Funny Side of Christmas' that I forgot to include. Entertainment Magpie Limited t/a Music Magpie is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority FRN 775278. 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. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.