Yorkshire has long since been a wonderful source of material for writers of television comedy and drama, revolving around the whippet and flat cap stereotypes which have been exploited so gleefully in such programmes as Heartbeat. I’m afraid that the magic of poking fun at such easy targets and rolling endless bland shapes in order to attract audiences has always been pretty much lost on me.
It’s all too easy for lazy writers to rely on the formulaic and pass off endless retreads of such bilge as work of such genius and I’m afraid I don’t really buy into the popular image of Roy Clarke as comedy genius.
http://www.phill.co.uk/comedy/losw/ - “Last Of The Summer Wine began as a one-off episode of the BBC's 'Comedy Playhouse' programme in January, 1973. Reaction from viewers was positive enough to warrant a six-part series later that same year. Series 23 started UK transmission on January 6th, 2002, making this the UK's longest running comedy programme. The programme deals with the second childhood of a group of ageing delinquents. Compo Simmonite (Bill Owen) and Norman Clegg (Peter Sallis) were principal characters from the beginning
until the death of Bill Owen. The third member of the trio has been, at various times, Cyril Blamire (Michael Bates), Foggy Dewhurst (Brian Wilde), Seymour Utterthwaite (Michael Aldridge) and Truly Truelove (Frank Thornton). Set in and around Holmfirth, Yorkshire, the programme boasts an unusually large number of regular supporting characters.”
An unusually large number of regular supporting characters? More like an unusually disproportionate amount of popularity and acclaim given the startlingly low level of content and actual laughs in the long running series.
It was easy in those first few programmes, when dear old Michael Bates (the fake Indian of It Ain’t ‘Alf ‘Ot Mum) starred as the leader, the wise and pompous one, wandering the countryside with the rebel and the other one, to find something of interest here. It was a whimsical, quite amusing stroll through the beautiful Yorkshire countryside as three OAPs sought to bring some interest to the end of their days – it was charming and poignant somehow and quite watchable.
However, the untimely death of Bates saw a collection of Third Men in the role with Brian Wilde being probably the best known, and the magic was gone. The muse became more and more bizarre, focusing no longer on the interplay between the three old timers, but switching its attention to the wrinkled stocking cliché of one Nora Batty and Foggy’s geriatric lust for her. As time drew on Compo became the butt of all sorts of violent escapades, with all the media’s attention centring on whether he’d survive this latest escapade and the degradation facing him.
That’s when the magic died and the dross for dross’ sake mentality really began…
Other facts quoted at the same website include the full cast list –
Kathy Staff – Nora Batty
Joe Gladwin – Wally Batty
John Comer – Sid
Jane Freeman – Ivy
Gordon Wharmby – Wesley Pegden
Thora Hird – Edie Pegden
Sarah Thomas – Glenda Wilkinson
Mike Grady – Barry Wilkinson
Robert Fyfe – Howard
Juliet Kaplan – Pearl
Jean Fergusson – Marina
Stephen Lewis – Smiler Hemingway
Jean Alexander – Auntie Wainwright
Danny O’Dea – Eli Duckett
Tom Owen – Tom Simmonite
Julie T Ward – Mrs Avery
Blake Butler – Mr Wainwright
Rosemary Martin – Mrs Partridge
Philip Jackson – Gordon Simmonite
Jonathan Linsley – Crusher Milburn
Keith Clifford – Billy Hardcastle
Written by: Roy Clarke
Directed by: Alan J W Bell, Sydney Lotterby, Ray Butt, Martin Shardlow
Produced by: James Gilbert, Bernard Thompson, Sydney Lotterby, Alan J W Bell, Robin Nash
23 series, 214 episodes
Yes, that’s all very well and good, but who the hell actually cares….
You also get the full episode list and I just quote a few to give you some insight to this dreadful business –
Pilot
Of Funerals And Fish (4 Jan 73)
Series 1 (12 Nov 73 - 17 Dec 73)
Short Back and Palais Glide (12 Nov 73)
Inventor Of The Forty Foot Ferret (19 Nov 73)
Pate And Chips (26 Nov 73)
Spring Fever (3 Dec 73)
The New Mobile Trio (10 Dec 73)
Hail Smiling Morn Or Thereabouts (17 Dec 73)
By later times, things had changed rather somewhat –
Series 23 (6 Jan 02 - 10 Mar 02)
A Brief Excursion In The Fast Lane (6 Jan 02)
The Mystical Squeak Of Howard's Bicycle (13 Jan 02)
Mervyn Would Be Proud (20 Jan 02)
The Incredible Ordeal Of Norman Clegg (27 Jan 02)
Beware Of The Hot Dog (3 Feb 02)
In Search Of Childlike Joy And The Farthest Reaches
Of The Lotus Position (10 Feb 02)
A Chaise Longue Too Far (17 Feb 02)
Exercising Father's Bicycle (24 Feb 02)
Sadly, Madly, Bradley (3 Mar 02)
It All Began With An Old Volvo Headlamp (10 Mar 02)
These guys obviously liked the eccentricity and whimsy of it all, but as time went on it inevitably became lost in its own universe and jargon, trying to be as self consciously quirky as was possible. But then I suppose once you’ve got a successful formula, it takes a brave man to break new ground. I just wish sometimes they’d stretch themselves just that little bit and concentrate on getting laughs out of more down to earth stuff than Compo as an amateur stunt man or creaking Lothario…
The standard Summer Wine approach is a cosy stroll along a cobbled street, a merry quip as to the relationship between Compo and Nora Batty and a strange and wonderful invention which promises a test of life and limb for the bewellied one, while Clegg’s earthy wisdom revolves around how he can help Compo survive while the Big One drives them ever onward…
It’s all just like a comfortable old pair of slippers with the toe poking through – good for a titter once or twice maybe, but too warm to ever throw away even though you really wouldn’t want to be seen dead in them.
Well, I tell you now I've watched a lot of the episodes of this show and am not uncharitable enough to really give it that much of a slagging, because it is soft and easy and comfortable and easy to relax into, like too much television comedy - real comedy has a bit and a fire and a hatred deep within it which takes it a higher plain - comedy, real comedy isn't about quirky and quaint and love, it's about fight and fire and greed and spite - you'll never see any of that in Holmfirth and you'll not catch me tuning in on a Sunday night again, because THIS STUFF IS TURGID...
31.03.2002 23:16
Only watched on episode before, so thanks for filling in the gaps for me. Enjoyable reading. Phil