I thought it was time to get back to some more Last Of The Summer Wine. Series 9 started with 2 Christmas Specials in 1986, 12 regular episodes that appeared January through March 1987, and an 1987 Christmas Special. Series 10 had 6 episodes that appeared in October and November 1988 and a Christmas Special that same year.
Peter Sallis is still Clegg and Bill Owen is still Compo. Brian Wilde leaves the series and Michael Aldridge takes his place as the third old man, this one named Seymour. He's part of a group of people that all start on the series that year. Dame Thora Hird plays is sister Edie Pegden, who is married to Wesley. Gordon Wharmby plays Wesley, he had appeared in several episodes previously but here he becomes a regular character. Sarah Thomas plays Edie's daughter Glenda and Mike Grady plays Barry Wilkinson.
In the first of the 1986 specials, Uncle Of The Bride, Seymour is in charge of Glenda and Barry's pre-nuptial celebrations and in the Christmas special he's got Compo dressing up as Father Christmas. These things don't go so well and there's plenty of laughs to be had.
The regular episodes have typical stories: Seymour searches for oil, Compo takes up canoeing and gets soaked, Seymour invents a voice activated door lock and then can't get into his house, he also invents an ejector seat which he gets Compo to try, then he sets up an bicycle ice cream vendor. The trio also try freeing Wally and Howard from house arrest. That doesn't go so well, the men's guard are tough ones. They sell tickets for the church production of a Beatrix Potter play. Edie has driving lessons and no one is safe.
Joe Gladwin would end out the season as Wally and then pass away.
In Series 10 Compo wonders why blood rushes to his head when he's upside down. Compo isn't much good at looking things up, even though the men occasionally spend time in the library. Seymour thinks he's found part of some robber's loot. Compo treats the hard skin on his feet with a gypsy remedy. The guys try to smuggle a dog into the hospital to visit a sick friend. The trio slides down hill on dinner trays to pass the time until they die. Speaking of death, Compo brings his ferret to a funeral.
I got a bunch of laughs from the shows and I'm still liking most of the characters. I'm not as big a fan of Seymour as I was of Brian Wilde's Foggy. Edie and Auntie Wainwright also aren't interesting to me but I like Barry and Glenda. The library still has quite a few more seasons so I'll be getting more of those as time goes on.
Comments