PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Laast Of The Summer Wine Series 11(10) - 14(13)

The 11th series of Last Of The Summer Wine on the DVD set is actually the 10th series listed on the Wikipedia. It would be nice not to have to deal with a messed up numbering system but there you go. I'm using both numbers to make things more confusing. Someone at the BBC is responsible for this cock-up. Hopefully they were made redundant when the BBC belts were tightened. Roy Clarke continues to write the screenplays and Alan W J Clarke returns to direct the whole lot.

Series 11(10) started airing October 1988 and there were 6 episodes and a hour long Christmas Special. That Christmas Special pulled in 17.1 million viewers when it first aired. Series 12(11) started airing in October 1989 and there were 7 episodes and a 50 minute Christmas Special. Peter Sallis and Bill Owen return as Clegg and Compo, and each episode they are dragged around the Yorkshire countryside by Michael Aldridge, playing Seymour. They retain that trio for both series 11(10) and 12(11). The first episode of Series 11(10) was the first episode to air on PBS in the 1990s. I never saw it, I hardly ever watched PBS at that point, even then I had too many movies to watch. Those were the days of Video Stores and they had plenty for me to rent.

Series 13(12) started airing September 1990 and the total episodes jumped to 10 and a 30 minute Christmas Special. Series 14(13) started airing in October 1991 with 6 episodes and a 30 minute Christmas Special. Peter Sallis and Bill Owen say goodby to Michael Aldridge at the beginning of the first episode of Series 13(12).  and then are surprised at the return of Foggy Dewhurst, played by Brian Wilde.

During this lot of shows saw the last of Wally Batty, Joe Gladwin had died between series.

Jane Alexander made her first appearance as Aunty Wainwright. That's her on the right, on the left is Dame Thora Herd, she plays Edie, the wife of Wesley, mother to Glenda.

Juliette Kaplan, Jane Freeman and Kathy Staff play Pearl, Ivy and Nora Batty. They are rather formidable, huh.

With Series 12(11) I have started seeing episodes that I hadn't seen on my first run though of the series from the library. The stories are about the same and there's plenty of laughs. I'm not quite half way through the set, so there's plenty more episodes to enjoy.

Last Of The Summer Wine Series 6-10

Roy Clarke is the creator of Last Of The Summer Wine. He wrote all 295 episodes. Alan J W Bell produced and directed Series 6 - 10.  Mixed in with the regular episodes of the show are all the Christmas Specials that appeared between 1981 and 1987. Series 10 in the DVD set is really part of Series 9. The episode count for Series 9 doubled to a dozen plus 3 Christmas Specials. The BBC repackaged the episodes into Series 9 and Series 10 when they sold them overseas. They continue to use that count. The Wikipedia entry lists 31 series.  It makes you wish they would be consistent. Oh, well.

Peter Sallis, Bill Owen and Brian Wilde romp around the town for Series 6-8, then Micheal Aldridge takes over for Brian Wilde. Brian left to appear in his own TV series. I liked Brian's Foggy, but I'm not as fond of Michael's Seymour Utterthwaite. He's just that sort of guy, the kind you want to slap all the time. Seymour is brother to Thora Hird's character. She's really annoying too. The women of the show sure have some opinions on how men and women should behave. Still, you've got to laugh. That and be thankful that you aren't married to them. All that male and female friction makes some laughs. There's a good number of them in each episode and there are a variety. Verbal, physical, even silly signs.

As the series progresses we loose some characters and gain some others. I miss John Comer, he played the tea shop owner Sid, who died after the 1983 Christmas Special Getting Sam Home. We get Dame Thora Hird and Gordon Wharmby, they play Seymour's sister and brother-in-law. Sarah Thomas and Mike Grady join the cast, she's Thora's daughter and he's the son-in-law. They're all peculiar. So are the characters that Robert Fyfe, Juliette Kaplan and Jean Fergusson play. Robert's a bit of wet noodle, but he's got his eye on Jean, Juliette plays his wickedly dour wife.

The level of the writing continues to be strong, especially the dialog. Occasionally I think some of the slapstick could be less predicable. It's a minor quibble. I'm still having a laugh. Luckily there's plenty left.

Last Of The Summer Wine Series 1-5

I've watched the first 5 series of Last Of The Summer Wine since I got the complete set. I watch a couple here and there and I'm finding that I like the shows as much as the first time I saw them. The British DVD set that I have has the complete first series. Only three of the episodes from series 1 were on the US discs I saw from the library. There's a pilot, it's on the last British set so I'll watch it when I get there. Series 1 & 2 has the three guys above. Starting on the left we've got Cyril Blamire, played by Michael Bates, Compo Simmonite, played by Bill Owen, and Norman Clegg, played by Peter Sallis. Michael Bates would get cancer and leave after the second series.

Brian Wilde would join the show as Walter C "Foggy" Dewhurst, Cyril's old pal in the 3rd series. He used to know live in the town when he was younger, he'd been in the Army for many years. He's kind of pompous and annoying but the other two make fun of him at times. He comes up with some pretty ludicrous ideas for activities. It's a wonder that they don't break bones, the things they get up to.

The show is set in a pretty West Yorkshire town, played by Holmfirth, with plenty of picturesque countryside on the side. There's a nice mix of talking and physical comedy. It makes me laugh and the guys are fun to spend some time with.

Last Of The Summer Wine - The Complete Series

I was pleased to get the complete box set of Last Of The Summer Wine today. A while back I had been watching the DVDs, borrowed from the local library, sadly they haven't got a complete set. The box set has all 31 series of the show, 295 episodes on 54 discs. The show ran 37 years and Peter Sallis appeared in every episode. Peter is the voice of Wallace from Wallace and Grommet. When I first noticed this set it was £80, it came out last December, before I could order the set it jumped to £100, currently it's £78.99 on Amazon UK. If you live here in the US, they take 20% VAT off the price and then add the postage. I picked the Global Priority to speed them getting here. Not so I could watch them right away but so they might survive the trip better. I ordered them on Thursday and they arrived today, packed in a flimsy box that might have had a harder time surviving the 2-3 weeks via slow mail. Even with the expensive postage the cost was only $115. That beats the cost of the individual 2 series sets from the UK and the single series sets in the US by 2-300 bucks, maybe more. The only issue with buying UK sets is they don't play on most DVD players in the US. I have a multi-region player that cost $39 on Amazon and they play fine on the PC with VLC Player.

The arrival of this package from the UK, just 5 days after ordering, isn't the quickest package I've had from overseas in the last year. Being the LEGO club ambassador, I've received 4 packages from LEGO that were shipped from Denmark and arrived 3-4 days later. The last one was shipped Friday and arrived Monday.Why they are shipping them so quickly isn't clear to me, the packages were large and there were multiple packages.

I had a couple of damaged DVD sets with Amazon UK, I complained and they shipped the replacements some sort of quick priority, they arrived 3 days later. That was nice. Often Amazon's inferior packaging has damaged DVD sets, a couple DVDs were even stolen, or more likely, just fallen out of the unsealed package. The packaging is probably OK for local shipping, but the long trip to America seems to take it's toll.

Just getting a package from overseas is a more common occurrence today, at least for me. Back in the 80s I remember a girlfriend ordering books from the UK and it was such a process. If they didn't have a catalog, you had to write and they had to write back with what was available. Then you sent a money order or used your credit card. That could take a month or more. Then more weeks later your books would arrive. Now I can order in seconds and have the stuff here in less than a handful of days. This last several months has seen me order DVDs from Canada, France, the UK and Spain. I think it's pretty cool.

Last Of The Summer Wine Series 9 & 10

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.

Last Of The Summer Wine Series 7 & 8

I'm still getting sets of Last Of The Summer Wine from the library and enjoying them. Roy Clark continues to write the series. Series 7 came out in 1983 and it's directed by Sidney Lotterby. Alan JW Bell takes over directing in 1985 with Series 8 and continues until the show stops production in 2010. Peter Sallis is Clegg, Bill Owen is Compo and Brian Wilde is Foggy. The guys have various adventures in the beautiful northern countryside and around their little town. It's all very low key and there are a lot of repeated jokes. I enjoy the chemistry between the actors as much as the silly plots. I'm not as interested in some of the supporting characters. Some of the women are kind of annoying and the not-so-secret romance with the married Howard and the single Marina isn't far behind. It's not enough to make me stop. I often hit the fast forward and move on.

Series 7

The Frozen Turkey Man  For a joke, Compo and Clegg convince a barmaid that Foggy is a multi-millionaire.

The White Man's Grave  The trio have Clegg stand in for Wally in an attempt to give Wally a few hours freedom.

The Waist Land  Foggy attempts to earn some ready cash by smuggling junk food to some health farm inmates.

Cheering Up Ludovic  Clegg is roped in to drive a van when an old friend is too drunk to use it.

The Three Astaires  The trio help out at a church concert, but Compo is more interested in a suit of armour.

The Arts of Concealment  Foggy lands himself in trouble with a group of local cyclists when he demonstrates his supposed skill at camouflage.

Christmas Special (1983)  Getting Sam Home  The lads smuggle terminally-ill Sam Mordroyd out of his home to spend a last night with his girlfriend Lily Bless'Er. Sam dies during their terminal cuddle in bed, after which the trio, using Sid's old chip van, have to smuggle the smiling corpse in the dead of night back to his own bed past his cold-hearted wife. However, their problems don't finish there.

Christmas Special (1984)  The Loxley Lozenge  Wesley is thrilled to have discovered a rare old racing car – a Loxley Lozenge – and the trio are roped in to help him tow it back to his workshop.

Series 8

The Mysterious Feet of Nora Batty  The trio conduct an experiment to see how big Nora's feet are.

Keeping Britain Tidy  Foggy organises a clean-up after finding a discarded mattress.

Enter The Phantom  Compo takes up stunt biking.

Catching Digby's Donkey  The trio attempt to help a friend round up his donkey.

The Woollenmills of your Mind  Compo enters a marathon.

Who's Looking After The Café Then?  Ivy is going out. She has arranged for a fellow caterer to look after the cafe in her absence, but when he is indisposed, Foggy insists on stepping in.

Last Of The Summer Wine Series 6

Before the 6th Series started airing in January 1982 there was a Christmas Special in December 1981 and after it ended there was another in December 1982. In the US the Christmas Specials actually came on a separate DVD with 2 other Christmas Specials. I'm sure they packaged them like that so they wouldn't have to have a second disc for each series and they can sell it separately. In the US the 6th series comes packed with the 7th series on two discs. In Britain they package series 5 & 6 together, with the corresponding Christmas Specials, in a three disc set. I'm still enjoying the series so I'll continue to get them from the library. They have DVDs through 1999 but not the 2000 and 2001 releases.

Whoops 

The trio decide to look up some old school friends, to try and recapture the spirit of Christmas from the past.

In The Service of Humanity

Foggy decides to start up a rescue service, and Wally is a perfect customer.

Car & Garter

After meeting car enthusiast Wesley Pegden, Compo volunteers to test drive his car, in order to impress Nora Batty.

The Odd Dog Men

Foggy decides to open up a dog walking service.

A Bicycle Made For Three

After the trio ride, and crash, Clegg's bike, they decide that they need a bike each. A local shopkeeper lets them build their own from his spares. Meanwhile, Sid and Ivy have redecorated the Cafe.

One of the Last Few Places Unexplored By Man

Compo wants to have his photograph taken in Nora Batty's bedroom.

Serenade For Tight Jeans and Metal Detector

Foggy persuades Compo to buy a new pair of trousers, and Clegg to buy a Metal Detector.

From Wellies To Wet Suit

Compo buys Sid's wet suit and, after a go at snorkeling, he is persuaded to take up water-skiing.

All Mod Conned

Deciding to abandon the commercialised side of Christmas, Foggy books a caravan for the trio.

Last Of The Summer Wine Series 5

I've gotten back to watching more episodes of Last Of The Summer Wine. Series 5 started airing September 18 1979 and ran through October 30. A Christmas Special aired in December of the same year. The series was written by Roy Clarke and produced and directed by Sydney Lotterby. Bill Owen, Brian Wilde and Peter Sallis star as the trio of retired gents who fill their spare time with silly adventures and tea. That's the guys left to right in the picture above. I really enjoy the series though I am not always a fan of this sort of humor. I think it's very much in the I Love Lucy vein but it's set in Yorkshire and everyone has such lovely accents. I like the characters as much as the countryside. I pulled the decriptions from the Wikipedia.

Full Steam Behind

Foggy takes the trio on a railway walk, with disastrous results. Peter Sallis has stated that this is his personal favourite episode.

The Flag And Its Snag

The first in a two-parter. Foggy gets the chance to raise the tone of the neighbourhood by raising a flag, but things don't go smoothly.

The Flag And Further Snags

Continued from previous episode.

Deep in the Heart of Yorkshire

The trio spy Sid and Wally sneaking into the woods, and try to find out what is going on.

Earnshaw Strikes Again

Compo and Clegg warn Foggy not to criticise old Yorkshire traditions, and invent a Yorkshire deity called Earnshaw, in an attempt to keep him in line.

Here We Go Into The Wild Blue Yonder Part 1 & Part 2

A two-parter in which Compo takes up hang-gliding.

And A Dewhurst Up A Fir Tree

Foggy buys a map for a plantation of Christmas trees from "Big Eric" the Head Forester for ten quid in a pub, and Compo gets de-bagged by Ivy and Nora, in Sid's Cafe.

Last Of The Summer Wine Series 4

The fourth series of Last Of The Summer Wine ran on the BBC from November 9 1977 and and ran through January 4 1978. Peter Sallis, Bill Owen and Brian Wilde appear as a trio of older gents who are trying to fill their days with something. The little town they live in doesn't have a lot going on but they aren't too particular. Taking walks and stopping for bun at Sid's Cafe or getting a drink at the pub are good time passers. What to do in retirement is something that I've been thinking about in recent months. Hopefully I won't be up to some of the things that the guys are. I'm certainly not going to get some ferrets. There were 8 episodes in the season with a Christmas special. Some made me laugh more than others. Sometimes the guys are a bit more stupid than I might like. It's not a modern comedy like you might find in The Young Ones, it's more your I Love Lucy. In that show the comedy is based on some silly slapstick or incompetency by the main characters.

In the Stephen Fry episode of I've Never Seen Star Wars Stephen admits to not having seen any episodes of the sitcom with the "old people." Jo dismissed the show, "That's no great loss". It's all subjective, comedy, isn't it. In INSSW Jo gets Stephen to watch episodes of Only Fools And Horses which, from the clips I see on YouTube, is a rather in the I Love Lucy format. Another lot of incompetent men getting in trouble.

I could see people not liking the series, I'm no fan of Lucy. It's not hip in any way but I still get a laugh or two out of each episode. Like a lot of programs I'm happy to watch them when they're on my tv and I might want to see them again in the future. Got to fill up those empty hours once work is done and there are worse ways to kill time until you die.

Once again the descriptions are from the Wikipedia. That's why they are in italics. Personally, I'm not much of a fan of the italic, not sure why. I only use them to indicate I quoted the text from a source. The Wikipedia descriptions are fairly good and it's easy to cut and paste.

Ferret Come Home

One of Compo's ferrets escapes into Nora's house. Can Wally retrieve it?

Getting on Sidney's Wire

Sid is installing a doorbell in the cafe, and the trio decide to help him.

Jubilee

It's the Queen's Silver Jubilee, and Foggy decides that the trio should help the vicar's parade.

Flower Power Cut

Clegg tries to persuades the others that flowers have feelings and will respond to music.

Who Made a Bit of a Splash in Wales Then?

Foggy is visiting a lady friend in Wales, but what will happen when Compo and Clegg intrude?

Greenfingers

Foggy is disappointed in the size of the vegetables being sold in the market, so searches out some bigger examples.

A Merry Heatwave

Nora's brother, who lives in Australia, is unlikely to see another British Christmas. Foggy decides to film an old fashioned Christmas to send to him, unfortunately where do you find holly in the middle of a summer heatwave.

The Bandit From Stoke-on-Trent

Why has "Laugh a Minute" Amos Hames returned to town? Foggy is suspicious.

Christmas episode 1978

Small Tune on a Penny Wassail

It's Christmas morning; the trio visit Edgar in hospital, then exchange presents at Clegg's, Sid gives Ivy a black nightie for Boxing Day, Wally and Sid get fed up with family visitors, and havoc is created with a brass band on the way to going AWOL to Cleggy's for refreshments with the trio.

The Last Of The Summer Wine Series 3

I'm not sure why I cotton to The Last Of The Summer Wine. I mentioned it to one fellow and he called it a stupid show. Apparently it's on the local PBS station. I don't watch it there, I've been getting the dvd series sets from the library. I certainly don't think it's stupid, I've been enjoying them. The shows kind of low-key, the gags more I Love Lucy than Little Britain. They seem to have a lot of them on YouTube. I put links on the titles of the episodes below. I took the descriptions from the Wikipedia.

The third series first aired in October and December of 1976. Roy Clarke created the series and wrote all the episodes. Bill Owen and Peter Sallis return as Compo and Clegg. Michael Bates, who played Blamire, had gotten sickly and left the show. Brian Wilde arrives as his replacement, Foggy Dewhurst, and he takes some getting used to. Blamire was a British officer type, a bit stuck up and officious, and Foggy is an ex-military guy who talks a big show but can't back it up. His mouth gets him into trouble a fair bit. He tells people he was a hero but he worked as a clerk. Still, he'll stand Compo to a pint so he's good for something.

I do enjoy the town of Holmfirth which plays the town the guys live in. I looked it up on Google Maps and Street view and looked about the town. The town is tiny and some of the places in the hils around it are only 4-5 miles away.

The Man from Oswestry

Compo is depressed following Blamire's departure. He and Clegg soon receive a letter from Blamire, however, asking them to help one of their old classmates he ran into, Foggy Dewhurst. Compo and Clegg meet Foggy at the bus station and help him with his luggage. Afterwards, they go to the pub and Foggy ends up in a fight with Big Malcolm whilst defending his regimental scarf.

Mending Stuart's Leg

After being thrown out of the library by Mr. Wainwright, the trio go to the café to find Sid is in trouble with Ivy for not fixing the slates on the roof. Foggy takes charge, attaching a rope to Compo and the other end to Sid's van to pull Compo up. Sid, however, loses control of the van, leaving Compo hanging from the roof.

The Great Boarding House Bathroom Caper

In the first part of a two-part episode, the trio, along with Sid and Ivy, crowd in Compo's nephew, Gordon's, van for a trip to Scarborough for the weekend. At their boarding house, Compo seems to be obsessively washing his feet. However, he has discovered Nora is staying in the same house and Compo is attempting to catch sight of her undressed. At bedtime, Foggy investigates a strange noise to discover Compo has brought his ferrets with him.

Cheering Up Gordon

In the conclusion to the two-parter, the trio get kicked out of a church after Compo's ferrets get loose. On the beach, Foggy decides Gordon needs to be cheered up. After a ride on a donkey doesn't work, Compo agrees to teach Gordon how to pick up women if Gordon teaches him how to fish. Disaster ensues when the fishing line wraps around a beach buggy and Compo picks up some women which frighten the trio.

The Kink in Foggy's Niblick

After a game of football, Foggy experiences a great pain and says his real forte is playing golf, although he admits he has not played since 1939. Compo and Clegg goad him and he challenges Sid to a game. Foggy's clubs, however, have warped and he cannot actually hit the ball. Foggy's game goes on so long they have to finish by gaslight. Meanwhile, Compo discovers the club pays for found balls and undercuts their prices.

Going to Gordon's Wedding

The trio go to Gordon's wedding and Compo buys him an alarm clock as a wedding present. At the church, Foggy tries to photograph the occasion while Compo has problems with his buttonhole. After throwing his flower on the floor, the best man slips on it, breaking his leg and sending him to hospital. Compo is appointed the new best man but soon discovers the ring has gone to hospital with his predecessor. The trio recover it in time for Compo's alarm clock to go off during the ceremony.

Isometrics and After

Deciding that the three of them are unfit, Foggy instructs Clegg and Compo in a method of exercise called "isometrics." Their first lesson is to lift a table off the floor by one leg. The trio try the exercise on the tables in the library, only to discover the tables are bolted to the floor. After they actually manage to lift one, they are thrown out and jog towards the café, until Foggy decides they should try horseback riding. Once on, however, they discover they are unable to stop the horses.

You can see, even from the descriptions, that there is a good bit of broad humor with some slapstick stuff going on. Occasionally the guys have large props to deal with. They do well for older gents. Hopefully you'll find a laugh out of them. I'm going after series 4 next.