As Last of the Summer Wine finally ends...How Compo, Cleggie and Co. drove Nora Batty | Daily Mail Online comments The camera was ready, but whether the same could be said of the three nervous actors perched in a perilously wobbly canoe on Yorkshire's fast- flowing and very cold River Wharfe was rather less certain. Shooting on the penultimate episode of the second series of Last Of The Summer Wine, however, could not wait. 'Action!' called director Bernard Thompson. And so off went the canoe, carrying its anxious crew towards the famous bridge at Bolton Abbey. Last of the great battle-axes: Kathy Staff with troublesome trio Peter Sallis, Bill Owen and Brian Wilde In the bow was Bill Owen, who as a young actor had once been under contract at Rank film studios and who was hoping that the role of 'Compo' Simmonite would give him a final tilt at fame. In the stern was Michael Bates, a former Gurkha officer who played the part of Cyril Blamire for the first two series. And in the middle was a shaking Peter Sallis, probably wishing he'd never accepted the part of Norman Clegg. Sallis, you see, couldn't swim.

The canoe shot under the bridge, as planned. Then it started to wobble. And shudder. And then it went over. The non-swimming Sallis would later recall that he managed to escape the river only because he was able to put a foot on a hard object under the water and lever himself out on to the bank. RELATED ARTICLES Share That hard object turned out to be Owen's head. 'To have us row a canoe and shoot the bridge and come out the other side into this choppy water, there's no wonder the bloody thing turned over and no wonder I nearly drowned,' said Sallis. The problem for Sallis, and indeed for many future members of the Summer Wine cast, was that the show's audience thought it was precisely this sort of knockabout comedy that was funny; very funny, in fact. It may have been only a couple of years since the pilot episode had been successfully aired at the beginning of 1973, but Roy Clarke's creation was already changing. There was less talking, more of the glorious Yorkshire scenery and, as the second series took shape, far more of the absurd stunts that kept the show on air for a record-breaking 37 years.

The prolific Clarke, who would go on to write Open All Hours for Ronnie Barker, loved writing sharp dialogue. But he adored creating physical comedy, too. His comic hero was Buster Keaton - and it showed. Over 295 episodes, just about anything on wheels or capable of being put on wheels - beds, sofas, baths, even rocket-powered rollerskates - careered down one of those vertiginously steep Yorkshire hills, almost always with Compo on board. Three men in a boat: Actors Bill Owen, Peter Sallis and Michael Bates. Sallis, who couldn't swim, dreaded the programme's water-based scenes Sallis, the only one of the three to make it from pilot to final episode, would later recall how he would scan new scripts for the dread words: 'All we see of our three is a row of bubbles on the surface of the water.' Later, as the three main male leads grew older, it increasingly fell to stunt men and younger members of the cast to continue the physical comedy tradition, as Jean Fergusson - who played the man-hunting Marina for 25 years - remembers.

She recalls one scene that required Marina and her lover Howard Sibshaw, played by Robert Fyfe, to fall out of a boat into some filthy canal water. And like Sallis many years earlier, Fyfe couldn't swim. 'Robert put his hand on top of my head,' said Fergusson. 'I went under this foul, foul water - there's still a pair of earrings somewhere in the Marsden canal.' Getting cold or soaked and often both was part and parcel of being a Summer Wine regular. 'I was introduced to thermal knickers up there,' recalls Juliette Kaplan, who played Howard's bossy wife, Pearl Sibshaw. 'I have never known the wind get so bad.' Stunts, however, were only part of the reason Last Of The Summer Wine attracted up to 18 million viewers. Some said the show harked back nostalgically to a better, simpler time, but those involved in its making insist that's not the case. Summer Wine Land, as it was first dubbed by Sallis, is not something that used to be, it's something that never was. 'It's in a time-warp,' Bill Owen said once.

'Nobody gets old, people don't die, people are always there.' But if it's about anything at all, it's about enduring male companionship and the scrapes that three old schoolfriends get into as they meander aimlessly through the beautiful Yorkshire countryside. Nora Batty was one of only two female characters to survive from the pilot -the other was cafe owner Ivy, played by Jane Freeman - and thanks to her endless rebuttals of Compo's constant wooing, she had quickly become a firm favourite with audiences. But television's favourite battle-axe bore hardly any resemblance to the cheerful and very welldressed actress who played her, the late Kathy Staff. Wearing a padded man's vest and her famously baggy stockings, she would transform her customarily kindly demeanour into a humourless scowl. 'I never mind how ugly they make me look,' she once said. 'I never had any wish to look glamorous.' Right from the outset, the good-natured joshing and teasing that was another key part of Summer Wine's appeal was very different from what was going on off screen, as original producer Jimmy Gilbert discovered while making the pilot.

After filming the three male leads taking a walk, during which one stood in a cowpat, cast and crew retired to the pub where they were to stay, a bleak but popular hostelry that Clarke would later describe as 'Wuthering Heights with strippers'. And it was here, over dinner, that Michael Bates - aka Cyril - a man that Gilbert recalls as having 'strong Tory views on the Empire, patriotism and pretty much everything else', started to vent his trenchant opinions. This was a red rag for Bill Owen, who had inherited his fiery, Left-wing politics from his tram-driving father. Voices were raised; the atmosphere turned ugly. So ugly, in fact, that the producer was forced to take the pair outside, where he threatened to cancel the entire show. The tactic worked - after half an hour, the two men returned to the table and finished their food. If it’s about anything at all, it’s about enduring male companionship and the scrapes that three old schoolfriends get into Gilbert, however, had learnt an important lesson and swiftly booked his stars into separate accommodation - Owen into a boarding house on the edge of the moors and Sallis and Bates into comfortable hotels. Peace was restored.

Owen would continue to go his own way for his entire 26-year association with the show, preferring to rent the same house each year, on the outskirts of Holmfirth, and settling into a routine: a whisky between 6.30pm and 7.30pm and then an M&S fish pie for dinner. But if that makes him sound as eccentric as Compo, nothing could be farther from the truth. He hated the stubble he had to keep for the part, and refused to leave the set in Compo's clothes. As the producer put it: 'He was always beautifully turned out, quite snappy.' But he was never easy company, as a new member of the cast would soon discover. Having sustained a nasty injury while doing pantomime, Michael Bates found himself too frail to commit to play Cyril in the show's third season, leaving incoming producer Sydney Lotterby with no 'third man'. The trio needed a new leader - and urgently: a man with an immovable sense of his own destiny, superiority and abilities. Above all, a man who was what Yorkshire folk call a 'barmpot' - a bit of an idiot.

Clarke set to work and within days had created a character that propelled Summer Wine into the ranks of classic British sitcoms. Like Michael Bates's Cyril Blamire, Walter 'Foggy' Dewhurst would be an old soldier, but there the resemblance ended. Foggy was an ex-corporal sign-writer, a man still clinging to the minutiae of Army life, an under-achiever with a misfounded but unshakeable self-belief in his abilities as a leader of men - and as a master of unarmed combat. And the team knew exactly the right actor to play him - Brian Wilde, who had made the mild-mannered Mr Barrowclough such a popular character in Porridge. Everybody liked the casting decision and yet the arrival of this gangling, 6ft 3in actor would soon cause a whole new raft of tensions. Despite his amiable screen presence, Wilde had a cantankerous streak, as Alan Bell, who arrived as producer in 1981, soon found.

That Christmas, the Summer Wine Special brought in a bigger audience than the first television screening of Gone With The Wind - 'Nora Batty more popular than Scarlett O'Hara' screamed the newspaper headlines - but as plans for the next series were made, Wilde put his foot down. He wouldn't do it if Bell, who often used time-consuming techniques more common in film-making than television, remained in charge. Amazingly, a face-saving compromise was reached - Bell would go off and film the new Spike Milligan series while Lotterby would return to Summer Wine - but a spin-off feature film, destined to become the popular Christmas special of 1983, remained in Bell's control. But while he may have made his peace with Bell, in the Winnebago Wilde shared with his two co-stars, the temperature was dropping. Indeed, the three jealously guarded their personal space - at the front was Owen, counting his lines to make sure nobody was getting more laughs than him; in the middle was Wilde, and at the back was Sallis, normally lost in the Times crossword. The shenanigans of the male stars were regarded with resigned amusement by female regulars such as Kathy Staff, but the men's privileges did rankle.

In the early days, without their own trailer, Staff and Freeman were forced to find shelter from the Yorkshire weather in Freeman's car. They also got less money. Slapstick: Up to 18 million tuned in to watch Compo's latest attempts to woo Norma Batty But, as a committed Christian, Staff wasn't one to dwell on such injustices. Instead, she and Freeman grew close, with the two women falling into the habit of breaking off from rehearsals in London to take tea at the Ritz. Relations between Owen and Wilde, however, were nothing like as cordial, the two men having a gift for rubbing each other up the wrong way. Owen made no secret of his belief that he was the real star. That irritated Wilde, as did Owen's political views. And relations continued to worsen, particularly when it emerged Wilde was being paid more than the others. In 1984, Wilde had finally had enough of the squabbling, bringing to a close what many believe was a golden age for the show.

But once again, Summer Wine moved on, expanding the cast to include national treasure Thora Hird as Edie Pegden, and bringing in Michael Aldridge as the show's new 'third man', retired headmaster and madcap inv entor Seymour Utterthwaite. Their arrival certainly caused ripples. Gordon Wharmby, who played the popular Wesley Pegden, was so terrified by the prospect of an actress of Hird's stature playing his wife that he had a nervous breakdown and had to be treated (successfully) in a psychiatric hospital. The arrival of the ebullient Aldridge, meanwhile, lightened the atmosphere, particularly in the bar of their regular haunt, the Huddersfield Hotel, where at last Sallis found a fellow spirit. His long-established table for one quickly became a table for two. Hird's arrival proved somewhat more problematic. Hird loved socialising off-set even more than Aldridge, settling down each evening at what quickly became known as Thora's Table, where she would draw on a seemingly bottomless well of reminiscences.

Gracious, funny and sometimes using language that would have had the audience for her Sunday teatime hymn programme, Praise Be, reaching for their smelling salts, Thora loved to talk and talk and talk… so much so that the easygoing Aldridge and Sallis soon refused to go to dinner with her. Later, however, when another national treasure - Jean Alexander, who'd played Hilda Ogden in Coronation Street for 23 years - joined the cast as Auntie Wainwright, Hird found a real friend. As the 91-year-old grew more frail and Thora's Table became a quieter place, it was often Alexander who would help her up to her room and put her rollers in for her before going to bed. It was two legends together, one looking after the other. Aldridge would leave the show after only four years in order to look after his sick wife, newly diagnosed with Alzheimer's, a move that would herald the return, albeit temporarily, of a much mellowed Brian Wilde. But if Wilde was easier company, so, too, was Owen, by now in his mid-70s.

Owen loved the show - and he worked on for another ten years until filming got under way for a Millennium special. Clarke had penned a poignantly multi-layered script that took Compo back to the beaches of Dunkirk, where the character had been evacuated in 1940. Reflecting on fear and death, Last Post And Pigeon called on all Owen's experience and expertise as he moved from humour to sadness in a few lines. But for the first time, the 85-year-old Owen was uncertain of his words and it soon became quite obvious that he was struggling. Like the seasoned pro he was, he persevered, but one day - during filming back in Britain - he sat down heavily and looked wearily up at his director. 'I'd do anything, but I just can't do any more today,' he said. Owen was suffering cancer of the pancreas and had only weeks to live, although it's uncertain whether he knew or not. But there did seem to be a sad acknowledgement that his life was nearing its end.

Sallis remembers sitting in a car with him as filming drew to a close, and Owen turning to him and saying: 'I don't want to go, Peter, there's so much left to do.' Ten days later, on July 12, 1999, Owen died. Last Of The Summer Wine would go on - indeed it would survive another decade - but this time there was no doubt. Without Compo, without that overgrown schoolboy in his silly green hat and folded-over wellies, it would never be the same again. Extracted from Last Of The Summer Wine: The Story Of The World's Longest-Running Comedy Series by Andrew Vine, published by Aurum at £18.99. To order a copy at £17.10 (p&p free), call 0845 155 0720. The final episode will be broadcast at 7.30pm on Sunday, August 29, on BBC1. Peter Sallis - IMDb IMDb Peter Sallis was born on February 1, 1921 in Twickenham, Middlesex, England.

He is an actor, known for Last of the Summer Wine (1973), The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) and The Wrong Trousers (1993). See full bio » Born: a list of 46 people created 29 Nov 2012 a list of 66 people created 07 Sep 2014 a list of 21 people created 17 Jan 2015 a list of 31 people created 9 months ago a list of 44 people created 8 months ago Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDbPage How much of Peter Sallis's work have you seen? User Polls 1 win & 1 nomination. See more awards » Known For 2001 Holby City (TV Series) Lionel Davis - The Mourning After (2001) ... Lionel Davis 2001 Hotel! (TV Movie) 1987 The Bretts (TV Series) Dr.

Woodward 1987 The New Statesman (TV Series) Sidney Bliss 1984 Strangers and Brothers (TV Series) Leonard March 1983 Rocky Hollow (TV Series) Narrator (voice) 1973-1981 Play for Today (TV Series) Shushin / Austin Melcroft 1979 ITV Playhouse (TV Series) Leslie 1977 Yanks Go Home (TV Series) Randall Todd 1974-1977 Crown Court (TV Series) Insp. George Storton / Gerald Prosser - Triangle: Part 1 (1974) ... Gerald Prosser 1977 Raffles (TV Series) 1976 The Winter Warrior (TV Movie) Deor 1976 BBC2 Playhouse (TV Series) Major Venables 1974 The Capone Investment (TV Series) Wheatfield 1974 Armchair Cinema (TV Series) Benitet 1974 The Pallisers (TV Mini-Series) Mr. Bonteen 1974 Who Killed Lamb?

(TV Movie) Lloyd 1960-1973 Armchair Theatre (TV Series) Onslow / Mr. Pender / Alfred Purdie / ... 1972 Spyder's Web (TV Series) Grovnik 1971 The Persuaders! (TV Series) Piper 1965-1971 Public Eye (TV Series) Eddie Meadows / Colin Reynolds 1971 Paul Temple (TV Series) George Robertson 1971 Bel Ami (TV Series) Norbert de Varenne - Suzanne (1971) ... Norbert de Varenne - Virginie (1971) ... Norbert de Varenne - Clotilde (1971) ... Norbert de Varenne - Georges (1971) ... Norbert de Varenne 1971 The Ten Commandments (TV Series) Gerry 1971 Thirty-Minute Theatre (TV Series) Lumley 1970 The Culture Vultures (TV Series) Prof. George Hobbes 1970 Parkin's Patch (TV Series) Chief Supt.

Mitchum - Two Gentlemen Standing (1970) ... Chief Supt. Mitchum 1970 Catweazle (TV Series) 1970 Mystery and Imagination (TV Series) Brogden / Mundel / Hopkins 1969 Plays of Today (TV Series) Mr. Street 1968 The Wednesday Play (TV Series) Eric 1964 The Sullavan Brothers (TV Series) Kenneth K. Hirst 1963-1964 Z Cars (TV Series) Williams / Seaton 1964 Sergeant Cork (TV Series) Feng / Rev. Hubert Wales 1964 The Avengers (TV Series) Hal Anderson 1963 Zero One (TV Series) Major Konel 1960-1963 BBC Sunday-Night Play (TV Mini-Series) Gerald Swinney / Housing clerk / Danny Fellows / ...

1961 Danger Man (TV Series) John Gordon 1961 Dear Charles (TV Movie) Edward 1955-1961 ITV Television Playhouse (TV Series) Peter / Corporal Foster / Daniel Kevin - Quay South (1955) ... Corporal Foster - The Concert (1955) ... Daniel Kevin (as Pete Sallis) 1960 The Poet (TV Short) Giulio 1960 International Detective (TV Series) Eugene Payas 1960 David and Broccoli (TV Movie) Mr. Slingsby 1959 World Theatre (TV Mini-Series) Doctor & Provost / Barere / Simon / ... 1959 H.G.Wells' Invisible Man (TV Series) Nesib - Ambulance Driver - Crisis in the Desert (1959) ... Nesib - Ambulance Driver 1958 Cinderella (TV Movie) 1958 The Lost King (TV Series) Abbe Fleuriel 1956 Kitty Clive (TV Movie) John Hall 1953 The New Shilling (TV Movie) Mr.

Bligh 1953 King in Motley (TV Short) Will - Happy Birthday, Howard (1992) ... (performer: "Happy Birthday" - uncredited) - Ordeal by Trousers (1992) ... (performer: "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter") - Crums (1988) ...

(performer: "We Wish You A Merry Christmas") 1978 She Loves Me (TV Movie) (performer: "Good Morning, Good Day", "Sounds While Selling/Thank You, Madam", "Perspective", "Ilona") Hide 2011 Thora Hird Tribute (TV Movie) Himself 2009 Orson Welles Over Europe (TV Movie documentary) Himself 2007 British Film Forever (TV Mini-Series documentary) Himself 2005 HBO First Look (TV Series documentary) Himself 2005 Top 50 Greatest Celebrity Animals (TV Movie documentary) Himself 2005 100 Greatest Cartoons (TV Special documentary) Himself 2004 The 100 Greatest Christmas Moments (TV Special documentary) Himself 2004 This Morning (TV Series) Himself 2003 The Sitcom Story (TV Series documentary) Himself 2000 Omnibus (TV Series documentary) Himself 1999 National Television Awards (TV Special) Himself 1998 Light Lunch (TV Series) Himself 1996 Q.E.D.

(TV Series documentary) Himself - Narrator 1981-1995 This Is Your Life (TV Series documentary) Himself 1976 It's Childsplay (TV Series) Himself 1974 Call My Bluff (TV Series) Himself 2015 Britain's Best Loved Sitcoms (TV Series documentary) Comedy Role Personal Details Other Works: He acted in Michael Meyer's translation of Henrik Ibsen's play, "Brand," at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith, London, England with the 59 Theatre Company featuring Patrick McGoohan, Dilys Hamlett, Patrick Wymark, Harold Lang, Fulton Mackay, Frank Windsor, and June Bailey in the cast. Michael Elliott was director. See more » Publicity Listings: 1 Print Biography | See more » Alternate Names: Peter Sallis OBE | Pete Sallis Height: Last of the Summer Wine (Series) - TV Tropes Last of the Summer Wine You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share Series / Last of the Summer Wine × WMG Just another day.

(l-r) Clegg, Compo and Foggy, pursued by the formidable Nora Batty Last of the Summer Wine was a gentle, family-friendly TV comedy set in rural Yorkshire, Oop North in England, which became the world's longest -running Sitcom . First aired in 1973 and running almost continually until 2010 , its remarkable longevity is starkly ironic in light of the fact that it centred from the word go upon a Comic Trio of elderly men who — as the show's title suggests — were meant to be living out the autumn of their years, and their friends and neighbours of a similar, erm, vintage. Frequently regressing to a kind of eccentric second youth, the trio routinely got themselves into comic scrapes , often while trying to help somebody or partake in a perfectly sensible-sounding Zany Scheme . Just quite how old the characters were meant to be originally is unsure, but the actors were actually in their 50s when the show was first aired, and by the final episode the oldest surviving cast members were in their late 80s.

The original trio was Compo (scruffy and lazy, played by Bill Owen), Clegg (meek, quiet and sensible, played by ever-present Peter Sallis) and Blamire (pompous, opinionated conservative, played by Michael Bates); Blamire was replaced in 1976 by the first of several suspiciously similar substitutes , "Foggy" Dewhirst (pompous, ex-military), played by Brian Wilde and who quickly elected himself the leader of the other two, who put up with this arrangement because his schemes always went so amusingly wrong. Subsequent leaders, all pompous, were incompetent inventor and ex-teacher Seymour Utterthwaite (Michael Aldridge, 1986-90), a returning Foggy (1990-97) and ex-policeman 'Truly' Truelove (Frank Thornton, 1998-2010). Toward the end, a new trio took the central role, while Clegg and Truly receded into supporting roles. Most of the characters had a Yorkshire accent , and exemplified many of the associated stereotypes.

During its run, the show used the majority of Comedy Tropes , most commonly Zany Scheme . It also had many running gags: Howard and Marina's affair, Auntie Wainwright's shop, Nora Batty's stockings. The quintessential sight, at least in public perception, was someone ï¿½ usually Compo ï¿½ whizzing down a hill in some Homemade Invention like a tin bathtub with wheels on, crashing into a low drystone wall at the bottom and disappearing over it into a field. Despite their age, the characters appeared to have rubber bones, routinely suffering accidents like this which would leave most people severely injured, let alone someone of their advanced years. Unsurprisingly perhaps, after decades on the air the show was frequently a target of those who saw it as stale and repetitive and wished to see it axed. The BBC kept producing new episodes, however, as it remained highly popular, in particular among older generations; several older members of The British Royal Family were known to have apparently stated Summer Wine was their favourite television programme, including HM The Queen and the Queen Mother. More bizarrely, so did President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.

New seasons were broadcast most years of its run (1973, 1975-79, 1982-83, 1985-86, 1988-2010), as well as multiple holiday specials and a two-season Spin-Off , First of the Summer Wine, a Prequel broadcast in 1988-89. In August 2010, the show was finally concluded by the BBC after 31 series. Every episode ever was written by just one man: Roy Clarke. Came fourteenth in Britain's Best Sitcom . It would be easier to list the tropes this series did NOT used by the end of its epic run, but some of the more frequently invoked were: Abhorrent Admirer : Marina to Clegg. Supposedly Compo to Nora Batty, but there were increasing hints over the years that she secretly welcomed his attentions. Absentee Actor : The actor who played Barry, Mike Grady, was gone between 1990-96 working on other shows. Glenda mentioned him very frequently during that time in order to indicate that he hadn't just run off.

Anyone Can Die : Not worked into the show so much as it is the fact that many of the actors on the show were rather elderly. Despite this, the show had a very long run indeed. Apron Matron : This is perhaps THE Sitcom for Apron Matrons, as practically every female cast member fell under this trope. Those who didn't when they were introduced only needed a decade or two to assimilate. Clegg says of their town in the first episode: "This is God's number-one area for unpleasant women of strong character." It's implied that most of the female cast were quite good-looking in their younger days, and strongly implied that given the nature of their respective menfolk, their subsequent character development is entirely understandable The Artifact : A close miss with the name of the show itself ï¿½ it was nearly titled "The Library Mob", in anticipation of the location being central to the core characters' lives and Zany Schemes . Early on, however, the library's importance as a setting dwindled considerably from its original conception. The character Tom Simmonite was initially intended to take his father Compo's place in the central trio. However, the result was awkward because Tom was so much younger than the other two.

After a small number of episodes, the character Billy Hardcastle started to take Tom's place. But, Tom stayed on the show, now in a much-reduced role as Auntie Wainwright's shop assistant, for the remaining ten years of its run. Ascended Extra : Probably one of the biggest culprits of this, increasingly so as the series went on, as previous mainstays died off or had their roles reduced due to age. The characters of Wesley, Smiler, Auntie Wainright, Billy and all three policemen were originally one-off appearances, who later came back as regulars. Countless other minor characters were increased in importance, with Alvin, Billy & Entwistle graduating to members of the main trio. Auntie Wainwright appears to be a case of Throw It In , completely unrelated to the original set-up but much too good a joke and actress to be allowed to let slip. Notably, a spin-off has been announced, centering around Those Two Guys Police Constables Cooper and Walsh, of all people. Asexuality : Clegg is not classified as this outright, but he was quite open about his aversion to romance and sex, even during his marriage.

As evidence, see his squicked reaction whenever Marina or any other woman showed an interest in him. In the episode "A Landlady for Smiler" Clegg states he was quite relieved when his hormones had settled down and women didn't interest him as much, and he had woken up as a middle-aged man. When Compo asks how long ago was that, he answers that "I suppose when I was about 23 years old." Badass Grandpa : Foggy likes to make it out he's one, but really he's nothing of the sort, and nobody's fooled. Auntie Wainwright on the other hand, even ignoring her ability to continually sell worthless junk to everyone who falls into her grasp, she's done some pretty impressive things for a small old lady. For instance when someone tried to mug her, she ended up breaking their nose; another time she stopped a robber by grasping hold of their legs and holding on all the way to end of the street when they gave up. In another, she held the trio at shotgun point, just to make sure they weren't after a refund.

Beach Episode : A multi-parter was done in Scarborough early in the series, and another one, in France, just before Compo's death. Blind Mistake : Eli's whole shtick. British Brevity : ...Well. Utterly destroyed the traditional limits with its grand total of 295 episodes, which is hardly anything to sneeze at even by American standards, but it's a relatively low number for a show that ran for 37 years. Most seasons, per the Anglo norm, were 7-10 episodes long. Bungling Inventor : Seymour. The Bus Came Back : Foggy (literally!) ï¿½ his character returned in 1990, after a five-year absence, on the next actual bus after the one his replacement Seymour had just left on. Call Back : Truly was introduced in a special about wacky hijinks leading up to a wedding, "There Goes The Groom" ï¿½ as had been Seymour years before in "Uncle of the Bride". Cast Herd : Began appearing increasingly once the extended Pegden family was introduced in the '80s.

This mostly broke down into a female herd (which always stuck pretty close together) and a male herd, which would include the main trio and any other blokes they would pick up throughout the episode. After Compo died, the herds of men became less cohesive, as did the female herd after Edie's death. Edie to Glenda to shut her up after an Armour Piercing Question : "Drink your coffee!" Clegg, after coming out of Auntie Wainwright's: "I didn't buy an (X), I was sold an (X)!" Marina referring to Clegg as "...Nnnorman Clegg that was!" Clegg philosophically complaining about something: "It's flying in the face of nature!" Compo, whenever Seymour needs someone to test his latest prototype: "He's looking at me, Norm! Why's he looking at me, Norm?" Character Outlives Actor : Contrary to the above, there were occasional exceptions to the rule of killing off characters after their actors' deaths. Most notably, legendary battleaxe Nora Batty was left alive "in Australia" after a 35-year run following her actress Kathy Staff's death.

Recurrent incidental character Eli was earlier left in limbo forever after actor Danny O'Dea died, even though he appeared in most episodes over 15 years; since he was rarely crucial to the plot and wasn't closely related to any other characters, his ultimate fate remained unmentioned. Chew Toy : Smiler, the gentle, elderly, lugubrious assistant to the fearsome Auntie Wainwright. Chuck Cunningham Syndrome : While most characters were given at least passing mention when they departed, there were a few notable exceptions: Billy Hardcastle, who ascended from minor character to a member of the trio, disappeared after the 27th series without explanation or mention. Eli Duckett, a popular recurring character for 15 years, was never mentioned again after the actor playing him died, as noted just above. Ros was never mentioned again after her actress left following the 26th series. When Tom first arrived in town, he was accompanied by Mrs. Avery, a potential love interest and foil for Nora Batty, and her niece, Babs. Both characters were unpopular, and Babs disappeared after only three episodes, while Mrs. Avery was around for a series.

Neither character was mentioned since their departure despite their former relationship with Tom. Earlier on, the librarians, Mr. Wainwright and Mrs Partridge, were regulars during the first series but disappeared completely during the second series without mention or explanation. Mr. Wainwright would return for a few episodes during the third season but disappeared completely following the third series and was never mentioned again. Comic Trio : The core of the series for the great majority of its run, with several decades centred around the characters of Compo, Clegg and A.N. Other ï¿½ sequentially Blamire, Foggy, Seymour, Foggy (again) and Truly. Less so in the later years following Compo's death, when the series tinkered with pairs, quartets, quintets, and mobs without matching the success of the previous trios. Commuting on a Bus : In the final season, Clegg and Truly no longer received top-billing.

Actors Peter Sallis and Frank Thornton were no longer covered by insurance to shoot outdoor scenes due to their age ï¿½ born days apart in early 1921, both were pushing 90 ï¿½ and since the series mostly consisted of outdoor scenes, they were limited only to brief cameos (mostly at Clegg's flat) from then on. Convenient Replacement Character : Often, when a main trio member bowed out, a replacement character showed up to fulfill that very same role. The famous example is Seymour's last episode, where he was called out of retirement and left town; Foggy moved back into town on the very next bus. The two just barely missed one another. A less-remembered example was when Truly replaced Foggy. In this case, Truly is already hanging out with the trio (and Foggy, played by a stand-in kept facing away from the camera, is too badly hung-over to speak). By the end of the episode, Foggy has suddenly married and moved away, and Truly simply carries on in his place. Correspondence Course : Seymour ran one of these, known as the Utterthwaite Postal University.

Compo read its logo as "Up You!", to Seymour's consternation. Cousin Oliver : Babs, a brooding teenager who arrived in town in the care of Tom and Mrs. Avery but quickly disappeared after only three episodes due to negative reaction to the character. Cut a Slice, Take the Rest : Compo does it with sugar and tea. He doesn't so much take sugar with his tea as the inverse. Darker and Edgier : The original novel by Roy Clarke was noticeably darker in tone than the resulting sitcom; it was adapted fairly faithfully as a special halfway through the show's run, with Foggy instead of Blamire, and the change in tone from a usual episode is quite jarring. (It uses all the usual Yorkshire themes, like adultery- and death-based plot, but does so in a much more serious manner). Daydream Believer : Referenced by Clegg when Howard is trying to get him to judge the quality of a disguise, and Clegg says he wouldn't be any use because he's too gullible: Clegg: I thought Sooty was real! Deadpan Snarker : Clegg and Ivy both spoke sarcasm like it was a second language.

Driving Stick : Edie ("This stupid stick thing! It's your father, he keeps moving the pedals around!"). Not that she'd be any better in an automatic... An inversion with Clegg, who's terrified at the prospect of driving an automatic. But then, he's terrified of driving anyway... Due to the Dead : The focus of a three-episode arc centering on Compo's death and funeral , the final shot of which was the funeral procession taking Compo on one last hillside stroll on the way to his final resting place. Everyone Went to School Together : True of almost the whole cast, except maybe second-generation people like Barry and Glenda. Ignores the sometimes wide age disparity between actors, or the fact that some characters were introduced as newcomers. Expy : Series writer Roy Clarke has pulled a number of Expies on his own shows. Auntie Wainwright is a female variation of Arkwright from Open All Hours , while Hyacinth from Keeping Up Appearances took Edie Pegden's pretentions to a greater extreme. Nora Batty's actress also played a very similar character, Mrs Blewitt, in Open All Hours.

First-Name Basis : Barry and Glenda: Barry's surname, Wilkinson, was only given in the special that introduced the two and saw them married, "Uncle of the Bride". Marina, despite appearing for 25 years as Howard's continual extramarital love interest, never gained a surname. Of the 'central trio', most were known by nicknames (e.g. Compo, Foggy, Truly) or surname (Clegg), but Seymour is always referred to as such ï¿½ possibly because 'Utterthwaite' is a little unwieldy. Perhaps the most extreme example of this trope is Ivy, the only character besides Clegg to last through the series from beginning to end, appearing in 291 of 295 episodes, and never once being given a surname. Five-Man Band : The "Trio" 2002-06 was arranged as follows: Foggy, too (see Multiple-Choice Past ). In fact, all of the characters were eventually reduced to their best-known personality trait, if only for expediency's sake... Loads and Loads of Characters , and all that.

Forgotten Theme Tune Lyrics : Only used in the adaptation of the original novel (see above). Alternative, more specific but equally poignant lyrics were used in the episode where Compo dies. The Friend Nobody Likes : Foggy. He's pompous, delusional, hypocritical and sometimes seems to have a desire to get Compo killed. In fact, the only reason Compo and Clegg hang out with him is because Blamire asked them to, so their whole "friendship" is a favor to their real friend. Compo: (about Foggy) Nice fella. Nobody likes him. Subverted with the other third men (Blamire, Seymour and Truly), who are genuinely well-liked by Compo and Clegg. Glad I Thought of It : Foggy tended to do this very frequently, but he was so unsubtle about it that most people just pitied him and went along with it. Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have : At least, Howard thinks so about Marina. Based on her wardrobe, Marina thinks so also. Compo claims this about Nora Batty. Henpecked Husband : Practically all of them, but especially Wally, Howard, and Wesley.

Heterosexual Life-Partners : Compo and Clegg were virtually inseparable for the first twenty seasons of the show's run, right up until Compo's death in Series 21, which devastated Clegg. Then, when Truly helped Clegg through his grief, he and Clegg were almost always seen together. Hollywood Geography : Holmfirth is actually a fairly large town; the locations such as the cafe, the row of houses, Compo's flat and the moorland road all exist but their implied proximity is an artefact of the format and editing. Homemade Inventions : The fuel for umpteen plots and mishaps through the series' long run. Chief sources were Seymour, Foggy and Wesley. Iconic Outfit : Compo's trousers and wellies. Nora Batty's curlers and wrinkled stockings.

Idiosyncratic Episode Naming : Nearly every episode name just adds to the eccentricity of the show but there are some that stick out more then others such as "The Inventor of the 40ft Ferret," "When You Take A Good Bite, Yorkshire Tastes Terrible," and "The Only Diesel Saxophone in Captivity." In fact a lot of the more unusual episode names are actually a line of dialogue from the episode ï¿½ being done many years before TwoAndAHalfMen had the idea! The Last Title : The title of the series. Loads and Loads of Characters : Started off with a fair number of characters, and over the decades this increased as many popular guest stars and other Ascended Extras became regular cast members. Nonetheless, all the characters usually appeared in every episode. This meant that there were conveniently plenty of characters to fall back on if one of the cast members died, retired, or became too infirm to participate. Similarly, having such a large supporting cast reduced the strain on the principal actors, who in the later years were well into their 80s.

Conversely, a later episode could only afford to have the tiniest shred of a plot so they could fit in enough scenes to accommodate all the players. Long-Runner Cast Turnover : Due not just to the length of the show's run, but to the advanced age of most of the cast. Long-Runners : Defied its premise ï¿½ a trio of elderly men enjoying the autumn of their years ï¿½ to set the boundaries for its genre, with a span of 37 years: the BBC claims it as the longest-running Sitcom in the world, ever. If they had known how long it would go, one wonders if they would've started the main characters out as preteens : ever-present Peter Sallis was in his early fifties when the show started and nearly 90 when it ended. Despite its extraordinarily long run, it is not the sitcom with the most episodes overall ï¿½ that would be The Simpsons ï¿½ due to British Brevity meaning there were 6-12 episodes in most seasons, resulting in 'only' 295. This gives it easily the most for any Brit Com , naturally.

Made of Iron : Despite all the potentially dangerous scrapes the main characters get themselves into, they always avoid serious injury. Mars-and-Venus Gender Contrast : One of the main drivers of the humour. Usually approached by the women, but occasionally the men would weigh in as well, such as Norman Clegg stating the reason why women scare him is that they don't like The Goon Show . Mayï¿½December Romance : Well, perhaps August-December ï¿½ it's not quite certain how old Marina is, though she's of 'a certain age', but still considerably younger than her lust object Howard. Mistaken Nationality / Inscrutable Oriental : Subverted with Entwistle, a deeply Yorkshire-sounding name, played by the Chinese-ethnicity actor Burt Kwouk and apt to come out with gnomic aphorisms. When question about where in the Far East he comes from, he says he's from... Hull, on the Yorkshire coast: "You can't get further east than Hull." His original surname was McIntyre, but he changed it so that people wouldn't mistake him for a Scotsman . Mr.

Fixit : Wesley, sometimes bordering on Gadgeteer Genius , though he had to be roped in to whatever Foggy or Seymour's latest Zany Scheme is. Multiple-Choice Past : Foggy. Although he always had the attribute of 'exaggerating his military experience', in his first run he seemed to have some such experience and exaggerated it a little, whereas in his second run this was Flanderized into apparently never having seen action at all, but claiming to be a master of martial arts, trained silent killer and having been offered the crowns of several native tribes. No Accounting for Taste : Just about all the aforementioned Apron Matron & Henpecked Husband pairings. Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other sometimes applies. What DOES Marina see in Howard? And then there's Clegg, who was married for a couple of decades, despite an apparently life-long record of asexuality. No, Except Yes : Every time Clegg walks out of Auntie Wainwright's having been bullied into buying something useless. Another character: Why did you buy an (X)? Clegg: I didn't buy an (X), I was sold an (X)!

Only Known by Their Nickname / Only One Name : Quite a few of the male cast in particular, with many characters referred to habitually by only one name, from Blamire to Entwistle ï¿½ sometimes a real name, often not. Clegg was usually called 'Cleggy' and only rarely 'Norman', Seymour was in contrast referred to by his first name only. Compo's real name of William (Bill) Simmonite was very rarely indeed referred to: you'd be able to watch for years without ever divining his surname, let alone his real first name. Foggy's full name was Walter C. Dewhirst, Truly's Herbert Truelove. Smiler's real name, Clem Hemingway, was only given in his introductory episode. The practice was more or less de rigeur by the end of the show's run, hence 'Hobbo' (Luther Hobdyke), while Entwistle's only extant first name appeared to be 'Electrical'. Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping : Played for laughs with Edie, who would often put on an exaggerated posh southern accent that quickly broke down.

Oop North Ostentatious Secret : Compo's matchbox, with its unknown but terrifying contents. Joke shops in England used to stock matchboxes exactly like that one, each containing a rubber severed penis. Pantomime Dame : Inverted by Marina and Nora Batty, at times. Marina's appearance verged at times on the grotesque or parodic, and Nora Batty's views regarding Compo come very close to Aside Glance at times. Pet the Dog : Fierce as the ladies were, they were all given their tender-hearted moments. This mostly happened for Pearl, arguably the meanest female on the programme, who noticeably kept an eye out for the widowed Clegg, particularly after Compo died. It might be inferred that Pearl and Clegg might have been quite fond of each other at some earlier stage of their lives, and Pearl still carried a torch for him to some extent. Pearl's "mean nature" is really an artefact of her basic role as foil to the absurd Howard; she has the basic problem of defending an untenable position and deals with this by treating her husband as the fool he is, rather than be treated as a laughing-stock by the other Apron Matrons.

The Pig Pen : Wesley, being continuously covered in motor oil. On one occasion when Edie actually managed to get him clean, the others pretended not to recognise him. Put on a Bus : Mostly when one of the cast would die, the show quietly killed off their character, but mentioned the death in passing. However, when Kathy Staff died, her character, Nora Batty, packed up and moved off to Australia, and was never mentioned again, despite having been one of the show's iconic characters. Averted in the case of Compo, whose in-universe funeral following the real-life death of Bill Owen formed a complete episode. Rage Against the Heavens : After yet another failed invention : "Why? What have you got against Seymour Utterthwaite?" Real Life Writes the Plot : Younger characters became the protagonists towards the latter end of the series as the BBC was having major difficulty finding insurance cover for Sallis (Clegg) and Thornton (Truly), who were both well over eighty, for location shooting so the actors were restricted to studio shooting only. When Bill Owen, the actor playing Compo died in 1999, his real-life son Tom joined the cast playing Compo's long lost son... Tom.

Many of the supporting actors died during the show's run, with their deaths being written into the script. Michael Aldridge had no desire to quit as Seymour, but was forced to by the need to care for his wife, who had dementia. Robin Hood : Compo's eventual replacement as a member of the central trio was Billy Hardcastle, who modelled himself on Robin Hood. His first appearance on the show showed him attempting to recruit a band of Merry Men to go with him to rob from the rich and give to the poor. Running Gag The ladies over at Edie's house for tea and buns had two: always sipping their tea in an unconscious synchronized movement, and having a Politeness Judo contest over the big cream eclair. Edie laying down a trail of newspapers for Wesley to walk on whenever she called him into the house, due to him being covered in oil. Howard's many complicated plans for ensuring that his adultery with Marina wasn't discovered (even though Everybody Knew Already ) ï¿½ "I think we've really cracked it this time love!" It was sometimes implied that he was more interested in coming up with the Zany Schemes than the adultery itself.

Indeed it's implied that no actual infidelity ever takes place. Sadist Teacher : Seymour. When he is called back to work after years of retirement ï¿½ "What do you mean, you're not allowed to hit small boys? That's what they're for!" Scenery Porn : Yorkshire is pretty. Yorkshire is very pretty. Seinfeldian Conversation : Initially the show was almost entirely devoted to this. Latterly it was mainly limited to token scenes, but it was still always there. In the Foggy years, this usually consisted of Foggy carrying a thread about his heroic war experiences/how the other two needed to get into shape, while Compo monologues about Nora Batty, and Clegg mused on something randomly philosophical, such as the implications of the fact that all men are equally purple on the inside. Serious Business : In interview, Peter Sallis noted that the show almost never got off the ground, as Owen and Bates had been cast a little too well as political opposites and were forever having violent political arguments during the pilot and early series. No, really.

Smith of the Yard : Not that he was ever recognised for any great detective skills, but retired policeman Herbert Truelove liked to give himself the epithet "Truly of the Yard". Spot of Tea : All the time in Ivy's cafe. Seymour would sometimes revive Compo after being injured by one of his inventions with "hot sweet tea" ï¿½ which to Compo was never sweet enough, being a 'take one spoonful out of the bowl, tip the rest of the bowl into your cup, then return the spoon' type of fellow. Strictly Formula : The beginning of most of the '90s Foggy episodes followed a very set routine. Each show would start ï¿½ not necessarily in this order ï¿½ with a scene of Compo trying to romance Nora, a scene of Foggy boring/repelling a stranger (or Barry ) with a made-up war story, and a scene of Howard bursting into Clegg's house to ask a favor. Once Foggy left, the openings became a little more varied, although there were still many scenes of Compo pursuing Nora and Howard bothering Clegg.

Suspiciously Similar Substitute : Burly, dark-haired Crusher certainly appeared to be this, because of his resemblance to burly, dark-haired Sid (John Comer). Although oddly, Crusher was supposed to be related to Ivy's side of the family. All the characters referred to as the "third man" of the central trio were physically similar ï¿½ usually much taller than the short Clegg and Compo, as well as tending to be of a higher social class ï¿½ and had a bossy temperament, but are not without their own quirks. Tantrum Throwing : A stock gag; crockery was generally the projectile of choice. Those Two Guys : The two policemen who appeared as regular supporting characters in the later series, who'd sit in their car and just watch the main characters with baffled expressions. Unreliable Narrator : Foggy's war stories. Unusual Euphemism : Ivy's "What the blood and stomach pillsï¿½?!" exclamation. Vitriolic Best Buds : Blamire and Compo's relationship, to a tee.

They constantly bickered and sniped at one anothers' politics and personalities, but nonetheless spent tons of time hanging out together (even in the absence of Clegg). Your Cheating Heart : The Howard/Pearl/Marina storyline was in later years the second-most prominent on the show, but even before they came along, many of the plots surrounded the trio blackmailing some fellow they'd caught fooling around in the hills. Before Howard and Marina were introduced, there was the librarian and his female assistant in the earliest episodes. BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Summer Wine star Staff dies at 80 Summer Wine star Staff dies at 80 Nora Batty was Kathy Staff's most enduring TV role Actress Kathy Staff, who played Nora Batty in long-running BBC One sitcom Last Of The Summer Wine, has died. The 80-year-old, who was born in Dukinfield, Greater Manchester, also played cleaner Doris Luke in long-running ITV soap Crossroads. And she appeared in Emmerdale Farm, Coronation Street, and with David Jason and Ronnie Barker in Open All Hours. Last of the Summer Wine producer Alan Bell told BBC News the actress had been ill for some time.

"We're distraught, but we have very fond memories of her," he said. Battleaxe Nora Batty proved to be her most enduring character. Actor Peter Sallis, who played Norman Clegg, remembered his colleague fondly She appeared in 243 episodes of the Yorkshire-based comedy, beginning in the first episode in January 1973. She made her last appearance in August, at the end of the show's 29th series. Co-star Peter Sallis said he was "terribly upset" by the loss of an "irreplaceable" colleague. "She dominated anything that she was in. You could stop acting when Kathy was there because she was going to do it all for you," he said. "We don't know quite for sure whether we're going to do any more episodes, but if we do she's going to be terribly missed." Staff starred alongside Ronnie Barker in Open All Hours Sallis, who plays Cleggy in the series, joked: "Years and years ago David Frost interviewed her on television and all they seemed to talk about was her wrinkled stockings. "I got hotter and hotter under the collar and thought, why can't they have something about how marvellous it is to work with Peter Sallis?

But all we got was wrinkled stockings instead." Mike Grady, who played Barry in the series, said: "She was blessed with a wonderful, quite formidable face, which I hope isn't disrespectful, but she knew it. "What was good about her was that she was well aware of her work and what she could bring to a role. "And she had that wonderful resonant voice, which was quite intimidating. She was actually a very sweet woman." Mr Bell said she often yearned for her character to be more gentle. "She would play a scene quite gently, and I'd say, 'But Kathy, you've got to harden up, because that's who we all love, the hard, tough Nora Batty.' "And she said, 'Why can't I be just soft and gentle at times?' And I said, 'Maybe some time we will.' "She was such a good lady, she was religious, she would never do anyone any harm. "But above all that, she was thoroughly professional." Peter Sallis said it had not yet been decided if Last of the Summer Wine would return for a 30th series. "The BBC have been terribly loyal to us - with good reason because we're so popular," he said.

"I shouldn't say this, but I would be a bit surprised if we've done our last one." Bookmark with:

Question: Who plays the part of Clegg in Last of the Summer Wine
Answer: Peter Sallis