Last of the Summer Wine

Now many people would disagree with my views on this long running TV show, my wife particularly who hates it - but for me it is quite simply the best comedy ever made - contravertial i know! For me, its main appeal is its pure simplicity. There is nothing over clever about its storylines, its just pure fun with a well written and witty script, with all characters played brilliantly by so many fantastic actors. For the first half of its life, two of the main cast were Bill Owen and Peter Salis as Clegg and Compo - and for a few series at a time were joined by either Blamaire, Foggy, Seymour, or Truly - all excellent in their own way, though in recent ...  Read the complete review

I think watching Last of the Summer Wine has been a silent rule in my house, that every Sunday, just around tea time it has to be watched. Not that I am complaining about this. It brings me back to an age of nostalga (?). Ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper I think I've watched it. The format hasn't changed and so what if the jokes are pretty much the same week in week out, there's nothing wrong with simple humour. It's very first episode appeared in 1973, which just says something about the style of it. Like they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it! Would you believe it, right now it is into it's 30th series, although last year it was suggested ...  Read the complete review

This programme seems to have been running years and years and it never gets any funnier. Here are some good and bad points about the show: Brief summary: The programme is about a group of old folk who seem to find themselves with too much time on their hands. The men in particular get into mischief in most episodes. Good points: * It is quite charming for Sunday viewing tv and will make you feel rested * It is well acted. Peter Sallis brings an air of warmth to his character * The locations are very tranquil, the scenery often is a highlight * The music is nostalgic and conjures up images of slow norther ...  Read the complete review

Let me say right off that I think 'Last of the Summer Wine' is the best comedy series in the history of television. But I do agree with so many reviewers who accept it's now long past its sell-by date. In the halcyon days of Compo and Foggy, the dialogue was a delight. I'm not from Yorkshire - I'm a Geordie of Irish stock - but I grew up in the kind of locality preserved with so much care in Holmfirth (and lost in so many other places) to say nothing of the robust northern badinage that southerners simply don't understand. The series reminded me - directly - of little of my youth, and indirectly of all of it. Therein lay the magic - and for many ...  Read the complete review

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. ...  Read the complete review