Last of the Summer Wine, the long-running British situation comedy written by Roy Clarke (Open All Hours, Keeping Up Appearances, Still Open All Hours, Young Hyacinth) lasted for a mere 31 seasons encompassing 295 episodes (1973-2010) and featured the trials and tribulations of three pensioners (Bill Owen as Compo, Peter Sallis as Norman Clegg and Michael Bates […]
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Aside from the brilliant series, I Claudius, it seems like an ‘Ides of March’ (the 74th day of the Roman calendar) cannot pass without thinking of the classic BBC comedy, Up Pompeii, starring the late, great Frankie Howerd.
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If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then satirical parody imitation must be off the charts. From the the Dutch satire TV show De TV-Kantine, comes their own take on the iconic BBC series, Keeping Up Appearances with Carlo Boszhard, Dutch TV personality, singer, impersonator, and host as Hyacinth. While admittedly just a tad bit ‘over the top’, […]
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Filmed in locations across the West Midlands, the most iconic location, Hyacinth and Richard Bucket’s home, was a quiet family home in Coventry before television crews knocked on the door of current owner Rosemary Healey to ultimately set up shop for what was to become Hyacinth’s famous house, along with her neighbor, Elizaben Warden’s home […]
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Tom Owen, who played Tom Simmonite in Last Of The Summer Wine, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 73. Having starred in over 90 episodes of the sitcom between 2000 and 2010, Owen played Tom Simmonite, the long lost son of William ‘Compo’ Simmonite – the character who was played by his real-life father, Bill Owen.
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Mackenzie Crook, the writer, director and star behind the brilliant metal-detecting sitcom The Detectorists, confirmed there will be one last sweep of the English countryside coming from his mind palace which will warrant getting the band back together in the not-too-distant future. The series, which finished after three series in 2017, was not only a very cerebral […]
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One of the few upsides of another year living under a pandemic cloud is the opportunity to send good wishes for a very happy birthday to the brilliant Dame Patricia Routledge, who turns 93 today. Given Hyacinth would have been appalled at the possibility that I might forget to drop a card in the post […]
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The man who most knew as Onslow, the slovenly bane of Hyacinth’s existence (except for one special moment on the QE2) in Keeping Up Appearances, would have been 76 on Sunday. Geoffrey Hughes, one of the true British comedy greats, was also known to many over the years for his supporting role as Twiggy in The Royle Family, conman Vernon Scripps in Heartbeat and binman, Eddie Yeats, in Coronation Street during the 1970’s and 80’s. Probably very few knew that Hughes was also the voice of Paul McCartney in the Beatles 1968 film, Yellow Submarine.
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Thank you, Dame Patricia, for the lifetime of laughter you have given us over the years and the continued smiles that await us all in the years to come.
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Clive Swift, known to millions as Hyacinth Bucket’s long-suffering husband Richard in the BBC One 90s sitcom, Keeping Up Appearances, died Friday after a short illness at the age of 82. Swift, who spent 10 years at the Royal Shakespeare Company before breaking into television, also acted in such series as Peak Practice, Born and […]
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