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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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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Most fans of any television series are satisfied enough to just buy the entire series on DVD. Some may visit the town where a favorite series was filmed such as Port Isaac (Doc Martin), Holmfirth (Last of the Summer Wine) or, on my personal bucket list travel destination, Portmeirion (The Prisoner). For some lucky buyer, Edmund Ramsdale took his love of a certain British comedy series to not just the next level but far beyond that.
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While we never had the good fortune to speak with Sydney for our any of our PBS specials that featured not only the stars of some of the all-time great British comedy series but also focused on the writers and creators of some of the classics of British comedy, it was through the words of John Cleese, Dame Judi Dench, Geoffrey Palmer, Jenny Funnell, Moira Brooker, Philip Bretherton, Richard Briers, Michael Crawford, Roy Clarke, David Jason, Karl Howman, Bob Larbey and Frank Thornton that we were immediately schooled on the greatness that was Sydney Lotterby.
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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) that lasted for 31 years (1973-2010) has lost one of its most lovable characters. Jean Fergusson, the mini-skirt wearing, peroxide blonde Marina, died late last week at the age of 74. […]
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The career of Bill Owen, who passed away 20 years ago this month (12 July 1999) at the age of 85, was a prime example of how appearing in one British comedy series for almost three decades can all but eliminate an entire lifetime of greatness in the public mind.
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The “grocer with the gift of gab” once again will stand behind the till when series 6 of’ Still Open All Hours’ resumes filming in early 2019.
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Some 45 years after Sir David Jason first set foot into Arkwright’s convenience store, Still Open All Hours has been commissioned for a 5th series which will air later this year on BBC One. Jason will return in the role of Granville who inherited the shop from the miserly Arkwright, played by Ronnie Barker. Granville was […]
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While the news that June Whitfield had officially become a Dame Commander of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday Honors List at Buckingham Palace must have driven Pats and Eddy to drink even earlier in the day, there couldn’t be a more deserving individual to receive such an honor. Best known for her role […]
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Peter Sallis, best known for his role as mild-mannered Norman ‘Cleggy’ Clegg in Last of the Summer Wine and also as the voice of Wallace in Wallace and Gromit died Friday, 2 June at the age of 96 at Denville Hall (a retirement home for actors) in Northwood, a town in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, his agent […]
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