Harold Snoad, long-time sitcom producer and director for the BBC passed away 2 June at the age of 88. Best known for Keeping Up Appearances, it was Snoad who cast Dame Patricia Routledge in the lead role, explaining: “I wanted the character of Hyacinth to be a sort of stately galleon. I didn’t want somebody lightweight, […]
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While it may not be the Only Fools and Horses or A Touch of Frost reunion that we’d hoped for or a new series of the Open All Hours remake, Still Open All Hours, but it will be really good to see the greatness of David Jason back on the telly in the not-too-distant future. This time he will be paired with […]
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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) 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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When production begins on The Larkins, the ITV reboot of the classic early 90s comedy drama series, The Darling Buds of May, it will do so with the addition of a former Doctor, Peter Davison to the cast. Davison will play the village vicar alongside Bradley Walsh (Doctor Who) as wheeler dealer Pop Larkin and Joanna Scanlan (Jane Eyre, The Thick […]
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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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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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After 90 years of serving the community of Thornbury in Gloucestershire, the shop that is credited as being the inspiration for the classic British comedy series, Open All Hours, could be forced to shut after complaints that their outdoor display is a health and safety risk for mobility scooters (i.e. goods stacked outside to entice passerby’s to come inside […]
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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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In 1971, Doctor at Large, a British televison comedy series from London Weekend Television followed the misadventures of a group of newly qualified doctors. Based on a set of books by Richard Gordon and starring Barry Evans, Doctor at Large featured many actors and actresses that most British comedy fans have come to know and love in later years […]
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