Toy, June. "Summer Wine DVD – Fan's Review". Summer Wine Online. Summer Wine Appreciation Society. Archived from the original on 17 June 2012 . Retrieved 2 April 2017. a b Parkin, Jenny (15 December 2001). "A Summer Wine fit for the Queen". The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008 . Retrieved 2 April 2017. Composer and conductor Ronnie Hazlehurst, who also produced themes for such series as Are You Being Served?, Yes Minister, and The Two Ronnies, created the theme for the show. The BBC initially disliked Hazlehurst's theme, feeling it was not proper for a comedy programme to have such mellow music. He was asked to play the music faster for more comedic effect but eventually his original slower version was accepted. [6] A jauntier, upbeat version was played by a brass band in the episode "Full Steam Behind". In 1972, Duncan Wood, the BBC's Head of Comedy, watched a comedy on television called The Misfit. Impressed by writer Roy Clarke's ability to inject both comedy and drama into the sitcom, Wood offered Clarke the opportunity to write a sitcom. [6] Clarke nearly turned the job down as he felt that the BBC's idea for a programme about three old men was a dull concept for a half-hour sitcom. Instead, Clarke proposed that the men should all be unmarried, widowed, or divorced and either unemployed or retired, leaving them free to roam around like adolescents in the prime of their lives, unfettered and uninhibited. [6]

Lambert, David (12 February 2004). "Summer Wine on DVD this summer". TVShowsOnDVD.com. TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on 19 June 2008 . Retrieved 22 May 2008.I've reached the stage now where I don't want it to end. I'm hoping that as one by one we drop dead that, provided Roy is still alive, it will just keep going."

Roy Clarke (writer) & Alan J. W. Bell (director) (6 November 1988). "That Certain Smile". Last of the Summer Wine. Series 10. Episode 4. BBC One. Clarke, Roy (July 1976). Last of the Summer Wine Scripts. British Broadcasting Corporation. ISBN 0-563-17090-5. Roy Clarke (writer) & Sydney Lotterby (director) (1 December 1976). "Going to Gordon's Wedding". Last of the Summer Wine. Series 3. Episode 6. BBC One. Highest Rated Programmes 1985". BARB. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011 . Retrieved 2 April 2017. The first New Year special, "The Man who Nearly Knew Pavarotti", was commissioned in 1994. The hour-long show was broadcast on 1 January 1995 and featured Norman Wisdom as a piano player who had lost the confidence to play. [62] A second New Year programme was produced and broadcast in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium. It featured the second guest appearance by Keith Clifford and a guest appearance by Dora Bryan. Titled "Last Post and Pigeon", the show ran for sixty minutes and dealt with the trio's pilgrimage to visit World War II graves in France. Part of this special was shot on location in France. [106] A third New Year show, titled "I Was a Hitman for Primrose Dairies", was broadcast on 31 December 2008 [32] and introduced Hobbo and the new trio he formed with Entwistle and Alvin. [46] Films [ edit ]

A spin-off prequel show, First of the Summer Wine, premiered on BBC1 in 1988. The new programme was written by Roy Clarke and used different actors to follow the activities of the principal characters from Last of the Summer Wine in the months leading up to World War II. Unlike its mother show, First of the Summer Wine was not filmed in Holmfirth. Period music was used instead of Ronnie Hazlehurst's score to create a more World War II era atmosphere. [116] New supporting characters were added to those from Last of the Summer Wine. Peter Sallis and Jonathan Linsley were the only actors from the original series to appear in the spin-off: Sallis played the father of his own character from the original show and Linsley appeared during the second series as a different character. [12] a b Roy Clarke (writer) & Alan J. W. Bell (director) (30 December 2001). "Potts in Pole Position". Last of the Summer Wine. Series 22. BBC One. Christmas Special. In 1993, the Summer Wine Appreciation Society asked their members for their favourite musical themes from Last of the Summer Wine. Ronnie Hazlehurst used the resulting list for an independently released CD collection titled Last of the Summer Wine: Original Music from the TV Series. [129] BBC Radio released audio-only versions of episodes starting in 1995. Peter Sallis provided narration to compensate for the loss of the televised visual elements. All twelve audio episodes were released in CD format. [130] Britain's Best Sitcom–Top 11–100". BBC. Archived from the original on 14 January 2006 . Retrieved 2 April 2017. Roy Clarke (writer) & Ray Butt (director) (10 November 1976). "The Great Boarding-House Bathroom Caper". Last of the Summer Wine. Series 3. Episode 3. BBC One.

Last of the Summer Wine on DVD". TVShowsOnDVD.com. TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on 15 April 2008 . Retrieved 22 May 2008. Wilkes, Neil (17 July 2007). "Sky1 revamp pulls in 1 million". Digital Spy . Retrieved 5 April 2017. Last of the Summer Wine was nominated numerous times for two British television industry awards. The show was proposed five times between 1973 and 1985 for the British Academy Film Awards, twice for the Best Situation Comedy Series award (in 1973 and 1979) and three times for the Best Comedy Series award (in 1982, 1983, and 1985). [142] The show was also considered for the National Television Awards four times since 1999 (in 1999, [11] 2000, [143] 2003, [144] and 2004 [145]), each time in the Most Popular Comedy Programme category. In 1999 the show won the National Television Award for Most Popular Comedy Programme. [11] See also [ edit ] Roy Clarke (writer) & Alan J. W. Bell (director) (1 January 1995). "The Man Who Nearly Knew Pavarotti". Last of the Summer Wine. Series 16. BBC One. New Year's Special. After the death of Owen in 1999, Compo was replaced at various times by his real-life son, Tom Owen, as Tom Simmonite, Keith Clifford as Billy Hardcastle, a man who thought of himself as a direct descendant of Robin Hood, and Brian Murphy as the cheeky-chappy Alvin Smedley. Due to the age of the main cast, a new trio was formed during the 30th series, featuring somewhat younger actors. This format was used for the final two instalments of the show. This group consisted of Russ Abbot as Luther Hobdyke, known as Hobbo, a former milkman who fancied himself as a secret agent, Burt Kwouk as the electrical repairman, "Electrical" Entwistle, and Murphy as Alvin Smedley. Sallis and Thornton, both past members of the trio, continued in supporting roles alongside the new actors.

Roy Clarke (writer) & Alan J. W. Bell (director) (6 December 1992). "Who's Got Rhythm?". Last of the Summer Wine. Series 14. Episode 7. BBC One. The joy of Bill Owen's Compo is not what he does with the words but where he takes the character beyond what's in the script. He did this in a physical manner. It was only when I saw Bill on screen that I realized what a wonderful physical clown he was." a b c "Series Profile: Last of the Summer Wine". The Insider. BBC Sales. May 2007. pp.8–9. Archived from the original (DOC) on 11 January 2008 . Retrieved 2 April 2017. Roy Clarke (writer) & Alan J. W. Bell (director) (28 December 2006). "A Tale of Two Sweaters". Last of the Summer Wine. Series 27. BBC One. Christmas special. Last of the Summer Wine was set and filmed in and around Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, England, and centred on a trio of elderly men and their youthful misadventures; the members of the trio changed many times over the years. The original trio consisted of Bill Owen as the mischievous and impulsive Compo Simmonite, Peter Sallis as easy-going everyman Norman Clegg, and Michael Bates as uptight and arrogant Cyril Blamire. When Bates dropped out due to illness in 1976 after two series, the role of the third man of the trio was filled in various years up to the 30th series by the quirky war veteran Walter C " Foggy" Dewhurst ( Brian Wilde) (who had two lengthy stints), the eccentric inventor and ex-headmaster Seymour Utterthwaite ( Michael Aldridge), and former police officer Herbert "Truly of The Yard" Truelove ( Frank Thornton). The men never seem to grow up, and they develop a unique perspective on their equally eccentric fellow townspeople through their stunts. Although in its early years the series generally revolved around the exploits of the main trio, with occasional interaction with a few recurring characters, over time the cast grew to include a variety of supporting characters and by later years the series was very much an ensemble piece. Each of these recurring characters contributed their own running jokes and subplots to the show, often becoming reluctantly involved in the schemes of the trio, or on occasion having their own, separate storylines.