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Last of the Summer Wine

  • TV-14
  • 1973–2010
  • 31 seasons
  • Comedy
  • 7.2

The BBC's longest running comedy series.

Unencumbered by wives, jobs or any other responsibilities, three senior citizens who've never really grown up explore their world in the Yorkshire Dales. They spend their days speculating about their fellow townsfolk and thinking up adventures not usually favored by the elderly. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse in 1973. The show ran for 295 episodes until 2010. It is the longest running comedy Britain has produced and the longest running sitcom in the world.

Episodes

Last of the Summer Wine's third series originally aired on BBC1 between 27 October 1976 and 8 December 1976. None of the episodes made it into the Top 10 Programmes Of The Week on their first airing, but a repeat of "Isometrics and After" attracted 15 million viewers during the spring 1977. Also notable was the first ever two-part episode, "The Great Boarding House Bathroom Caper" and "Cheering Up Gordon", both featuring guest appearances by Philip Jackson as Compo's nephew, Gordon. Blake Butler reprises his role from the first series as the librarian, Mr. Wainwright, before departing the show again at the end of the year. The most notable change this season, however, was the addition of Brian Wilde as the new third-man of the trio, Foggy Dewhurst, an ex-military sign painter. Wilde would play this role twice: between 1976 and 1985 and then again from 1990 until 1997, when he was forced to leave due to health problems.

7 episodes
  1. 1The Man From Oswestry

    30 minOct 27, 1976

    Compo is bored. Since Cyril Blamire left for Oswestry, to live with a woman, things have been a bit too calm for him in town. But soon, Clegg brings the solution to all their boredom. A letter from Blamire asking them to welcome home an old fried of his, called Foggy Dewhurst, and help him cope with the sudden changes in his life, after he was more or less forced to retire. Compo and Clegg meet with the new "third man", the war hero Foggy Dewhurst, who because of his peculiar life and his endless wartime stories soon makes his presence noted around town. His military posture, and his "murderous" impulses only get him in a fight with Big Malcolm, and his military precision doesn't seem to be a great help, when the trio tries to carry Foggy's heavy wartime luggage up a hill.

  2. 2Mending Stuart's Leg

    30 minNov 6, 1976

    Mr Wainwright is back in town, and quickly throws the trio out of the library. The trio goes back to the cafe, where Ivy is having the usual battle of wits with Sid. There they meet with Stuart, and old man who's having a strange click in his leg. Later the trio helps Sid to mend a whole in the roof of the cafe with the usual disastrous results. Meanwhile Wainwright dates the new female librarian.

  3. 3The Great Boarding House Bathroom Caper

    30 minNov 10, 1976

    The trio takes takes a little holiday in Scarborough, but what's the deal with Compo's cardboard box?

  4. 4Cheering Up Gordon

    30 minNov 17, 1976

    When the trio notices Compo's nephew Gordon is depressed, they come up with various ways of cheering him up.

  5. 5The Kink In Foggy's Niblick

    30 minNov 24, 1976

    When Foggy discovers his old golf clubs in the attic of his home, he takes Compo, Clegg and Sid for a little practice of "the noble sport".

  6. 6Going To Gordon's Wedding

    30 minDec 1, 1976

    It's Gordon's wedding day and, as always, problems are near. this time they appear with a face and a name: Big Malcolm. As always it's up to the trio to see that the wedding ends properly, but not without some incidents in between.

  7. 7Isometrics And After

    30 minDec 8, 1976

    Foggy decides Compo and Clegg are not as fit as they should be. The path back to physical fitness is isometrics-or is it? Maybe... not.

Where to watch Last of the Summer Wine

Availability from JustWatch, via TMDB. Full listing for United States

Series cast

Peter SallisClegg269 episodes
Jane FreemanIvy269 episodes
Kathy StaffNora Batty233 episodes
Jean FergussonMarina220 episodes
Robert FyfeHoward220 episodes
Juliette KaplanPearl220 episodes
Sarah ThomasGlenda214 episodes
Mike GradyBarry214 episodes
Jean AlexanderAuntie Wainwright186 episodes
Bill OwenCompo (archive footage)174 episodes
Gordon WharmbyWesley157 episodes
Stephen LewisSmiler152 episodes
Thora HirdEdie138 episodes
Frank ThorntonTruly126 episodes
Brian WildeFoggy114 episodes
Tom OwenTom106 episodes
Danny O'DeaEli85 episodes
Ken KitsonPC Cooper81 episodes

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