The first episode of Last of the Summer Wine broadcast in the new millennium but it is in sad circumstances. By the time of this episode's broadcast we knew actor Bill Owen had died of cancer several months earlier.
This is Compo's episode and it is noticeable that Bill looked very gaunt and ill. I even think his voice might had been re-dubbed in places. Although this is not Bill's final episode.
He had filmed three subsequent episodes of the forthcoming new series before unusually for Last of the Summer Wine. Compo would die on screen and the effects of his death would be felt by the rest of the characters in the remaining episodes.
It was always hinted with either Foggy or Blamire that Compo never saw service in the second world war, but here it is confirmed that he did fight abroad. Compo is rejected to a veterans outing to France and take part in a memorial service. The townsfolk know he was rejected because he is scruffy but raise funds to send him abroad with Clegg and Truly as well as taking a homing pigeon.
In France there are some nice scenes with the king of farce, Ray Cooney who plays the innkeeper who the trio lodge with.
Back home, Roy Clarke once again shows a pushy vicar (John Horsley previously played one in a couple of episodes.) Billy Hardcastle is made to dress up in a Roman costume by the vicar as he wishes to recreate moments from English history, Howard becomes the director. He dresses up as a budding Cecil B DeMille and has a prime role for Marina in mind, Nell Gwynne.
Meanwhile Edie is visited by her long lost sister, who left her husband many years ago for another man. Edie is still angry with her about this.
We learn something else in this episode. Compo shows a page of his passport, he was born in 1923. This means when the pilot episode was made in 1972, the character would had only been 49 years old. This confirms that Last of the Summer Wine was never about three pensioners larking about, it was about three middle aged men. They would only reach pension age in 1988.
It will not be long before I reach the age of Compo and Clegg when the show started, a worrying thought!
The final scene is of Compo paying tribute to fallen soldiers with a tear in his eye. The episode finishes without the end credits and theme music. I think Compo was not the only person with a tear in his eye at that point.
This is Compo's episode and it is noticeable that Bill looked very gaunt and ill. I even think his voice might had been re-dubbed in places. Although this is not Bill's final episode.
He had filmed three subsequent episodes of the forthcoming new series before unusually for Last of the Summer Wine. Compo would die on screen and the effects of his death would be felt by the rest of the characters in the remaining episodes.
It was always hinted with either Foggy or Blamire that Compo never saw service in the second world war, but here it is confirmed that he did fight abroad. Compo is rejected to a veterans outing to France and take part in a memorial service. The townsfolk know he was rejected because he is scruffy but raise funds to send him abroad with Clegg and Truly as well as taking a homing pigeon.
In France there are some nice scenes with the king of farce, Ray Cooney who plays the innkeeper who the trio lodge with.
Back home, Roy Clarke once again shows a pushy vicar (John Horsley previously played one in a couple of episodes.) Billy Hardcastle is made to dress up in a Roman costume by the vicar as he wishes to recreate moments from English history, Howard becomes the director. He dresses up as a budding Cecil B DeMille and has a prime role for Marina in mind, Nell Gwynne.
Meanwhile Edie is visited by her long lost sister, who left her husband many years ago for another man. Edie is still angry with her about this.
We learn something else in this episode. Compo shows a page of his passport, he was born in 1923. This means when the pilot episode was made in 1972, the character would had only been 49 years old. This confirms that Last of the Summer Wine was never about three pensioners larking about, it was about three middle aged men. They would only reach pension age in 1988.
It will not be long before I reach the age of Compo and Clegg when the show started, a worrying thought!
The final scene is of Compo paying tribute to fallen soldiers with a tear in his eye. The episode finishes without the end credits and theme music. I think Compo was not the only person with a tear in his eye at that point.
