"axing in December 2008, whilst director Alan J.W. Bell also credited the series to fan reaction. The series continued with the same trio from series 30, with Russ Abbot (Hobbo), Burt Kwouk (Entwistle), and Brian Murphy (Alvin). Peter Sallis (Clegg) and Frank Thornton (Truly), who were previously central characters, remained, but were now secondary characters, only taping studio scenes owing to the cost of insurance for actors of their advanced age on location. Jane Freeman (Ivy) also filmed only in-studio scenes. On 2 June 2010, the BBC announced that the 31st series would be the last, despite the show still"
"the long-running British sitcom ""Last of the Summer Wine"". Owen's character is a scruffy working-class pensioner, often exploited by the bossy characters played by Michael Bates, Brian Wilde, Michael Aldridge and Frank Thornton for dirty jobs, stunts and escapades, while their indomitably docile friend Norman Clegg, played by Peter Sallis, follows and watches with a smirk. He wore a woollen hat and spent much of his time lusting after dowdy housewife Nora Batty. As Compo, Owen saw off several co-stars. The series, starting in 1973 and finishing in 2010, is today the world's longest-running comedy series. Owen became an icon,"
"film ""Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise"". In 2007 he played Frank Nicholls in Coronation Street having previously appeared in the series in the guise of a different character; that of Les Battersby's mate, Charlie West. He won a Sony Radio Award in 1993 for his portrayal of the Lancashire comedian Frank Randle in the play ""Randle's Scandals"". Children Danny Clifford, Adam Clifford, Rebecca Clifford, Rachel Clifford. Keith Clifford Keith Clifford (born 20 June 1938 in Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire) is a British actor best known for his role as Billy Hardcastle in Last of the Summer Wine between 1999"
"Captain Peacock Captain Stephen Peacock is a fictional character from the BBC One comedy show ""Are You Being Served?"". He was played by Frank Thornton, who went on to take the popular role of Truly in ""Last of the Summer Wine"". Captain Peacock, the somewhat stuffy floorwalker, considers himself above the assistants with both his position and his dubious military record. Allegedly, despite his rank, Peacock began as a sweeper in the stockroom. By 1975 he had been working at Grace Brothers for 20 years. The question most viewers asked was: in what corps was Peacock a captain? In the"
"episodes from series seventeen and the 30th anniversary documentary. A 2008 release named ""Last of the Summer Wine: Vintage 1976"" focuses on the third series of the show and includes bonus interviews with Peter Sallis, Brian Wilde, and Frank Thornton. Subsequently, every episode from the third to the twenty-seventh series has been released on DVD in ""Vintage"" collections, many including special features and interviews. 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"
"Ditton, Surrey. ""Are You Being Served?"" and ""Last of the Summer Wine"" co-star Frank Thornton said that the last event Bannister attended was Thornton's 90th birthday on 15 January 2011, three months before Bannister died. He was survived by his second wife, Pam, all of his sons and his brother John. Trevor Bannister Trevor Gordon Bannister (14 August 193414 April 2011) was an English actor best known for having played the womanising junior salesman Mr Lucas in the sitcom ""Are You Being Served?"" from 1972 to 1979, and for his role as Toby Mulberry Smith in the long-running sitcom ""Last"
"series to Dundon. In April 2009, Thornton co-launched the Taste of Dublin festival with Dundon. On 1 September 2016 it was announced that Thornton's Restaurant would close on 29 October 2016. Thornton is married to his wife named Muriel. He has two sons, Edward and Conor, and three grandchildren - Isaac, Esmee and Oscar. He is fond of photography and scuba diving. Kevin Thornton (chef) Kevin Thornton is an Irish celebrity chef, radio and television personality and author, known for featuring on television series such as ""Guerrilla Gourmet"" and ""Heat"" and characterised by a supposed dislike of chips and confirmed"
"Joe Gladwin Joseph Gladwin (22 January 1906 – 11 March 1987) was an English actor, best known in his roles as Fred Jackson in Coronation Street and Wally Batty in the world's longest-running sitcom, ""Last of the Summer Wine"" (1975, 1976–87). Gladwin was born at 44 Tatton Street in the Ordsall district of Salford, Lancashire, the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (née Dooley) Gladwin. His father was a coal dealer. Gladwin was baptised on 28 January 1906 at Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church, Ordsall, and educated at the parish school. He married Lily Anne Wynne on 30 December 1933 at"
"Dennis Tanner, played by Philip Lowrie, to take over his job. Robert Fyfe Robert Fyfe is a Scottish actor, best known for his role as Howard in the long-running British sitcom ""Last of the Summer Wine"" from 1985 to 2010. He was born in Alloa, Scotland. He appeared in the movies ""Xtro"", ""The 51st State"", ""Around the World in 80 Days, Gaolbreak"" and ""Babel"". In 2012 he appeared in ""Cloud Atlas"". Other credits include guest appearances on ""Z-Cars"", ""Survivors"", ""The Gentle Touch"", ""The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"" and ""Monarch of the Glen"". Fyfe appeared as Malcolm Lagg, a lollipop man,"
"in Summer Bay and reveals to Leah that Vinnie died in a farming accident 18 months earlier and during his dying days he recounted his life in the Bay and how he wanted to be there for Leah and VJ. Elijah takes them to visit Vinnie’s grave in order to give them closure. For his portrayal of Vinnie, Kwanten was nominated for the ""Funniest Character"" award at the 1999 Inside Soap Awards. Kwanten was later nominated for ""Most Popular Actor"" at the 2002 Logie Awards. Mike Larkin of the ""Daily Mail"" branded Vinnie a ""blundering oaf."" Anna Higgins of Yahoo!"
"Louis Emerick Louis Emerick Grant is a British TV actor, born in the Toxteth area of Liverpool to a Liberian father and British mother. He is the youngest of ten children. He is best known for his portrayal of Mick Johnson in the soap opera ""Brookside"". He also played PC Walsh in 55 episodes of ""Last of the Summer Wine"" (1988, 1989, and 2004–2010). More recently, Emerick has also had roles in ""Casualty"", ""New Tricks"", ""The Bill"", ""Benidorm"" ""Waterloo Road"", and ""Coronation Street"". He has appeared in films such as ""Layer Cake"". He came third in the 2008 series of"
"included in his character's narrative. After several departures and comebacks, Barraclough finally left ""Coronation Street"" at the end of 1998. Barraclough was later to appear in a sitcom, ""Mother's Ruin"" (1994), in which he played a bachelor dominated by his belligerent mother (Dora Bryan). He made a guest appearance in ""Last of the Summer Wine"" (""Has Anyone Seen A Peruvian Wart? 2005), playing opposite both Bryan and his friend Kathy Staff and appeared in a variety of TV shows including ""Casualty"" (1999), ""Peak Practice"" (1994, 2001), ""Funland"" (2005) and the 1993 series of The Krypton Factor, in which he played"
"leaving in 1985 to work on other projects. Foggy was written out of the series—it was said that he had moved to Bridlington to take over the family egg-painting business—and was replaced by Michael Aldridge as Seymour Utterthwaite until 1990. When Aldridge left ""Last of the Summer Wine"", Wilde returned as Foggy in 1990, reuniting the series' most popular and enduring line-up. Suffering from pneumonia, he stood down for the first five episodes of the 19th series in case his illness worsened. His temporary absence was covered by Frank Thornton; Wilde himself suggested Thornton as a replacement. The filming of"
"events and uses poetry and soliloquy to express his feelings or view, as he does at the start of each episode. Thus, in spite of his drunken ramblings, sometimes he does come across as being well-educated owing to the issues he raises during his interactions with others. Frank is an unemployable alcoholic, and the son of Neville (John Woodvine) and Sarah Elizabeth Gallagher (1935–1972). He was married to Monica Gallagher (Annabelle Apsion), with whom he has seven children: Fiona (Anne-Marie Duff), Lip (Jody Latham), Carl (Elliott Tittensor), Debbie (Rebecca Ryan), Liam (Johnny Bennett), Stella (Nikita Brownlee) and Ben, and one,"
"from 2005-2006. From 2005 - 2008, he played Lenny in the BBC series ""Last of the Summer Wine"". In 2009, Ball starred in the comedy ""The Fattest Man in Britain"" playing Morris Morrissey. Since 2009, Ball has played Frank in the long-running BBC One Sitcom ""Not Going Out"", he first made a guest appearance in the 2009 and two further guest appearance in 2011 (Series 4) and 2012 (Series 5), but since became a recurring fixture from series 6 onwards appearing in roughly three episodes per series, he also was a main character in the 2015 Christmas special. He returned"
"Robert Fyfe Robert Fyfe is a Scottish actor, best known for his role as Howard in the long-running British sitcom ""Last of the Summer Wine"" from 1985 to 2010. He was born in Alloa, Scotland. He appeared in the movies ""Xtro"", ""The 51st State"", ""Around the World in 80 Days, Gaolbreak"" and ""Babel"". In 2012 he appeared in ""Cloud Atlas"". Other credits include guest appearances on ""Z-Cars"", ""Survivors"", ""The Gentle Touch"", ""The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"" and ""Monarch of the Glen"". Fyfe appeared as Malcolm Lagg, a lollipop man, in ""Coronation Street"" in December 2012. His character was seen training"
"""Last of the Summer Wine"". becoming a regular in the 30th series in 2009, finally receiving a name (“Toby Mulbery-Smith”), moving next door to Barry and Glenda (Mike Grady and Sarah Thomas) and befriending Morton (Christopher Beeny). Although Bannister appeared in a few films including ""Reach for the Sky"" (1956), ""Au Pair Girls"" (1972) and the 1977 film version of ""Are You Being Served?"", he worked mostly in the theatre, with credits including ""Billy Liar"" and the farce ""Move Over, Mrs Markham"". Bannister also performed in Shakespeare and was a regular in pantomime for more than 35 years, nearly always"
"Wharmby, Thora Hird, Jean Alexander, Stephen Lewis, Dora Bryan, Keith Clifford, Brian Murphy, Josephine Tewson, June Whitfield, Barbara Young, and Trevor Bannister. Other noted guests on the programme included John Cleese, Ron Moody, Sir Norman Wisdom, Eric Sykes, Liz Fraser, Stanley Lebor, and Philip Jackson. ""Last of the Summer Wine"" focused on a trio of older men and their youthful antics. The original trio consisted of Compo Simmonite, Norman Clegg, and Cyril Blamire. Blamire left in 1976, when Michael Bates fell ill shortly before filming of the third series, requiring Clarke to hastily rewrite the series with a new third"
"Norman Clegg Norman Clegg, often nicknamed Cleggy, is a fictional character from the world's longest-running sitcom, ""Last of the Summer Wine"". Norman Clegg was the only child of a builder and decorator, David Clegg, and his rather volatile wife Violet (Peter Sallis and Maggie Ollerenshaw). David, a war veteran, was very quiet and rarely interacted with his family, much to the concern of Norman, who thought his father didn't like him (Vi felt the same way). His mother was overprotective of her son, and panicked when he was walked home by a girl a year older than him. Norman married"
"Britain's longest-running television sitcom ""Last of the Summer Wine"" in 1997. He has played two different characters in ""Coronation Street"". Between 1980 and 1983, he occasionally appeared as Johnny Webb, one of the men on Eddie Yeats' bin round. In 2001, he returned for several months as Stan Wagstaff, a friend of Jimmy Kelly, who left his allotment to Jack Duckworth. Together with his brother Ernie, Stan let Jack in on Jimmy's big secret—he used his allotment shed to brew poteen. He also starred in Vince Powell’s eight-part BBC Radio 2 slice-of-life sitcom ""A Proper Charlie"" in 1985, as factory"
"used for the final two instalments of the show. This group consisted of Russ Abbot as a former milkman who fancied himself a secret agent, Luther ""Hobbo"" Hobdyke, 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. Although many feel the show's quality declined over the years, ""Last of the Summer Wine"" continued to receive large audiences for the BBC and was praised for its positive portrayal of older people and family-friendly humour. Many members of the Royal Family"
"(along with Truly's) continued to decrease and most episodes focused on Alvin and Entwistle's schemes. In the two final series he became a secondary character, as Sallis and Frank Thornton were now over 80, leading to complications over insurance when on location filming, so his role was filled by Entwistle (Burt Kwouk). Prior to this Entwistle had filled Clegg's role on a number of occasions. Despite being a widower, Clegg rarely refers to his wife, although he mentions that she was strongly against his camping phase and that she has a brother, whom Clegg toasts for ""keeping well away"". An"
"Tom Owen (actor) Thomas William Stevenson Rowbotham (born 8 April 1949), also known as Tom Owen, is a British actor best known for playing Tom Simmonite in the world's longest-running sitcom ""Last of the Summer Wine"". He is the son of Bill Owen, who played William ""Compo"" Simmonite (the father of Tom Simmonite) in the show. He married Mary Bernadette Therese Moylan in 1978; they have two sons, James and William. Tom Owen trained as a student assistant stage manager at Leatherhead Theatre in 1966. He made his television debut in 1968 playing Bill Cowan in Southern TV's groundbreaking series"
"morning of 20 March 2008 at his home in Ware, Hertfordshire and was survived by Eva, his wife, and their son and daughter. His son, Andrew Wilde, had been film editor on ""Last of the Summer Wine"" since the mid-1990s, working initially on many of the episodes that had starred his father, and later on the Frank Thornton editions. Brian Wilde Brian George Wilde (13 June 1927 – 20 March 2008) was an English actor, best known for his roles in television comedy, including Mr Barrowclough in ""Porridge"" and ""Foggy"" Dewhurst in ""Last of the Summer Wine"". His lugubrious world-weary"
"various plotlines including Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) coping with her obesity problem which she developed during the summer while performing on the fictitious Broadway musical ""Mystic Pizza: The Musical"". Another story arc includes the conservative Jack dating the Democratic congresswoman Celeste Cunningham (D-VT) (Edie Falco). Liz's attempts at recovering from her failed reunion with Floyd are also viewed as well as Tracy trying to deal with his failing marriage to Angie Jordan (Sherri Shepherd). Later, Tracy attempts to finish his masterpiece invention, a pornographic videogame. As the season progresses, Jack and his rival Devon Banks (Will Arnett) both aspire to"
"for his next role, starring in an Enzo Ferrari biopic (to be directed by Frank Darabont). Left to his own devices by his friends, Vince spends much of the season relaxing. Meanwhile, Eric, prompted by ex-girlfriend Sloan, moves out on his own. Midway through the season, he disbands his company, shutting it down for good, and goes to work for veteran manager Murray Berenson (George Segal) while also incurring the wrath of colleague Scott Lavin (Scott Caan) who deeply resents Eric's involvement in the company. While he starts a relationship with his neighbor Ashley (Alexis Dziena), Eric still pines for"
"He can't pay his television rental. So the shop take it back so frequently that he leaves his door unlocked so they can take it whenever necessary. In one episode, Foggy states that Compo owes him money and in the episode Compo was buried, Truly remarks that he still owed him two quid and questioned Clegg if the money was in the letter he sent to him. Compo Simmonite William Simmonite, better known by his nickname of Compo, was a character in the world's longest-running sitcom, ""Last of the Summer Wine"". Compo was born into a poor, lower-class family in"
"bread and jam. At the time of his death, he was living in Greenwich, London. Michael Aldridge Michael William ffolliott Aldridge (9 September 1920 – 10 January 1994) was an English actor. He was known for playing Seymour in the television series ""Last of the Summer Wine"" from 1986 to 1990 and he had a long career as a character actor on stage and screen dating back to the 1930s. The son of Dr Frederick James Aldridge and his wife Kathleen Michaela Marietta White, Aldridge was born in Glastonbury, Somerset, England, on 9 September 1920. He was educated at Gresham's"
"playing the role of Clarisse, a brothel Madame. She has been cast in the comedy film ""Lunchbox"" as a man-hungry teacher called Suzanne. Robbins appeared in two series of the BBC Television comedy series ""Dinnerladies"", playing the character 'Babs' a friend of 'Petula Gordino' played by Julie Walters. Robbins later appeared with the sitcom's writer Victoria Wood in the BBC TV special ""Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings"". Robbins has worked on many comedy TV shows including ""Last of the Summer Wine"", ""Heartbeat"" (Series 15 episode 'Wine & Roses', first shown in 2006), ""The Harry Enfield Show"", ""Peter Kay's Phoenix"
"Tony Capstick Joseph Anthony Capstick (27 July 1944 – 23 October 2003) was an English comedian, actor, musician and broadcaster. First son of Joe Capstick, a wireless operator in the RAF, and his wife, June, née Duncan, he was born in Rotherham, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, and spent most of his childhood in Swinton, South Yorkshire, near Mexborough, also in the West Riding, and for over thirty years he was a presenter on BBC Radio Sheffield. Outside Sheffield, he is perhaps better known as one of the policemen in the long-running British sitcom, ""Last of the Summer Wine"", where"
"married Margaret M. J. Chisholm. They had three children: Rupert (who also went on to become an actor); Camilla; and Jolyon. Bates was a supporter of the Conservative Party; Peter Sallis claimed that Bates' right-wing opinions contrasted so much with the left-wing views of fellow ""Last of the Summer Wine"" star Bill Owen that the series almost was not made because of their arguments. Bates died of cancer on 11 January 1978 in Chelsea, London, aged 57. Michael Bates (actor) Michael Hammond Bates (4 December 1920 – 11 January 1978) was an Anglo-Indian actor. He was best known for playing"
"Frank Thornton (Savoyard) Frank Thornton (1845 – 18 December 1918) was an English actor, singer, comedian and producer. Despite a successful stage career in comedies in London, on tour and abroad, Thornton is probably best remembered as the understudy to George Grossmith in a series of Gilbert and Sullivan operas from 1877 to 1884. Thornton began his stage career giving drawing-room entertainments while simultaneously working in a commercial office in London, keeping his theatrical activities secret from his office employers for four years. He was engaged by Richard D'Oyly Carte as understudy to George Grossmith in the Gilbert and Sullivan"
"grandfather, John Kilner (1792–1857), who invented the Kilner jar, a container for preserved fruit. Clarkson's views are often showcased on television shows. In 1997, Clarkson appeared on the light-hearted comedy show ""Room 101"", in which a guest nominates things they hate in life to be consigned to nothingness. Clarkson dispatched caravans, houseflies, the sitcom ""Last of the Summer Wine"", the mentality within golf clubs, and vegetarians. He has made several appearances on the prime time talk shows ""Parkinson"" and ""Friday Night with Jonathan Ross"" since 2002. By 2003, his persona was deemed to fit the mould for the series ""Grumpy"