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Apparently ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ is not yoof enough for the trendy executives at the BBC and has been axed.
No doubt the timeless, gentle humour is not ‘edgy’ enough for the yoofs to comprehend.
Himself, Drone, InsomniacThat’s because some BBC bigwig, somewhere, in some far-flung office, on some far-flung planet thinks the likes of Russell Howard are funny, Pomp
It has been going downhill in a bath tub for years now
– and in all honesty should have been consigned to the big BBC dustbin years ago.It had a quaint, warm charm about it during the first decade or so, and now it’s a pale imitation of what it once was, and has become cringeworthy and embarrassing to watch – that is, when I last watched ten minutes of an episode a couple of years ago.
Ha ha, just saw the pic there Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
Thanks Pompete (Walter Batty), no man could wish for a greater compliment
Actually I haven’t watched it since Foggy wandered off so can’t comment on whether the warm poignant humour I enjoyed so much then has been lost
The decision to call it a day may have something to do with the only remaining original cast member – Peter Sallis – being nearly 90
The programme could run until he either dies on set with his waistcoat and jumper on, is unable to do the part justice any more, or makes a unilateral decision to retire
Perhaps a fitting and more appropriate time to finish is before any of those scenarios happen
Wonder if the series will actually end with Clegg shuffling off?
There’s room for both, Adam. Moreover, far from being at diametric odds with
LOTSW
, note that much of Russell Howard’s routine is shot through with both a defiant optimism and an interest in the quirky minutiae of life. That sounds familiar.
I’m not about to suggest that there is a huge overlap of people that watch both
LOTSW
and
Russell Howard’s Good News
(I do, though!), as the occasional swearing in the latter may put some off; but at the same time I don’t think they’re actually hewn from entirely different rocks.
To my way of thinking I don’t see why
LOTSW
couldn’t have carried on ad inifnitum were the will to let it there. It’s not as if the Sunday evening early teatime slot is one especially coveted by TV producers of a more youthful hue on any channel (even C4 has usually moved onto
Time Team
-type confection by that time of day), and the show’s viewing figures, whilst nothing like what they once were, still commanded a near-20% share of the TV audience for that slot the last I heard.
Writer Roy Clarke is, of course, getting on in years now and the core cast all the more so. However, whilst the show could still carry on without Clarke if he did pass on, with his brand of whimsy by no means impossible to replicate, the issue of the cast’s age has actually become increasingly problematic in recent years.
You’ll notice that none of Peter Sallis, Frank Thornton, June Whitfield or Jean Alexander has filmed (m)any outside scenes in the show for several years. I’m advised by my two acting friends that this is because the insurance costs for TV actors and actresses absolutely skyrocket past the age of 80 (the Wikipedia entry for the show seems to back that up) and it’s not worth the while of many shows to risk having to stump up to any great extent.
Certainly these two friends are absolutely filling their boots part-wise whilst they remain septegenerians, as they know they’ll become expensive luxuries (liabilities?) almost overnight at some stage.
The point of mentioning all of this is that whilst I’ve not yet come across any mention of insurance as a contributory factor to the show’s demise, it wouldn’t surprise me a jot if it’s an underlying one at the very least.
With Robert Fyfe still falling off his bike (and Jean Fergusson, which may amount to the same thing) past 80, and Burt Kwouk still mostly outdoors as well despite his own 80th birthday looming this July, maybe there has been a collective loss of nerve by the show’s commissioners, and a thought that as cooping up too many regulars would wreck the balance of the show yet further, it’s a better decision to kill it off outright.
The wrong decision, natch, but not one I’d have complete trouble in understanding.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
The programme could run until he either dies on set with his waistcoat and jumper on, is unable to do the part justice any more, or makes a unilateral decision to retire
Perhaps a fitting and more appropriate time to finish is before any of those scenarios happen
Wonder if the series will actually end with Clegg shuffling off?
Pretty sure Peter Sallis wants to do the show until he keels over, and has expressed a hope that Roy Clarke keeps on churning out scripts for him until that eventuality.
Remember that the part of Clegg was written with him specifically in mind long before much else of the show became fully formed, so the enormous, unshakable debt of gratitude Sallis has for Clarke is not hard to understand.
"Mmmm, cracking wake, Gromit".
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
It was bloody awful; wasn’t funny after the original series and should have been put to death after that. I’d rather have toothache than have to watch an episode. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Thanks Pompete (Walter Batty)
No, no no – I wear the trouser in our house!
….when she lets me of course
Feel sorry for all the ageing thespians that were probably looking forward to gracing our screens in their dotage..Dame Judi Dench springs to mind.
Apparently ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ is not yoof enough for the trendy executives at the BBC and has been axed.
No doubt the timeless, gentle humour is not ‘edgy’ enough for the yoofs to comprehend.
http://thm-a04.yimg.com/nimage/6e43a2b1b5511e70
Himself, Drone, InsomniacThat’s quite a lazy way of looking at it. Let’s blame the ‘yoof’, same thing people always say.
– and in all honesty should have been consigned to the big BBC dustbin years ago.
Ha ha, just saw the pic there 
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