The first special feature length episode.
This was based on the 1974 novel by Roy Clarke, which orginally had Blamire instead of Foggy. The episode remains fairly true to the novel, ecxept much of the blue language has been removed, and the characters have been modified in places to suit their tv persona.
This special appeared at exactly the right time. The show was at it's peak, and John Comer was still alive to play Sid for the last time.
Bill Owen had a part in getting this feature special made, and set the trend for similar BBC projects like Only Fools and Horses specials. Alan JW Bell was more enthusiastic than Sydney Lotterby, he got the job and stayed with the show till it finally ended.
This programme is definitely the darkest episode of them all. It's also very fondly remembered. For those who particularly like the episode it's well worth reading the novel to see how it could have been, and for all the additional scenes. Possibly some scenes were recorded but not seen in the final print. For example, there is a scene in the book involving an invalid car which I think results in the buckling of Clegg's bicycle wheel.
Later editions of the book simply had Blamire's name substituted for Foggy, without revising other characteristics.
The whole special is shot on film and does not feature studio laughter, which I think is absolutely correct for something which is essentially a film.
The same formula was used for the also excellent Uncle of the Bride, and the very average Big Day at Dream Acres.
This was based on the 1974 novel by Roy Clarke, which orginally had Blamire instead of Foggy. The episode remains fairly true to the novel, ecxept much of the blue language has been removed, and the characters have been modified in places to suit their tv persona.
This special appeared at exactly the right time. The show was at it's peak, and John Comer was still alive to play Sid for the last time.
Bill Owen had a part in getting this feature special made, and set the trend for similar BBC projects like Only Fools and Horses specials. Alan JW Bell was more enthusiastic than Sydney Lotterby, he got the job and stayed with the show till it finally ended.
This programme is definitely the darkest episode of them all. It's also very fondly remembered. For those who particularly like the episode it's well worth reading the novel to see how it could have been, and for all the additional scenes. Possibly some scenes were recorded but not seen in the final print. For example, there is a scene in the book involving an invalid car which I think results in the buckling of Clegg's bicycle wheel.
Later editions of the book simply had Blamire's name substituted for Foggy, without revising other characteristics.
The whole special is shot on film and does not feature studio laughter, which I think is absolutely correct for something which is essentially a film.
The same formula was used for the also excellent Uncle of the Bride, and the very average Big Day at Dream Acres.
, I know its not everyones cup of tea but I LOVE IT 
Getting Sam Home is the one bomb in the LOSW collection. #1 the characters did not act like themselves, they were crude and rude, the other characters seemed off-kilter too, everyone acted like a Bizarro world version of themselves. (Those familiar with the old Superman comics know that it was the Bizarro world where people were a mangled alternate version of the same people on Earth, everyone in Bizarro world was a bit cracked.) And that's the way this whole depressing film of Getting Sam Home seemed, long drawn out, unfunny, scenes went on forever that could have been done in 2 seconds, and worst as I've said none of the characters in the film acted like they do in the whole rest of the series. It was like it was written by someone who didn't have a clue about the LOSW world and the characters inhabited there. It was in a word, AWFUL.
