A bit shocked.

Blue summer

Blue summer

Dedicated Member
Had a strange one this evening!

A mate turned up at my place with his missus, to pick some motorcycle parts up that he wanted from me.
I had "Who's looking after the cafe" episode on the DVD player.
His missus said "oh my god, you don't like this sh*te do you?".
I answered that i'd been watching it for donkeys years.

She then stated that she found Compo a bit weird, he was always grabbing the women, or making lewd remarks about them.
She reckoned that in the real world, he would be seen as a bit of a perv (her words, not mine)!
She said she had never seen a bloke grabbing women like that and if anyone did such a thing, they would likely be prosecuted and shunned in the community they lived in and seen a a sex maniac, plus an angry partner may well give him a good hiding as well.

I was that shocked, that i struggled to defend his actions, other than to say "it's only a comedy show, for gods sake"1
She replied that she just found it a bit creepy, an old bloke grabbing women to get his kicks.
I'm still in shock and feel quite troubled by what she said, probably because in this day and age, such a man would certainly be seen as a bit weird if he did do that in real life.

When Compo died and Alvin moved into his house, he just used to verbally hassle Nora in a more usual way, asking her to join him for breakfast outside, for instance.
So is it possible, that Roy Clarke may have written the episodes after Compo died, in a more realistic way, or that it could only be Compo that grabbed the ladies and once he had gone, it wouldn't be right to have Alvin chasing Nora in a similar way?

I'm still quite confused about it all, i'm not sure whether my mates wife upset me, or enlightened me about something that hadn't really crossed my mind before, about how Compo treated the ladies.

G ; )
 
It was just Nora and Compo and their bit of fun. After 25 years build-up of tradition, Nora would have been worried if Compo had ignored her. I recall Kathy Staff saying after Bill Owen died that she wasn't sure that there would be a role in the programme for her anymore without this interaction between Nora and Compo. She was wrong, there was a continuing role and the series was the stronger for it.
It would have been inappropriate for Alvin to take over from where Compo had left off and Roy Clarke found a perfect solution with the verbal banter between the two. Compo had a tradition of the physical and to switch him to Alvin's verbal repartee would have been out of character.
Your friend's wife comes from a different generation, not brought up with LOTSW, and could not be expected to know the history of the characters. Another good reason for them to get out the later DVD's before those who do know and love the programmes, are all gone! The younger generation will not know the background of the characters and your friend's wife's response is quite normal and should not concern you too much.
 
BluprintZ said:
Had a strange one this evening!
A mate turned up at my place with his missus, to pick some motorcycle parts up that he wanted from me.
I had "Who's looking after the cafe" episode on the DVD player.
His missus said "oh my god, you don't like this sh*te do you?".
I answered that i'd been watching it for donkeys years.
Click to expand...

Just shows how folk can carry the PC to utterly ridiculous limits.

Mind, one observation I might make is that I just did not like Compo in the Pilot. I did feel he was portrayed as a "bit of a perv (her words, not mine)" - a bit too like Albert Steptoe - now he was a nasty little piece of work. But come Series 1 Compo had altered subtly and was, of course, quite acceptable.
 
Compo only ever grabbed Ivy and Nora who he had known since they were children.They would take it with a pinch of salt and put him in his place.
He never grabbed other women except to dance with them.
The only time Compo ever made me feel uncomfortable was in 'Who made a bit of a splash in Wales then?'When he held the car door for Ivy and tried to look up her skirt.
 
George said:
The only time Compo ever made me feel uncomfortable was in 'Who made a bit of a splash in Wales then?'When he held the car door for Ivy and tried to look up her skirt.
Click to expand...

Yes, i always thought that was a touch odd myself George, although as i tried to explain to my mates missus (who is in her mid-forties), the character of Compo was supposed to be a bit on the cheeky side, it was Clegg and the third man that were supposed to keep Compo in check...as much as they could.

I also explained that they had all been at school together and were pretty much a gang, even into their teens when some of them worked at the Co-op.
Even "First of" portrays the younger Compo as a bit of a more of an "earthy" type, when it came to the ladies, more so than the other lads, who even then saw him showing more interest in girls than the others..., well maybe except Seymore and his obsession with "Miss Deborah Norbury".

I've never heard anyone else that i know mention this about Compo, so i'll assume that mateys missus just doesn't get it and doesn't understand the relationships between the "Gang", so she is casting her opinion on something / someone, who she really doesn't know, as far as the character goes.

"Just one long, hot summer and i could be...whaahaay". LOL.

or from Nora..."I sometimes think he's perverted"

Cheers all.

G ; )
 
The pc bit is carried to rediculous lengths alright BIG UNC Only this week a woman of 70 on a commitee was pilloried for saying you cant stop the jungle drums (regarding someones remark about info getting out from the commitee)This was immediately declared racist and she maybe now realises that she ought to have said " gossip" instead of what she did! ::)
 
Well, perhaps this lady (I mean your mate´s wife, BluprintZ) is just a bit over the top in this respect. I´m a shy person myself, but I never thought of Compo like that! Okay, the bit with Ivy´s skirt was a bit strange, but in general, no, that´s alright. I mean it´s all harmless, she shouldn´t take it so seriously. It was just Compo´s bit of fun. It´s not as if he had ever actually done anything to them! Perhaps you mate´s wife lacks a bit of humour?
 
Been a long time since I've been here! But this was a really interesting thing to think about. I had to reply. ;D

It's true, in our time, men who seem a bit "too friendly" are called pervs. But What about Compo?

My feelings, just mine, but I feel it's about intention. With Compo, we understand it's the chase more then anything, and he loves the reaction he gets, the way the ladies deal with him. He doesn't mean to hurt them, and really, he's the little boy who got a kick out of putting gum in a girl's hair, just to make her notice him, because he is too bashful to say he likes her. Compo's a kid.

Of course, this is all the magic of a TV show. We KNOW what he's thinking because we know him, his inner stuff, fairly well.

The looking up the skirt thing, I agree, is the only thing I can think of that starts looking like possibly violation.

But all and all, pretty harmless.

And to your friend's wife: Just repeat to yourself, "It's just a show. I should really just relax." ;)
 
Nice to see you back Roz


Roz said:
Been a long time since I've been here! But this was a really interesting thing to think about. I had to reply. ;D

It's true, in our time, men who seem a bit "too friendly" are called pervs. But What about Compo?

My feelings, just mine, but I feel it's about intention. With Compo, we understand it's the chase more then anything, and he loves the reaction he gets, the way the ladies deal with him. He doesn't mean to hurt them, and really, he's the little boy who got a kick out of putting gum in a girl's hair, just to make her notice him, because he is too bashful to say he likes her. Compo's a kid.

Of course, this is all the magic of a TV show. We KNOW what he's thinking because we know him, his inner stuff, fairly well.

The looking up the skirt thing, I agree, is the only thing I can think of that starts looking like possibly violation.

But all and all, pretty harmless.

And to your friend's wife: Just repeat to yourself, "It's just a show. I should really just relax." ;)
Click to expand...
 
Interesting comment Bluprint. I think you have to be really, reeeaaalllyyy out of touch with reality to imagine that Compo is a "pervert". A friend of mine would describe him as " a cheeky old bugger", but I don't think you could say anything worse than that. As other people here have mentioned, he only tried to grab women that he knew well, and even then, he usually gave up pretty easily. Despite his cheekiness and his game-playing, Compo was basically a moral man. He never ogled women and he never said a disrespectful word to a woman that wasn't "one of his gang". He never said anything improper to or about to Glenda and he was properly respectful to Gloria (the young neighbour who emigrated to Australia in Who's That Dancing With Nora Batty. Particularly about Nora and Ivy, they were a couple of stuck up stickybeaks and I think Compo enjoyed embarrassing them.

As to your mate's wife, there exists a certain personality type which has this need to "express opinions" (generally negative) on everything they see. I expect psychiatrists have a scientific term for such personalities. These kind of people seem to think that it's necessary to "share opinions" on things, whether you know anything about them or not. If you don't have any actual knowledge of a subject, you should at least have an opinion on it. In fact, knowledge and understanding are often a detriment, because they tend to interfere with self-righteous indignation, which is often necessary for a strong opinion. To these kind of people I reply, "Here's a quid. Pop down to Tesco and buy yourself a life".
 
In reality if we all knew someone like Compo in real life most people would see him as a pervert and a dirty old man and no one here would be defending his behaviour in fact most would be appalled.

The thing is we are not talking about reality we are talking about a character from a programme and it is done for comedy. We allow him to get away with it as it is done for humour and we understand the ongoing joke. Nora Batty secretly enjoyed the attention and didnt actully like it if he ignored her, who can forget her remorse about the way she treated Compo after he died? So I feel your friend has missed the point.

On a personal note I did find Compo a rather obnoxious person at first, it wasnt till later on that I warmed to him, and im glad I did.
 
Roz said:
And to your friend's wife: Just repeat to yourself, "It's just a show. I should really just relax." ;)
Click to expand...

I like that response! ;)

Really, I think the lady doesn't get the show and understand the character that is Compo. Everything that's been mentioned, the history that he and the women grew up in school together, the insight that we have as viewers of the show.

Obviously she hasn't seen the episode where Nora and Ivy lured Compo into the back of the Cafe to nick his trousers! Wonder what her thoughts would be to that one. :)
 
Cheers for the replies guys (hey, that rhymes innit?)...but i digress!

What a turn up for the books...
Matey turned up last Friday, to return the bike part that i lent him and i showed him some of the responses to my post about his missus and her attitude to Compo.
He asked for a DVD that showed Compo in a more "Reasonable" light, so that he and his missus could watch it the next evening, just to show her that he wasn't always the lecherous old man that she thought he was.

"No problem" said i...and without hesitation, i handed him "Last post and pigeon", which i had recorded onto my Goodmans 80gb hard-drive recorder, from a VHS tape and burned to DVD.
I felt that of all the episodes that would give her a decently balanced view of the lovable roque, that would be the one, it certainly moved me to tears the first time i saw it.

Anyway, he brought the DVD back last night and yes, she wept...long before he played the last post, in fact it was the scene where they had been kicked out of the boarding house by "Madame" and ended up camping on the beach...why?
Because her grandfather had been part of the D-Day landings at Normandy and he had told her many stories of his exploits during that terrible time.

The special episode had brought back memories of those times with her grandfather for her, as she was very close to him, so she could identify with Compo's stories, as they were not dissimilar to the ones her grandfather had told her when she was a young lass.

Result.

G ; )
 
Wow! Brilliant ending to the story, mate! Couldn't have done better if it'd been scripted!

Just goes to show, all it takes is a bit of willingness to understand other people and their circumstances... I think such stories are typical for people like Compo, who tend to be fairly extreme in their behaviour - either you'll turn your nose up at him and think him a social deviant or he'll make you break down and weep (maybe both during the same conversation!).

Anyway, thanks for the update, Bluprint, restores my faith in humanity.
 
I must admit i have often had a lump in my throat watching that episode. It certainly seemed to do the trick showing her that episode, and fair play to her also for being willing to give Compo a second go.
 
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