Clarke view of Seymour

codfanglers

codfanglers

Dedicated Member
I am in the middle of Andrew Vine's book. So I am slowly becoming more knowledgeable of the show (still, I will never catch up with some of you). There was a ton of praise about the character, Foggy, in the book. This wasn't surprising.

However, what took me for a bit of a surprise is that Clarke had a not-so-praising view of Foggy's first replacement, Seymour.

Quoting Clarke from the book...

"I came up with Seymour. Some people liked him, some people didn't, but he was good enough to keep us going."

I was a bit surprised by this. I will say the following paragraphs highly praised Michael Aldridge. So it wasn't the actor Clarke wasn't crazy about. Instead it was the character. Over the years on this sight, I found Seymour to be highly popular on this sight and to many, even better than Foggy.

Now, I am thinking, like Compo's passing resulting in a larger cast, perhaps Clarke felt he needed to put more emphasis on Howard, Marina, and Pearl because he didn't think any single character could carry Foggy's weight.

And am also thinking Clarke might be pleasantly surprised by Seymour's enduring popularity.

Any thoughts?
 
I have to say that at first I wasn't keen on him but over the years he's defiantly grown on me, some of my favorite episodes are from that era. Edie and the Automobiles is just brilliant and I really like the xmas specials with Seymour. I think maybe Roy was a bit like us and was a bit apprehensive about a third man character change but I think it worked out well in the end.
 
I am a huge fan of Seymour! Him and the boys seemed to gel as a trio better than the others! As I said once before they seemed more friendly together. Foggy and the others seemed to rub off the wrong way. As did Truly? Just my opinion but the Seymour trio seemed to work. Even Bill did not seem confrontational.:thumbsup:
 
The more you watch the Seymour era I think the more the episodes grow on you I watched them recently as they have just been repeated and I think that Roy Clarke wrote it in such a manner that there is obviously more tolerance between the main characters . All of which is in stark contrast to the Blamire and first Foggy seasons , where the trio always seemed to be constantly shouting at each other , putting each other down on a regular basis [though top prize goes to Cyril] and are generally more argumentative . He certainly toned that right down for the arrival of Seymour , which was a welcome change from my own personal perspective.
 
I think Clarke is really responding to criticisms of the character and casting choice. Jimmy Gilbert, who was the shows original director/producer and who thus cast the original group, was on record as not liking Seymour or the choice of Michael Aldridge.

I do like Seymour, but more so later when they got a good handle on him. The early episodes have funny moments but stuff like Clegg and Compo having no idea who he is at the beginning do bug me a bit when I watch Uncle of the Bride and Series 9.
 
I did not like Seymour at the beginning but agree as he settled in I liked him as the show went on ,he was a very good actor and Iliked his expression when something went wrong.The things that the lads got up to with Seymour were different and had a scientific nature so were interesting ,the sight of Compo windsurfing on roller skates comes to mind.Edie of course was so besoted with her intelligent brother but Wesley had the last say , I think he is a pillock so true especialy when he had to make Seymour creation .Sad when he had to leave the show but at least Foggy came back!
 
I've not been around for a bit but a while ago I was moaning the Seymour era was never on Freeview.
Happy to see it on now though as these episodes are the ones I have seen the least. Watched the Experiment today and loved the ladies coffee morning when they discussed fertilized eggs!
Still a fan of [firstly] Blamire then Foggy[1st time] but now the Seymour era may push Foggys second showing into fourth.
 
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