Nobody is saying it is a coincidence or otherwise. This is an irrelevancy, a total non sequitur. This discussion is around the fact that in "A Certain Smile" he is Clem Hemingway. When he becomes a regular he is known as Smiler. The episode of "A Certain Smile" and Clem Hemingway is not a pre-requisite for Smiler. Obviously some time after he first appeared Roy Clarke decided that there was a possibility in using Stephen Lewis on a permanent basis.
Let's just agree to disagree then.
You are half right, but of course Clem Hemmingway is a pre-requisite for Smiler, which is why when he appears in series 12, the trio ALREADY KNOW HIM.....just as they already know Wesley in The Loxley Lozenge, as they have met him before in Car and Garter an episode where HE HAD AN INTRODUCTION....WEsley was playing a guest part and was then used as a regular, just the same as with Smiler.
Billy, Alvin, Entwistle, Wesley, Howard even Coggy Duckworth had introduction episodes with a view to there being a possibility of them being used on a permanent basis. There were 2 years between Wesleys 1st and 2nd appearance, but he was still the same character....Smiler is Clem, that is why he was called Smiler after the name of the first episode he appeared in. Just watch A Landlady for Smiler again, the whole transition is explained with some artistic license. Two years have passed, the little Dog we meet in A Certain Smile has died and the wife he had has gone to Australia, those are the circumstances which lead him back into the show.
The lads greet him in his second appearance as someone they know and that is because they know him from a previous appearance (jiust like Wesley and Howard and Billy and Auntie Wainwright etc etc etc)....and just as his life circumstances have changed in those 2 years due to artistic licence, so presumably has his nickname which is derived from the very epsiode title that he first appeared in. The lads are aware of his change in ciurcumstances between his appearances, as evidenced from their immediate chat upon meeting him in A Landlady for Smiler, so presumably they have been in contact with him, that is the inference and it doesnt take much working out from there.
Of Course A Certain Smile has relevance to the appearance of Smiler and of course that was his introduction episode, that is why he didnt need another one in series 12....and yes of course originally he was just playing the part of Clem to start with as a one off to test the water, just as every new character was in that era. But to deny that there is a link between the two and in your words...."For general public Smiler would have been a completely new character" is wrong, and obviously wrong.
