Earthy v Genteel

C

Cloggy

Dedicated Member
The first few episodes of LOTSW with Blamire, was in my opinion more earthy than the later episodes.
They were more gritty and Cleggy was smoking and Compo was swearing like a trooper.

There was political differences between Bill Owen (Labour) and Michael Bates (Conservative),
which Roy Clarke used in his scripts.

As the show progressed it became more genteel and more like Countryfile.

Which would you prefer?
 
I prefer the latter style, post Blamire, because to me the early episodes were just one huge shouting match and it detracts from the comedy writing to an extent but the episodes are very enjoyable . The episodes post Blamire seemed subtler .
 
I agree - Particularly in "Of Funerals and Fish", the pilot. Blamire and Compo seemed to be desperately trying to out-shout and out-funny one another. Clegg was more restrained and I think his character didn't change so drastically as the others. Later, particularly when Foggy arrived, I thought the humour in the show began to evolve into something more subtle.
 
My wife and i watch all the episodes on a regular basis,
we both have our favourite characters and episodes.

It's interesting watching how the show evolved, when new characters
were introduced into the show.
 
Early and earthy for me. It got too formulated for me later on. The same scenes in every show. Although I think it could have carried on in some form instead of channeling everything into Still Open.. which I think is dire.
 
Cloggy said:
My wife and i watch all the episodes on a regular basis,
we both have our favourite characters and episodes.

It's interesting watching how the show evolved, when new characters
were introduced into the show.
Click to expand...
There were so many different ways in which the show evolved. One telling scene was when Tom was reminiscing about when his father had gone water skiing on the lake. AND it was more than a made up memory, as his father actually had gone water skiing on that very lake many years before. There were story lines that they thought would work and they didn't. There were story lines that were thrown in to fill in minutes and they worked. Howard, Pearl and Marina came about in a summer stock play and then fit in very well in the show. Some characters made a brief appearance and then were never seen again. And then, other than Bill Owen, when actors and actresses, sadly, who were too ill to continue or had gone to the Big Stage in the sky, were just never seen or mentioned again. I digress, Nora went to Australia.

And then there was off camera stuff. About that scene where they had to paddle the canoe down the river. Peter was worried because he really couldn't swim. And they said, "Don't worry, nothing will happen." But they had never paddled a canoe and had never been in a swift current. And the canoe overbalanced and they were dumped in the drink. Oops.

And then there was that one where they were at this lake and found a pile of clothing and instantly thought that someone was in trouble and maybe was drowning. So Bill and Peter had to go into the water because that's what the script called for. I'm sure they were concerned about the depth, or maybe not. It was not their normal location so they knew nothing about the lake. Later on, they happened to speak with some locals who told them that it was sure a good thing that they didn't go further out because there was a major drop off -- not too far from where they were standing. Oops.
 
I feel the series went through 3 distinct phases, to start with it was earthy as stated, almost a black comedy or social commentary on 3 men facing enforced retirement. Then it evolved into a very much physical comedy in the middle and probably it's peak success. Then latterly it became very very gentle comedy.

If the LOTSW had started in the style it ended and evolved into the early series (if that makes sense!?) I wonder how many letters of complaint would have been going into the BBC ???
 
I like the grittiness of the early series, yet I also like the gentleness which developed.

In truth, even in all the early ones there was still more than an element of sentiment and charm - it was always heartwarming.
 
Each era has some good episodes, but to be honest, I like the episodes that have physical comedy, especially during Seymour's era or both of Foggy's eras. I also tended to enjoy the earlier scenes in the café with Sid and his interaction with the trio. I didn't really care for the series after Compo died. It just felt like a completely different show and if it had always been like that, I would probably never have bothered with it.
 
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