For Big Unc....... The Very First Xmas Special ..... A Merry Heatwave.

Pearl

Pearl

Administrator
Staff member
The very first xmas special was of cause A Merry Heat Wave, this was a great episode because not only were Wally and Sid in it but also Pete Postlethwaite, I know blink and you'll miss him but still there is was.

I love that Sid was in Ivys good books for a few seconds because he pinned a pound note to a tree in payment for the xmas tree, even though 75p would have been enough.

There was Wally in his best suit sitting by an open fire in the middle of a heatwave being directed by Foggy with Nora all happy and smiling. All in vain because brother Billy perked up and ran off with his nurse.
 
It doesn't look like him IYAM.

According to Genome, which is all about old Radio Times listings,
Andrew Lane was Man in cafe
Harriet Reynolds was Tennis lady
Bert Oxley was Tennis man.

Can anyone else say which one was Pete Postlethwaite?
 
Pete Postlethwaite ...
Man in Cafe (1 episode, 1978)

Taken from IMDb Cast list.
 
So which one is he in the cafe?

I've seen Pete Postlethwaite in an episode of Going Straight, which was made virtually about the same time, but just can't seem to recognise him in Summer Wine.
 
I thought we had been around this buoy before. (By the way, are we aware some in the US including US Navy pronounce that 'boo-ie').

I think IMDB have it wrong. Peter Postlethwaite played the postman.
 
No, Teddy Turner plays the Postman.

Teddy Turner returned the following year to play Old Edgar.

I've just watched the episode now.

If there's the Tennis man, and the Customer who wants salad, there's still another male actor without a character.

i suppose the man who wants salad could pass for Pete Postlethwaite.
 
Done some research. Andrew Lane is the man in the cafe who wants something light, like salad, but has to have a Christmas dinner.

Apparently Andrew Lane was in Yes Minister.

If you look at Andrew Lane Yes Minister on Google pictures it's clearly the Salad man.

Bert Oxley would appear to be the Tennis man, if you look at his pictures on Google.

So where is Pete Postlethwaite in A Merry Heatwave?
 
Done more research. Bert Oxley was in All Creatures Great and Small. Google pictures of Bert Oxley All Creatures Great and Small, and that would appear to be the Tennis Player.

I'm starting to wonder if 'Peter' Postlethwaite was edited out of the episode at the last minute.
 
Just looked at the episode myself. I just could not see Peter Postlethwaite. Might it be he never got into the DVD?

However, back to my original premise, Series #3 & 4 DVD labels 'A Merry Heatwave' as a 'Xmas Special' AND it is a longer than normal episode running for 35 minutes.
 
index4u said:
I didn't know that wasn't the universal English pronunciation!

Marianna
Click to expand...

I was very puzzled at first conference I attended (in Royal Navy contingent) with US Navy when speakers referred to these 'boo-ies'. In UK parlance, pronunciation is simply 'boy' and the 'u' is silent (like the 'k' in overcoat as my old Daddy always maintained).
 
To further complicate the question of whether "A Merry Heatwave" is a Christmas Special, note that Alan Bell's listing of episodes in the back of his book does not consider it to be one, nor does it note several other episodes that we think of as specials that way either. And yet it does go out of its way to specify specials. Bell seems to distinguish between episodes filmed separately from the normal filming schedule as being different from episodes filmed along with the rest of a series and then used as a Christmas special.

More specifically, "A Merry Heatwave" is listed as part of Series Four, "Small Tune" is listed as a Christmas Special, "And a Dewhurst up a Fur Tree" is listed as part of Series Five, "Whoops" is a Christmas Special, "All Mod Conned" is Series Seven, "Loxley Lozenge" is Series Eight. And so on.

The problem is that we don't know in most cases how these episodes ended up airing when they did. For example, was "A Merry Heatwave" chosen to be filmed because they knew they were going to air an episode around Christmas that series? Or was it filmed without that knowledge and later chosen to air at that time because of the time of year? Or was it purely coincidence that it aired around that time? Without somebody talking about the thinking involved we really won't ever know.
 
wstol said:
Done some research. Andrew Lane is the man in the cafe who wants something light, like salad, but has to have a Christmas dinner.

Apparently Andrew Lane was in Yes Minister.

If you look at Andrew Lane Yes Minister on Google pictures it's clearly the Salad man.

Bert Oxley would appear to be the Tennis man, if you look at his pictures on Google.

So where is Pete Postlethwaite in A Merry Heatwave?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't get it either. The credits list five extras, and normally that would mean people with speaking parts would get credits. Four of those are men, one a woman. Only one of the women in the café speaks, and that is the tennis player. But as you said earlier, only three male extras have speaking parts - tennis man, salad man, and the postman.

Turner is clearly the postman, though it is interesting that two obituaries for Postlethwaite (Independent and Guardian) both say he was the postman.

So that leaves two speaking parts and three actors listed. I found episodes of "All Creatures Great and Small" that Oxley and Lane appeared in (the Lane one also had Joe Gladwin in it) and they are clearly the tennis man and salad man, like you pointed out. The only other actor that stands out in the copy of "Merry Heatwave" I have, and it isn't a speaking part, is the photographer at the wedding Compo crashes when he goes over the wall at the church. The camera does stay on him for a moment, so maybe originally he said something, but he doesn't look like Postlethwaite either.

It certainly is a mystery.
 
Last edited:
Sarkus said:
More specifically, "A Merry Heatwave" is listed as part of Series Four, "Small Tune" is listed as a Christmas Special, "And a Dewhurst up a Fur Tree" is listed as part of Series Five, "Whoops" is a Christmas Special, "All Mod Conned" is Series Seven, "Loxley Lozenge" is Series Eight. And so on.

The problem is that we don't know in most cases how these episodes ended up airing when they did. For example, was "A Merry Heatwave" chosen to be filmed because they knew they were going to air an episode around Christmas that series? Or was it filmed without that knowledge and later chosen to air at that time because of the time of year? Or was it purely coincidence that it aired around that time? Without somebody talking about the thinking involved we really won't ever know.
Click to expand...

I do think we should not forget another point I have made about 'A Merry Heatwave' and that is its extended duration of 35 minutes which does indicate to me that it was made deliberately as a Special. At one time Wikipedia did have a listing of episode durations, only one was 35 minutes and this was it.

We do know that there were episodes made with a Christmas theme and they are the obvious Specials. However, there are others which are obviously part of a regular series which have been picked out for the Christmas airing. 'The Loxley Lozenge' is the obvious example. And by being selected as the Christmas Special and being shown out of sequence, this has resulted in anomalies in the series plot line. I suppose that to Alan Bell they were just part of a series and did not stand out.

I am a bit surprised that he overlooked 'A Merry Heatwave' though. As I said, it was a longer episode and it came very much at the beginning of the 'Christmas Special' concept for television programming.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top