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

[wstol]

Had another look at the Genome site for 1st January 1978.

It lists all the bit players EXCEPT Pete Postlethwaite, so it looks to me that his appearance hit the cutting room floor at the last minute.

 

[Sarkus]

Had another look at the Genome site for 1st January 1978.

It lists all the bit players EXCEPT Pete Postlethwaite, so it looks to me that his appearance hit the cutting room floor at the last minute.

I think Big Unc's earlier suggestion that Postlethwaite was in the originally broadcast episode but got cut (for some reason) in re-runs and the DVD release is a more likely scenario. If he was never in the original broadcast we have to then assume they made a mistake in crediting him. And I also came across an excerpt from Postlethwaite's autobiography where he mentions have a bit part in Summer Wine. I don't think he'd have included that unless he actually appeared in the broadcast episode.

 

[imitation700mb]

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.

Alan Bell wouldn't decide when or how the episodes were broadcast. That would be up to the BBC, although his opinion may count in some circumstances.

Of course, If you're like us, my family and I only watch episodes that have Christmas as the main plot when it is actually Christmas time, (I.E. December) Whether a Merry Heatwave is a Christmas Special or not makes no difference in our household. Perhaps a lot of you have the same way of thinking?

 

[imitation700mb]

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.

Pete Postlethwaite's own Wikipedia page says he did have a part in Summer Wine and states he was a "Customer in Sid's Café". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Postlethwaite