Great Back-to-Back Episodes

codfanglers

codfanglers

Dedicated Member
This topic is derived from Terry's big top 20 poll. I was writing about some of the great episodes that didn't make the cut (of course there are a lot). Then it dawned on me that Keeping Britain Tidy was a anonymously popular episode that was left out. Then I did realize that the preceding episode, Mysterious Feet of Nora Batty made the list. This of course is part of early Series 8, which I think is outstanding. To me, it shows Wally and Nora at their absolute finest.

Also, I always loved "Come in Sun-Ray Major" but it didn't make the list. But once again, its predecessor, "Return of the Warrior" made it.

So, it brought me to this topic. It is really easy to just mention great Summer Wine episodes, but how about great consecutive episodes. I already mentioned two of my three pair to start.

Series 8-
Mysterious Feet of Nora Batty followed by Keeping Britain Tidy.

Series 12- Return of the Warrior followed by Come In Sun-Ray major.

OK, I have an honorable mention, Also from Series 12 is....
The Empire That Foggy Nearly Built followed by Last Surviving Maurice Chevalier Impression


What are some of yours?
 
I really like:

Small Tune On A Penny Wassail

followed by

Full Steam Behind

and/or:

The Flag and It's Snags

and

The Flag and Further Snags
 
The great bording house bathroom caper
Followed by
Cheering up Gordon

The Scarboro episodes were two of the very best. :)
 
Agree with that. I think all the "away" episodes were exceptional, Who`s made a bit of a splash in Wales and of course Last post and pigeon.
 
cciaffone said:
I really like:

Small Tune On A Penny Wassail

followed by

Full Steam Behind

and/or:

The Flag and It's Snags

and

The Flag and Further Snags
Click to expand...

When starting this thread I also thought strongly about the Flag and Snag episodes.

onyx said:
Agree with that. I think all the "away" episodes were exceptional, Who`s made a bit of a splash in Wales and of course Last post and pigeon.
Click to expand...


ONYX, I strongly agree with the "Trraveling Episodes" as well.
 
Must agree that the Scarborough episodes are brilliant, plus the "Wales" one (cos i live very close to where it was filmed) and of course "Full steam behind".
But...recently, i've been enjoying the Truly episodes more and more, they seem less "silly", if you will, especially the ones with Billy Hardcastle featuring in them, i do like the dry humour of Truly and Billy.
If i'm honest (and this may well upset some of you), i find that some of the Compo episodes are starting to get a bit wearing, i'm not watching them right to the end, i don't know why but i'm getting a bit bored with some of them.
It's been well documented that Bill considered himself the star of the show and i'm finding that in some episodes it shows, maybe i shouldn't have read the book by Micheal Vines, that could well have "coloured" my feelings towards Bill, it's as though he's trying TOO hard and some of his performances make me cringe slightly.

G ; )
 
No. My main character was always Norman Clegg. I thought he was the heart of the show every time.
 
BluprintZ said:
Must agree that the Scarborough episodes are brilliant, plus the "Wales" one (cos i live very close to where it was filmed) and of course "Full steam behind".
But...recently, i've been enjoying the Truly episodes more and more, they seem less "silly", if you will, especially the ones with Billy Hardcastle featuring in them, i do like the dry humour of Truly and Billy.
If i'm honest (and this may well upset some of you), i find that some of the Compo episodes are starting to get a bit wearing, i'm not watching them right to the end, i don't know why but i'm getting a bit bored with some of them.
It's been well documented that Bill considered himself the star of the show and i'm finding that in some episodes it shows, maybe i shouldn't have read the book by Micheal Vines, that could well have "coloured" my feelings towards Bill, it's as though he's trying TOO hard and some of his performances make me cringe slightly.

G ; )
Click to expand...

Thank you for that, I am glad to be able to agree with you. It was always meant to be a three man show, the titles made this clear, all of the combinations of 'stars' came alphabetically, even when Russ Abbott (shudder) came along.
 
Don't get me wrong, some of the best episodes were with Foggy, more so his first stint, although "Return of the warrior" and some of the other episodes in his second stint are brilliant but i still find that Bill was prone to overdo it sometimes.
The Blamire series are some of my favorites though and i will always treasure those episodes, probably because the programme was still finding it's feet but when Foggy arrived, then it really started to take off.
I still wish i hadn't read the book though.

G ; )
 
BluprintZ said:
Must agree that the Scarborough episodes are brilliant, plus the "Wales" one (cos i live very close to where it was filmed) and of course "Full steam behind".
But...recently, i've been enjoying the Truly episodes more and more, they seem less "silly", if you will, especially the ones with Billy Hardcastle featuring in them, i do like the dry humour of Truly and Billy.
If i'm honest (and this may well upset some of you), i find that some of the Compo episodes are starting to get a bit wearing, i'm not watching them right to the end, i don't know why but i'm getting a bit bored with some of them.
It's been well documented that Bill considered himself the star of the show and i'm finding that in some episodes it shows, maybe i shouldn't have read the book by Micheal Vines, that could well have "coloured" my feelings towards Bill, it's as though he's trying TOO hard and some of his performances make me cringe slightly.

G ; )
Click to expand...

I responding to Blue Printz as well as others recently, I too at times, primarily in the 90's, felt that a lot of the Compo characteristics grew a little old. For example, having so many episodes start with Compo opening his bedroom window in his pajamas and yelling towards Nora. Also, after a while, his raggedly clothes became a little too much. However, I am currently in the middle of season 22 on my PBS Station and I miss the true trio with Compo already.

As I mentioned before, there are certainly two different Summer Wines, before and after Compo's passing. Before Compo, it was a true trio. Afterwards, it became a collect of guys gathering together in silly escapades. A typical Series 22 episode involved Wesley driving Clegg, Billy, and Truly around, and then running into the likes of Tom, Smiler, or Barry, and then the whole group gets into mischief. A few years later, it is the same with Entwistle. Having said this, Series 2000-2007 is still my favorite era. Even though its not a trio, I love the chemistry among all the "barmpots".

Lastly, regarding BluePrintz admiring the dry humor of Billy and Truly, I agree that Truly humor was natural, subtle, and at times dry with his laid back but slightly authoritative character. Billy, however, to me was quite silly. Some of his humor is in his dialogue but a lot is physical; his falling off a tree, falling off a raft, archery mishaps, etc. So I believe Billy is quite silly, but I like that.
 
I too love Summer Wine (I love it ALOT!) but I think in the 90's it started to get a bit weak, I mean some of the "Physical Humor" was just "overdone" and sometimes it felt like it was done just because the could.

I dunno, the physical humor on summer wine by then just seemed a we bit corny and not as smart. Maybe some of those 90's episode haven't aged well, I dunno, it's just they just don't seem as funny as say, Benny Hill's silent quickies.
 
I am currently watching Summer Wine from beginning to end for about the third time. I notice many really strong consecutive episodes are the first and second of the series (Series 8 for example). I am just starting on Series 24, which is one of my favorites. I have seen all these episodes before but this time it really hit me that The Lair Of The Cat Creature, Ancient Eastern Wisdom- An Introduction, and A Pick-up Of The Later Ming Dynasty are all exceptional.
 
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