It's been well documented that Bill Owen had political differences with both Micheal Bates and Brian Wilde, they did apparently argue quite often on set, which was mentioned by Brian in an interview he did many years ago.
I think that because we are fond of a programme such as Summer wine, we expect the cast to be close to each other, especially if they have worked together for many years, as they did in the show.
But in reality, some of the cast would actually never meet (work) with each other from one year to the next.
I've been an extra in many films over the last 30 years or so and what you see in the finished film/programme, is not actually how is was filmed, clever editing can make things seem much different than what they were when filmed.
The series "Oranges are not the only fruit", was filmed in Rossendale, Lancashire many years ago, which is where i was born and lived until 1988, when i moved to North Wales.
I know the area very well and in one scene, it showed a couple of actors walking down a lane, when they came out onto the road, it was in a totaly different part of the town (Waterfoot), to where they filmed the lane scene.
I'm sure this was also the case with some scenes in Summer wine and as a result, some cast members would never meet, especially as in the case of Summer wine, where some scenes were filmed in Yorkshire and others in the studio's in London.
How many times have we seen takes done in Ivy's cafe, with what is obviously prop scenery, that can be seen through the windows?
That would have been filmed in London but when the actors come out of the cafe, the filming has been done in Holmfirth, it's down to the editing.
So, for those reasons, some actors would be in London filming, whilst others would be in Yorkshire doing other scenes, which would then be stiched together in the editing suite.
I do quite a bit of this kind of editing for S4C Wales programmes, mainly documentaries but occasionally other items and you would be surprised (or not) at some of the tricks used in continuity shots.
Sometimes it's better not to know some things, it can make you look at them a wee bit differently but i think that we can all agree, Summer wine has given us many years of pleasure and i'm sure that we will all look back fondly at our favorite episodes for many more years.
G ; )