Luther Hobdyke 3rd Man

Barrychuckle

Barrychuckle

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I know the latter episodes are seldom discussed on this forum, and I know many don't watch the post Compo era. Personally I prefer the last 6 or so series, as it was at it's 'gentlest' IMO.

I remember Alan Bell saying he felt that the series was about to go through a renaissance with the introduction of Russ Abbott's character as he felt it would attract a younger audience who remember him from his Madhouse days (it's easy to forget he was a massive TV star in the 80's) I have to say I preferred him to Truly and he did have parallels with Foggy, making up far fetched stories.

What did others think of him, do you think he could have revived LOTSW if the series was able to run longer?
 
To be really honest, even though I love the series, I don't care for it much after Foggy's final episode (A Sidecar Named Desire), and I always end my journeys through my DVD box set at that episode. I don't much care for Truly or Hobbo, and I think the episode plots sometimes seemed to get a bit boring in later episodes. Sometimes there were good episodes but for me, it always felt like a different series entirely after Foggy left.
 
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You can't fathom out why they would blame Russ Abbot for the shows demise , nothing to do with him he is an Actor he doesn't write the script, he was cast in the part by the Show's directors and producers whether you like him in the episodes or not . I imagine they were struggling to come up with names to be one of the three main characters I would similarly struggle to find someone of the right age who was fit enough to fulfil the expected role in the show's plots . Given what was written for him he did play the part well enough but to me it was either written or he decided to portray it in the same sort of style he had done for years, particularly in his Madhouse Series as Basildon Bond which is very similar but with more emphasis of parodying a Spy.
 
imitation700mb said:
To be really honest, even though I love the series, I don't care for it much after Foggy's final episode (A Sidecar Named Desire), and I always end my journeys through my DVD box set at that episode. I don't much care for Truly or Hobbo, and I think the episode plots sometimes seemed to get a bit boring in later episodes. Sometimes there were good episodes but for me, it always felt like a different series entirely after Foggy left.
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I personally enjoy all the episodes from start to finish, but that's because I see the entire series almost as 3 different comedies, If you like gritty word based comedy you're going to like the early, if you like physical slapstick comedy you'll prefer the middle and if you prefer a more sedate comedy then you'll prefer the latter. That's the thing I love about LOTSW I choose my episodes dependent on which type of comedy I fancy.
 
I didn't want anyone to have to take over the series, but as the cast were old and everyone was determined that show had to continue, then SOMEONE had to take over.

As it happened, I felt Russ Abbot was surprisingly good.

The MAIN PROBLEM was he had a terrible introduction to the show. He just sort of appeared, unexplained.

They should have made an epic episode to introduce the character, along the lines of Uncle of the Bride.
 
@wstol

I'm not sure if you recall, but I Was a Hitman For Primrose Dairies was a Christmas special to introduce the character, however it wasn't really a fanfare as you say.

I also thought Russ Abbott did a really good job and was starting to galvanise the cast again and perhaps with the backing of the BBC it could have continued. Mind you, what the hardline diversity crazed BBC Execs of today would have done to the series makes me think it's better left in the past....
 
Yes, I was a Hitman from Primrose Dairies (2008 Christmas Special) introduced us to Hobbo, but the episode was unremarkable, unexciting. There was no 'handover' from the old characters to the new character, as the older actors had their roles drastically reduced.

Russ Abbot is a good comedian and a good actor too. A surprising choice at first, but a good choice when you see the finished product.

I never thought it was particularly wise to carry on when Clegg and Truly had reduced roles, but the episodes were reasonably good as it turned out.
 
Some of the repeats on Gold when they reach the Hobbo years make it even more confusing . As it was a Christmas episode UKTV were reluctant to show it out of season and I have written at least two complaints which thankfully they took notice of and apologised for not showing what was effectively Episode 1 of Series 30 [ at least on two occasions they jumped from the last episode of Series 29 to Series 30 episode 2 ] . I received responses and when they repeated series 30 they did start to show episode 1 .
 
I must admit I too am in the minority here in that I actually LIKE the later episodes and after a period of being a bit "Bleh" about Hobbo, once he got a handle on the character I quite liked him too!

I agree that his episodes are more "gentle" than a lot before him (As were the Seymour episodes in my opinion) but this is not a bad thing.

I can't say I disliked any of the "periods" that the show went through, although the early episodes of Tom, before he finally linked up with Smiler are not amongst my favourites.

Perhaps because I was introduced to the show fairly late in its life (1st episode I saw was Jurassic No Parking) when the later ensemble was already established I don't have the background of having been raised since it started and so am quite happy with those later episodes.
 
I've posted this theory before, but I think Hobbo was a poor character not because of Russ Abbott, but because of what Roy Clarke was trying to do. I believe Clarke wanted to change things up with the "reset" to a different kind of relationship between the members of the trio. And I can see why he'd feel the need. However, that change hurt the show's chances of continuing on, whatever those really were once the management change happened at the BBC that Alan Bell is so mad about in his book. The show was probably doomed at that point anyway.
 
captain clutterbuck said:
Some of the repeats on Gold when they reach the Hobbo years make it even more confusing . As it was a Christmas episode UKTV were reluctant to show it out of season and I have written at least two complaints which thankfully they took notice of and apologised for not showing what was effectively Episode 1 of Series 30 [ at least on two occasions they jumped from the last episode of Series 29 to Series 30 episode 2 ] . I received responses and when they repeated series 30 they did start to show episode 1 .
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Most Christmas episodes of any comedy have a Christmas themed plot, but some so called "Christmas specials" of LOTSW do not (Stop That Castle, Situations Vacant & Loxley Lozenge, to name a few). They were just taken from upcoming or previous series to be broadcast at Christmas time. If Hobbo's first episode wasn't actually Christmas themed, it shouldn't matter what time of year it is shown. I for one would actually expect the proper Christmas themed episodes to be saved until Christmas time (I.E. December). Those that are not can be shown at any time.
 
imitation700mb said:
Most Christmas episodes of any comedy have a Christmas themed plot, but some so called "Christmas specials" of LOTSW do not (Stop That Castle, Situations Vacant & Loxley Lozenge, to name a few). They were just taken from upcoming or previous series to be broadcast at Christmas time. If Hobbo's first episode wasn't actually Christmas themed, it shouldn't matter what time of year it is shown. I for one would actually expect the proper Christmas themed episodes to be saved until Christmas time (I.E. December). Those that are not can be shown at any time.
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I really think Roy Clark just doesn't like doing Christmas Themed episodes, the Keeping Up Appearances Christmas specials were the same. I think the Christmas TV slots are like gold dust, so they were always going to want to air episodes then as that is when the audience is typically at it's greatest
 
Barrychuckle said:
I really think Roy Clark just doesn't like doing Christmas Themed episodes, the Keeping Up Appearances Christmas specials were the same. I think the Christmas TV slots are like gold dust, so they were always going to want to air episodes then as that is when the audience is typically at it's greatest
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I think its cause they dont 'flow' with the main series.. as said they are themed, and so different.
 
Barrychuckle said:
I really think Roy Clark just doesn't like doing Christmas Themed episodes, the Keeping Up Appearances Christmas specials were the same. I think the Christmas TV slots are like gold dust, so they were always going to want to air episodes then as that is when the audience is typically at it's greatest
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Open All Hours was the same. Did Arkwright ever have a Christmas themed episode? Keeping up Appearances did have an episode called "The Father Christmas Suit" when Richard dressed up as Santa and was meant to be going to give out presents at the pensioners Christmas dinner.
 
BruceC said:
I think its cause they dont 'flow' with the main series.. as said they are themed, and so different.
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Really none of the episodes actually flow with the series as they are all "stand alone" episodes. The plots don't usually go beyond one episode each.
 
My point and why I felt I had to raise with UKTV was by commencing the showing of Series 30 we were effectively put in the position of having Hobbo dropped on us with no knowledge of how he appeared with other newcomers there was a bit of an introduction which you get in episode 1 but as it was a special UKTV didn't show in subsequent rerun's . There explanation when series 30 was first shown on Gold was even more astonishing . In their reply to my mail they stated there was a mix up with the distributor and they had not sent episode 1 with the others and therefore it was not included in the airing of series 30 :30::oops:
 
Here is the extract from their mail in response to mine which I have also shown an extract from :-

Thank you for your email.

We have looked into this and found there was a historic discrepancy in the way the distributor had labelled the series, which meant we didn't have this episode available to us. We have rectified this now.

For future airings of Last of the Summer Wine, we will be including this episode in the run but weren't able to include it this time around unfortunately.

You may like to know we will soon be showing the complete series in order from the very beginning, starting on 16th February.


Hello UKTV Team,



I hope you can understand my continued frustration , on Wednesday !0th February you are again starting to show series 30 and yet again you are starting at episode 2 and thus creating the illusion that Hobbo [Russ Abbot] has effectively appeared by magic, when in essence all would have been explained if you show episode 1 where he is introduced .
 
Barrychuckle said:
I know the latter episodes are seldom discussed on this forum, and I know many don't watch the post Compo era. Personally I prefer the last 6 or so series, as it was at it's 'gentlest' IMO.

I remember Alan Bell saying he felt that the series was about to go through a renaissance with the introduction of Russ Abbott's character as he felt it would attract a younger audience who remember him from his Madhouse days (it's easy to forget he was a massive TV star in the 80's) I have to say I preferred him to Truly and he did have parallels with Foggy, making up far fetched stories.

What did others think of him, do you think he could have revived LOTSW if the series was able to run longer?
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I have always been a Russ Abbott fan and was very pleased when he joined the team. Unfortunately , his character was a tad OTT I feel that associating him with the services was a mistake. Making him a retired surgeon could have been the basis for many stories.
 
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