Hmmmmmmm.....interesting. Sometimes I think some of the later episodes reflect on the older ones. You mentioned Crowcroft Challenge. Interestingly enough, it kind of makes me think of the Wild Blue Yonder episodes, where Compo has a birdlike outfit.
When I think of newer episodes, I always resort back to Follow that Bottle. He would obviously be the one picked to go retrieve the bottle from the stream, eventually falling in.
In the later episodes, the Bill Collector (was he Mr. Teesdale at the time?) was always after Tom. If Compo remained, it could have been a new storyline Clarke and Bell could have worked with where Compo would find new creative ways to avoid the bill collector.
