Series 19: Foggy vs. Truly

[Sarkus]

Brian Wilde was expected back for Series 19 but due to health reasons was unable to work at the beginning of the shooting schedule. That later was extended and he missed the entire series. Frank Thornton came in as Truly for what was originally only supposed to be about half the episodes, but the changes to Wilde's availability meant Thornton filmed episodes originally written for Foggy but that were likely changed with little notice.

The one episode I've always felt this really stands out in is "Support Your Local Skydiver." Mainly because Truly uses phrases that are normally associated with Foggy, meaning they did a quick rewrite of a script and left that in. The dialogue in the café when Compo comes in dressed in his skydiving suit comes to mine. I was watching the episode last night with this in mind and see only a few things that really had to be changed in the dialogue to switch to Truly rather then Foggy.

However, another episode where I suspect there was a late change is "From Audrey Nash to the Widow Dillhooley," which aired just before "Support . . ." I used to think it couldn't have been written for Foggy, but really there is nothing that precludes it and it even has what appears to be a character discrepancy for Truly. Foggy supposedly played golf as a young man so that he might also have played tennis is not a stretch. The widow ultimately has no recollection of him, which would also be consistent with a Foggy "romance." More important is the character discrepancy. In an earlier episode dialogue implies that Truly's mother moved him away at a relatively young age, meaning Compo and Clegg only remember him as a grade school classmate, not in later adolescence. But that is the implied timeframe of the Audrey Nash/Truly romance.

Just some observations. Like the last minute switch from Blamire to Foggy, I find it interesting to look for evidence in episodes that were rewritten to reflect last minute cast changes.

 

[Pearl]

An interesting thread Sarkus, I agree with you about Support Your Local Skydiver, I can hear Foggy loud and clear in that episode but The Widow Dillhooley I have problems with. I really can't see Foggy going gaga over any woman to be honest, he was too afraid of them and I don't really see him trying to romance her like that. It wasn't the warrior way. I really don't see him doing it in front of him men!

You did bring up a good point I feel. I know of a lot of people that had problems with the third man changing so much, saying that the new character was trying too hard to be like the old one but when you take into account that some of the episodes where written for the old character its not really surprising is it? Getting Sam Home was written with Blamire in mind as was Mending Stewarts Leg and now as you say Skydiver and Dillhooley where written for Foggy. Do you think Roy Clarke should have scrapped those scripts and written new ones for the new character? Do you think people would have taken to them quicker?

 

[captain clutterbuck]

Series 19: Foggy vs. Truly

I just think logistically it would be so difficult to do that . I don't know the length of end to end process of writing the script to recording the last episode in that series but I imagine it is very involved and time consuming . The series were being screened year on year [series 2 screening ended December 1975, series 3 started October 1976], when Michael Bates presumably informed the BBC that he could not continue because of ill health I would have thought the BBC bosses must have taken time to consider whether or not they perhaps cancel the series [thankfully they did not] because of the loss of one of the main characters and without a commission would Roy Clarke continue to write series 3 ?

Roy was also presumably working at the the formative stages of Open All Hours[first series aired in 1976] and as both series ran side by side then that would surely restrict his ability to re-write scripts to deal with changes in the cast . I also assume that the scripts are subject to review by BBC Production staff and have therefore to infer they were happy to continue with the content despite the character change. Thankfully in LOTSW the replacement is always a totally new character who puts their own stamp on the show, history is littered with examples where an actor decides to leave and they simply cast someone else in their part , which generates all sorts of arguments amongst the fans of the show . Michael Bates was Blamire he earned the right to play the character from his skill as an actor and he will always be associated with and fondly remembered as the character Blamire .

 

[chris]

I always preferred Foggy to any other third man although Seymour was okay but never took to Truly even though I liked him in Are You being Served .

 

[Sarkus]

An interesting thread Sarkus, I agree with you about Support Your Local Skydiver, I can hear Foggy loud and clear in that episode but The Widow Dillhooley I have problems with. I really can't see Foggy going gaga over any woman to be honest, he was too afraid of them and I don't really see him trying to romance her like that. It wasn't the warrior way. I really don't see him doing it in front of him men!

I see your point, though I would note that Foggy sometimes had no issue dressing up to look like an idiot in other circumstances. I'd also suggest that Dillhooley isn't entirely the original Foggy version as written by Clarke, and probably has elements adjusted on the fly to fit Truly. For example, there are a few scenes where Truly kind of stares off with a dreamy look on his face, which is definitely not Foggy-esque.

What is frustrating is that the order episodes were filmed (or partially filmed to be more accurate) does not necessarily match the order they aired. We know that from various sources. Which makes it hard to really pin down which episodes were filmed in this case early with Truly the third man and which were filmed later after they realized Foggy wasn't coming back for the normal filming schedule that year. Bell doesn't address that in his book for the most part, and he's probably potentially the best source for that kind of detail, though Clarke may know some of it as well. And Bell's version of the events leading to Wilde's departure varies from Andrew Vine's. You'd think Bell would be the more accurate version, but for various reasons I question his timeline.

 

[chris]

Foggy did have an aversion to women but the postwoman finally got him but looking at the women in the series I cant say as I blame him would you want to live with Ivy bellowing at you or Pearl being horrible (that blonde hair is nothing to worry about) .Also Foggy spent years in the army and was in a world away from reality bed and board no need to worry but when he came home I bet Compo made him wake up the trousers to start with and then the scrapes what a fantastic way to spend the day !