Series Four

[Pearl]

Series four was another great series, Flower Power Cut as to be my favorite closely followed by A Merry Heatwave.

A Small Tune On A Penny Wessail is classed as that seasons xmas special and a great episode it was too.

I think Foggy really settled in here because all the episodes were written for him.

 

[happyjack]

My favourite episodes are "Who made a bit of a splash in Wales then" and "The Bandit from Stoke-on-Trent" But as you say Pearl these were made for Brian Wilde so they gelled much better.

 

[dick]

The number one for me is ...... Greenfingers .Number two ..........Getting on Sidney's Wire. Number three...........Flower Power Cut. Not a bad one in the whole series though.;D;D

 

[onyx(John)]

Agree with previous thoughts about Foggy, he has properly 'arrived' in series four. Small Tune from this year is one of my favourite Christmas episodes. There are no weak episodes this series either. A bit of a Splash would be my favourite episode. Compo is at his cheeky best, sitting in the back of the car proclaiming "That bird of yours Foggy, she's 'orrible!". I love the scene at the end filmed from outside the chippy and we hear the trio carrying on a conversation inside, Compo inquires "How do they get fish just the right size for this batter?"

 

[maltrab]

Yes a great series in total,I lean towards Splash in Wales as my favourite

 

[wstol]

Series 4 is where LOTSW found it's feet.

As you say, from here the episodes were written with Brian Wilde in mind.

The humour was gentler from this point.

Nora and Wally had more to do.

Compo's hat became a lighter colour, and looks like the Compo everyone remembers.

I think the first three series were excellent though, and it's interesting to see how the show developed.

The format of the series from Series 4 onwards hardly changed for many years.

 

[wstol]

Not sure if Small Tune on a Penny Wassail can technically be classed as a Christmas Special forming part of Series 4 or Series 5.

Series 4 was 1977 with A Merry Heatwave being a 35 minute Christmassy episode shown before the final episode of that series.

No new series in 1978, just the Christmas Special Small Tune on a Penny Wassail. It wasn't made in conjunction with a complete series.

Series 5 in 1979, with Christmas Special And a Dewhurst Up a Fir Tree.

Do we class A Merry Heatwave as a Christmas Special?

 

[Pearl]

Not sure if Small Tune on a Penny Wassail can technically be classed as a Christmas Special forming part of Series 4 or Series 5.

Series 4 was 1977 with A Merry Heatwave being a 35 minute Christmassy episode shown before the final episode of that series.

No new series in 1978, just the Christmas Special Small Tune on a Penny Wassail. It wasn't made in conjunction with a complete series.

Series 5 in 1979, with Christmas Special And a Dewhurst Up a Fir Tree.

Do we class A Merry Heatwave as a Christmas Special?

I don't think so. I think it was just an xmas themed episode. ( But I could be lying )

 

[Sarkus]

If you look at the air dates, "Merry Heatwave" lines up as more or less being the episode that would have aired that week that just happened to be around Christmas that year. I don't know if the episode was chosen for that year because they knew it was going to be aired in that time frame or if there just happened to be a Christmas themed episode made that series and the BBC decided it made sense to air it that week as a result. I tend to think the latter was the case.

I recently watched Series 4 and realized that "Getting on Sidney's Wire" is really a classic. Every segment has a classic moment in it, even as the episode moves from the main plot regarding the door buzzer to side stories and otherwise unrelated moments. Think about the opening, where Foggy falls into the creek off camera and we get that great moment where Compo and Clegg muse about how great it would be if that was Foggy falling into the creek even though they don't think they've been that lucky. Or later when we get a really serious emotional moment where compo stops and talks to Clegg about how he remembered courting on that street and how long its been. The episode is just full of great moments.