The current state of play....?

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Chuffer Enwright

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Evening all, this is my first ever post so be gentle with me!
I've had a shufty around the place over the last hour or so and just wanted to clarify the current position with the programme. Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere on the site.
Am I right in thinking that after all the hooooo haaaaa surrounding whether the BBC would be axing Summer Wine last year that series 31 has been filmed and due to air this year at some point (recorded last September?) but whether that will be the last ever series is still a matter of conjecture and rumour at the current time and any decision on series 32 will be taken after the new series has aired?
Just correct me or put me in the picture if you could please.
Thanks in advance.
 
Chuffer Enwright said:
Evening all, this is my first ever post so be gentle with me!
I've had a shufty around the place over the last hour or so and just wanted to clarify the current position with the programme. Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere on the site.
Am I right in thinking that after all the hooooo haaaaa surrounding whether the BBC would be axing Summer Wine last year that series 31 has been filmed and due to air this year at some point (recorded last September?) but whether that will be the last ever series is still a matter of conjecture and rumour at the current time and any decision on series 32 will be taken after the new series has aired?
Just correct me or put me in the picture if you could please.
Thanks in advance.
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Hi Chuffer
Welcome aboard and the outline of your post is correct,so nothing is written in stone that the series has finished,but as the BBC normally decided this time of year if a show has funding then it is now doubtful any filming will take place this year,so no show next year
I do believe someone at the BBC has a pet hate regarding the show and this has been evident for a few years now,with little or no promotion for the show,dropping it from it's normal spot at the drop of a hat because something else has overrun even pushing it onto another channel with seconds notice,I know us avid fans will track it down but someone new to the series would give up,repeats seem no existent on the BBC yet we get endless repeats of other shows,so I see it as death to the show by stealth, Terry
 
Many thanks for the welcome and the info Terry, much appreciated.
I've kinda been out of the loop regarding the show for a while, but what tidbits of info I had picked up seemed to suggest that there was some clandestine crusade to actually make the programme not fit for purpose by criminal non-promotion and changing. It would appear that lobbying and pressure maybe the only way to ensure it continues.

Having said that, what would be even sadder is if the show became banal in the extreme and killed itself. Roy Clarke has produced some masterpieces of scriptwriting over the years and with a new main character and a new dynamic to the plot, there is no reason why he shouldn't again, my only fear is that with the BBC seemingly setting it up to fail, it may just fail on its own. BUT, series 13 for the most art was dull and lifeless, save for a couple of episodes and it then got a new lease of life and a new direction, so there is nothing stopping it rising from the ashes once more.

The problem is in this day and age, everything is noisy, pointless and car crash in the TV world and well thought out, intelligent comedies have no place in it....especially ones that revolve around quaint old folk from a world that is long since dead. That may be the appeal for us, sadly it isn't the appeal for anymore than about 2% of the population anymore.
 
Chuffer Enwright said:
Many thanks for the welcome and the info Terry, much appreciated.
I've kinda been out of the loop regarding the show for a while, but what tidbits of info I had picked up seemed to suggest that there was some clandestine crusade to actually make the programme not fit for purpose by criminal non-promotion and changing. It would appear that lobbying and pressure maybe the only way to ensure it continues.

Having said that, what would be even sadder is if the show became banal in the extreme and killed itself. Roy Clarke has produced some masterpieces of scriptwriting over the years and with a new main character and a new dynamic to the plot, there is no reason why he shouldn't again, my only fear is that with the BBC seemingly setting it up to fail, it may just fail on its own. BUT, series 13 for the most art was dull and lifeless, save for a couple of episodes and it then got a new lease of life and a new direction, so there is nothing stopping it rising from the ashes once more.

The problem is in this day and age, everything is noisy, pointless and car crash in the TV world and well thought out, intelligent comedies have no place in it....especially ones that revolve around quaint old folk from a world that is long since dead. That may be the appeal for us, sadly it isn't the appeal for anymore than about 2% of the population anymore.
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First of all may I say Hi Chuffer and welcome.
It's sad but true what you say, the majority don't want it, or in some cases even understand the gentle humour.
I would rather Roy Clarke (to use his own quote) will "Bury it with fondness" and leave us with the wonderful memories rather than the BBC murder what was once one of their few comedy gems.

On an off-topic addition to this subject, I also have noticed that Universal have once again slowed down the DVD releases with no forthcoming date on the horizon for the next one. :(
 
Thanks for the welcome Stewpot, I'm really glad to have found this site for a good gab with likeminded people. I agree mate, I would rather it be buried with fondness on our terms rather than the BBC's terms and it go out on a high rather than being the long riunning show that was axed because it had lost all relevance.
Relevance isn't the point for us, for us it is about characters that we have grown up with and grown to love as their own....these days if it isn't crude, noisy, stupid and crass, then it just isn't appealing to common herd.
 
The thing for me is that despite what some people think, I find the show as refreshing as it ever was. Many people, including me, expected it to end when Bill Owen passed away. But Roy Clarke showed what a wonderful writer he is and weaved a whole new SW world without its bright star.

I spent time around thewre as a child and luckily do not live too far from the area now and get up there as often as I can. It's a wonderful place and every time you turn a corner you expect to bump into one of the characters as Roy made them so believable, a world long since passed on for the many, but remembered so warmly by a few of us.
 
That is exactly the appeal for me....they are last vestiges of a world that has died and I'm not sure I like the world that has taken its place. I'm over in Liverpool and have only ever been over to Holmfirth twice, but as you say, you expect to meet characters from the show everywhere you go.
For purely selfish reasons I desperately want them to do another series as me and my Pete who lives on The Wirral have promised ourselves that we will make it over for the filming next time. Whenever it is, we will take time off work and make it over. I would have loved to see it being filmed a few years ago while Clegg and Truly were still properly active. I'd love to be a part of it next time.
 
A friend of my mum's used to work security on the set and we did get to see a couple been filmed, but only from a distance. The closest I actually got was about 50 yards. Although we did meet Stephen Lewis who is a lovely man, and Sarah Thomas who was very sweet.

It's a shame Ron Backhouse no longer runs the White Horse, we ventured in one day and it was empty, he put on a DVD for me given to him by the BBC which was prior to it been aired, we chatted at great length about some of the funny scenes they had filmed in there. His wife Ruth said the scene with Kenneth Cope in 'The Love Mobile' when he was having a fit of ab-dabs in the pub was hilarious and Keith Cliffords first appearance when he was meant to fuse all the Xmas lights with his bow and arrow.
 
Great stories and great memories mate, they are priceless.
On the subject of The White Horse, when I was last over which was December 2008, the Landlord in there now is a real sourfaced misery. It was fairly obvious that we had come a long way to see the place and had purposely gone to his pub out of all of them, but he was most unwelcoming.
Did the place used to come to a bit of a standstill on filming days in the past?
 
Yes we heard that. I am not too sure if it was somebody whom my mum's friends husband new - if that sounds right - can you remember his name?

The road directly opposite the White Horse was the way to our friends farm about a couple of miles up and at the crossroads.

The pub would only close while they where filming as far as I know. The actors stay, or used to stgay, some milkes away from there and all the filming was done through the day, unless in exceptional circumstances.

The guy who played the landlord in the Seymour years - James Duggan was also nice, I love it when he threw the 3 lads out after getting the wrong idea about Seymour gazing into compo's eyeballs in 'The Experiment'.
 
No mate, after the less than decent welcome we got, we really didn't hang around to catch his name. We had a drink, went for a saunter up the bank past the pub to get a view of the cottages and came back to the car and went back into town. We had our lunch at the Elephant and Castle which was nice as I'd remembered it from some of the early episodes. The people in there were smashing and they had a picture of Istabraq on the wall and it looked like a proper pub for people into Horse Racing so we were well at home!

I always did wonder where the cast stayed, whether it was in the town, just outside or whether they commuted in.
Didn't Kathy Staff used to go home of a night and comeback each day for filming, or have I got that wrong?

You know mate, it really does my soul good to find a site like this, to not only speak with people who have been watching it longer than me, know more about it than me, but who actually live nearby and have first hand stories.

I know more about LOTSW than anybody else I know, but it's grand to speak to people who are even more knowledgeable and obsessed than me! In fact most of my mates and people who know me can't believe that it would be my favourite ever programme and that I'd watch it all day everyday if I could.
 
We believe it was either Keith or John, they where twins and both as miserable as each other.
The E & C is nice, there is one up the back streets as well, but I cannot remember the name, we will have to meet up there one day.

I think you are right about Kathy Staff, and Mike Grady, I believe still lives around Oldham so he may have commuted too.

It's nice to chat to you too, it's amazing that so many more people love the show than they we think. I usually do watch it every day. There is a site up on YouTube that shows some episodes that as yet have not been released on DVD.
 
All I remember about the Landlord is that he had sort of sandy coloured, curly hair, I'd estimate that he was late 40's and had a surly demeanour about him. My friend Pete who never normally remarks on people was moved to comment on how unwelcoming he was. We just had a pint, played with the Dog and went. Even taking into account that he must have plenty of sightseers through the door asking the same old, daft, questions, there was still no need for that.

You are right, you just don't realise just how many people are devoted to the show and everything connected with it there are out there. Summer Wine fans on the whole seem decent, friendly, polite people who have a love of old world values and it's nice to be able to talk to like minded people about a shared interest. To come on here and read that people even use Google earth and study it to find the locations where just one scene was filmed Donkeys years ago is mind blowing! That is proper commitment!

I spoke to Pete just yesterday about making another pilgrimage over this year, even more so if there was a new series to be filmed, so we will be heading over at some point...as and when we do, I will let you know and we can meet up, its nice when people who interact in cyberspace actually become real.

My Sky+ is now 100% full of Summer Wine episodes and from time to time I have to delete some to make room for others I haven't seen or have not seen in many moons so I check on youtube to see which are there and delete accordingly. There is one contributor on youtube called KyleRob who seems to have many, many episodes up so I tend to go through his/her catalogue to watch ones that I've deleted or that I've not got on DVD or video.
 
The landlord is a man named Mark Graydon from Nottingham, he says it's his first venture into the licence trade, having been brought up in that field, all can say is it will be his last if he continues with that attitude towards visitors.

It would be nice to meet up at some point this year, although I continue to hold my breath on any filming. I did mention it somewhere on here about a friend who works on the security, he worked last year but as yet has not been asked back and by now he would have been under normal circumstances.
 
Yeah, too right Stew, he wasn't outwardly hostile, but not far off. As I said, Pete is a man who sees good in everyone and every situation and he was moved to mention it while we were still in there. If he carries on like that he will only be opening one night per week.

It doesn't look good on filming does it? All the signs are that there is a distinct lack of movement on all fronts, the BBC are being reticent on putting people in the picture and the towns folk haven't been alerted. It would appear that the powers behind the broadcasting throne are waiting and hoping for poor ratings for the next series and to make it the last....and I don't think that is erring into the realms of conspiracy theory either.
 
Yeah sure, I'm positive that we will be over at some point this year to see the place whether it all carries on or not. I will let you know as and when.
 
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