THE LAST SERIES

[sir coffalot]

Have to report that my wife and I only watch the show on GOLD. She suddenly remarked how different the shows are for the last couple of series," they are not so good or funny " she said. I have to agree with her particularly with Pearl throwing Howard out. What do you think?? ???

 

[George]

I was very disappointed in the last couple of series.Too many plot lines and not enough Sallis and Thornton.

 

[happyjack]

The obvious reason we did not see much of Peter and Frank was their age as you will notice when we did have a scene they were nearly always sitting down. I did not think much of the plots when Russ Abbot first started but as with so many other changes he did grow into the series and I am sure would have got better had our beloved lotsw been allowed to continue.

 

[toodlepip]

I fully agree with George! Yes, their age, but I have seen both of them in real life (Peter in particular as most of you know) and they are far from just sitting down. Peter could go down on his knees if you asked him to kneel down, he doesn´t even need help getting up from a chair or climbing into a car or so (of course you do help, but he could also do it without that). It´s sad the last few series give the impression they can hardly walk. Apart from that, I generally can´t agree when people say the show kept getting better and better during its later years, in my opinion it´s the opposite and I found the first few the best ones, until Brian Wilde left for the first time. The lines and characters changed slowly over the years and became more predictable, if you ask me. Especially Clegg, or at least he is the one I noticed it the most in. His sharp witty comments of the very early years got lost pretty quickly and he became more and more cowardly and soft which I never noticed in the first few series, but is very obvious for the last 10 or 15 years.

 

[Hector]

I much prefer the older series up until the second departure of Foggy.I would also agree that towards the end there were too many characters and plot lines and it just didnt have the magic of the earlier stuff.
As to Russ Abbot,i wasnt a fan at all but after his character sort of settled in and he got a real feel for the part,i found him to be quite funny.Its a pity he didnt get longer and be able to show what he could really do but thats just my opinion.

Hector

 

[DAJ36]

It was always going to be a tall order for Roy Clarke to scale the heights of the earlier series, particularly after the death of Bill Owen and the departure of Bryan Wilde for the second time.

I did get the feeling, like most of you have said that the series was flooded with too many bit part characters to make up for the loss of strong characters like Foggy and Compo.

I didn't like the thought of Hobbo as a character at first but I think that the unfortunate thing that the new trio with Alvin, Entwistle wasn't given the chance to develop properly. I agree that it was disappointing that Clegg and Truly didn't take part in the episodes towards the end but their age was a definite factor in this.

 

[maltrab]

I tend to agree that there was to many cast coming and going in the end and Nelly's part never did much for me, I have said before that Hobbo's part could of been much better for Russ, he is a funny man and I felt his past role was to much like Foggy's yet they had the chance to inject and new role for Hobbo and missed it, maybe a train driver or Vet,just my opinion

 

[barmpot]

I..... I think that the unfortunate thing that the new trio with Alvin, Entwistle wasn't given the chance to develop properly. I agree that it was disappointing that Clegg and Truly didn't take part in the episodes towards the end but their age was a definite factor in this.

I have to agree that they had the making of a good trio of characters

I.....chance to inject and new role for Hobbo and missed it, maybe a train driver or Vet,just my opinion

that would have been a good idea - the secret service bit was not entirely dissimilar to Foggy's war time exploits at the sharp end of an italic nib!