(This article will contain information from Alan J. W. Bell's wonderful book "From The Director's Chair". If you've not read that book and would prefer not to see any information from it yet, you may stop reading now.)
December 30, 1984. It's 7pm and viewers are tuning in to BBC1 to watch a new episode of Last of the Summer Wine. It's been nearly a year since 1983's feature length TV Movie (known as Getting Sam Home) so seeing this new special on Televisions (be it Seasonal or one for Christmas) across the UK is a very welcome sight. It involves Wesley Pegden asking Compo, Foggy, and Clegg to help him get his Loxley Lozenge home which is not, as initially thought, some sort of sweet but an old racing car (or what is left of it). Of course, the Three Men help out and, of course, hilarity ensues!
30 years later and viewers of Summer Wine (old and new) still consider this one of the most memorable episodes and rightfully so. It's memorable for bringing Wesley's character back, and for good, due to his popularity. It's memorable for introducing us to a new character, "Crusher" Milburn, who's helping his Auntie Ivy in the Cafe after her husband's passing. It's especially memorable for the final scenes featuring the Lozenge and a sofa.
Filmed in 1984 during production of Series 8, Roy Clarke's original script had the very last of these scenes written differently than what we're used to seeing on screen. While the Three Men are cruising down the country lane in the Lozenge all peaceful-like (with the help of Wesley's Land Rover), the sofa was to actually slide around on the car's chassis, making it hard for Clegg to reach the steering wheel. When the sofa slides off the chassis and take a little trip down the hill before it slows to a stop behind renowned Yorkshire artist Ashley Jackson, the sofa was to actually fall over the back of the Loxley, tipping the Three Men out. Alan Bell suggested these changes because he felt it would have been too complicated and time-consuming to set up, adding that the country lanes might have been too narrow to safely shoot those scenes. Roy Clarke thought the suggested new scenes were funny (as we all did) and approved them.
Ashley Jackson actually approached Alan Bell for small part in this episode, as he was part of the Holmfirth scene. Unfortunately, due to him not being a member of the actor's union, he was not able to. Fortunately, due to an exception of the rules (members of the public skillfully doing their jobs ), he was able to make a small appearance!
The scene in which the Lozenge accidentally becomes unhitched from the Land Rover was indeed an accident during filming. Luckily, the crew were able to stop the chassis before any damage was done but the resulting scene looked so good, Alan Bell kept it in the final cut. Luckier still, our Three Men thought this was meant to be done!
Finally, if you own a copy of this episode that features Crusher, you might want to hold on to it. For reasons not truly known (perhaps due to contractual issues), his first appearance has been edited out of most airings of this episode (including on a DVD release). The thought of any episode being edited is not a good one, really.
I first saw this Special back in 2007/2008 when I was given the opportunity to see this and other early episodes; Some of you had the chance to see it back in 1984 and it's a good feeling to know there will be plenty of people who will see this episode in the future.
Let's all eat a Lozenge to celebrate...yes, I mean the sweet this time.
December 30, 1984. It's 7pm and viewers are tuning in to BBC1 to watch a new episode of Last of the Summer Wine. It's been nearly a year since 1983's feature length TV Movie (known as Getting Sam Home) so seeing this new special on Televisions (be it Seasonal or one for Christmas) across the UK is a very welcome sight. It involves Wesley Pegden asking Compo, Foggy, and Clegg to help him get his Loxley Lozenge home which is not, as initially thought, some sort of sweet but an old racing car (or what is left of it). Of course, the Three Men help out and, of course, hilarity ensues!
30 years later and viewers of Summer Wine (old and new) still consider this one of the most memorable episodes and rightfully so. It's memorable for bringing Wesley's character back, and for good, due to his popularity. It's memorable for introducing us to a new character, "Crusher" Milburn, who's helping his Auntie Ivy in the Cafe after her husband's passing. It's especially memorable for the final scenes featuring the Lozenge and a sofa.
Filmed in 1984 during production of Series 8, Roy Clarke's original script had the very last of these scenes written differently than what we're used to seeing on screen. While the Three Men are cruising down the country lane in the Lozenge all peaceful-like (with the help of Wesley's Land Rover), the sofa was to actually slide around on the car's chassis, making it hard for Clegg to reach the steering wheel. When the sofa slides off the chassis and take a little trip down the hill before it slows to a stop behind renowned Yorkshire artist Ashley Jackson, the sofa was to actually fall over the back of the Loxley, tipping the Three Men out. Alan Bell suggested these changes because he felt it would have been too complicated and time-consuming to set up, adding that the country lanes might have been too narrow to safely shoot those scenes. Roy Clarke thought the suggested new scenes were funny (as we all did) and approved them.
Ashley Jackson actually approached Alan Bell for small part in this episode, as he was part of the Holmfirth scene. Unfortunately, due to him not being a member of the actor's union, he was not able to. Fortunately, due to an exception of the rules (members of the public skillfully doing their jobs ), he was able to make a small appearance!
The scene in which the Lozenge accidentally becomes unhitched from the Land Rover was indeed an accident during filming. Luckily, the crew were able to stop the chassis before any damage was done but the resulting scene looked so good, Alan Bell kept it in the final cut. Luckier still, our Three Men thought this was meant to be done!
Finally, if you own a copy of this episode that features Crusher, you might want to hold on to it. For reasons not truly known (perhaps due to contractual issues), his first appearance has been edited out of most airings of this episode (including on a DVD release). The thought of any episode being edited is not a good one, really.
I first saw this Special back in 2007/2008 when I was given the opportunity to see this and other early episodes; Some of you had the chance to see it back in 1984 and it's a good feeling to know there will be plenty of people who will see this episode in the future.
Let's all eat a Lozenge to celebrate...yes, I mean the sweet this time.
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