Two Part Episodes

codfanglers

codfanglers

Dedicated Member
This is a bit of a reflection off of Nicko's recent Thread about Summer Wine Plots. I wanted to take it in a different direction but decided to start a new thread.

There was a bit of a challenge to keep a variety of different plots throughout the decades of Summer Wine. Looking back on it, there were only three two part storylines; the Scarborough ones, Flag and Snags, and Blue Yonder. The first two were particulalry great! I wonder why Clarke didn't go in this direction more often.

It is a little late and irrelevant now (but just for the sake of conversation) I could have envisioned one two-parter in each series. It would have been interesting.
 
codfanglers said:
This is a bit of a reflection off of Nicko's recent Thread about Summer Wine Plots. I wanted to take it in a different direction but decided to start a new thread.

There was a bit of a challenge to keep a variety of different plots throughout the decades of Summer Wine. Looking back on it, there were only three two part storylines; the Scarborough ones, Flag and Snags, and Blue Yonder. The first two were particulalry great! I wonder why Clarke didn't go in this direction more often.

It is a little late and irrelevant now (but just for the sake of conversation) I could have envisioned one two-parter in each series. It would have been interesting.
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Agree, any of the episodes could have had a part 2. I would have liked to see more of Gordon and his new bride. It could have easily turned that couple into another couple where the man is dashing to the pub, and I think his wife would have been another woman in the coffee mornings complaining of her sluggish hubby!
 
What a genius idea for a thread! I don`t know where you get your ideas from... :16:

I agree it`s a shame that there were no more two parters after the early series. My feeling, and I could be completely wrong, is that Roy Clarke stopped stretching himself at a certain point (perhaps when Brian Wilde left for the first time or just before). Series 9 was, I think, the beginning of the really extended cast which I guess was a combination of strength in numbers in trying to replace a loved character and also partly inspired by the `success` of the stage play.

Roy Clarke has said that having the extended cast made the writing easier for him which I don`t doubt but maybe it made it too easy. Obviously there are still many fine episodes from this point on but no more two parters or novels and I can understand why some people say that the show lost something after Series 8.
 
A lot of episodes could have been made into two parts.

It can usually take 15 or 20 minutes for the 'action' to start on many episodes. I like both the 'set up' scenes at the beginning where not much happens as well as the main storyline bit that gradually develops - so two parter ones would have been very welcome for me.

Some episodes in the show's heyday just finished too soon - in some classic mid 80s shows I think you can hear the audience almost sigh that the show is over when they clearly want more.
 
Considering the details around the "two parter" episodes, I'm not sure we can read all that much into the fact that we didn't see more later. The Scarborough pair are unique in a number of ways - filmed at an unusual location, only linked by location and the presence of Gordon, arguably a set-up for the later wedding episode in the same series, and directed by someone other than the director for the rest of the series. My guess is that they figured if they were going to film on location somewhere else, they might as well get two episodes out of the cost of doing it rather then one.

The other two are both in the same series. My guess would be that perhaps the audience feedback wasn't that great and so we didn't see the idea repeated. After all, the downside with multi-part episodes is that not all of the audience is able to see both episodes, especially in the old days when you couldn't just watch it online at your convenience.

I've always wished they'd done more "travel" episodes where we see the characters going somewhere else. That's one of the best things about the Scarborough episodes, All Mod Conned, etc.
 
I like the idea of two parters but two thoughts:

a) already mentioned that in the 1970s through to the 1980s video recording was not that common and thus would not work if an episode was missed: although by the mid 1980s onwards this was less of a problem as VHS and Betamax recorders were being sold widely;

b) some episodes did exhaust their potential in 30 minutes - as an example I think of one of my all time favourites - Full Steam behind. All the gags that could be got from that situation had been done, very well in the span of the single episode.
 
I would say that the two parters were cleverly constructed so it didn't really matter if you missed the first part.
 
barmpot said:
I like the idea of two parters but two thoughts:

a) already mentioned that in the 1970s through to the 1980s video recording was not that common and thus would not work if an episode was missed: although by the mid 1980s onwards this was less of a problem as VHS and Betamax recorders were being sold widely;

b) some episodes did exhaust their potential in 30 minutes - as an example I think of one of my all time favourites - Full Steam behind. All the gags that could be got from that situation had been done, very well in the span of the single episode.
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Yes Barmpot, you and Sarkus are totally correct about less convenience of 2 parters before recording, and reruns on cable tv were common.

Certainly some episodes are best in a sigle 30 minute time slot. However, looking back, I still imagine one two parter every series would have been splendid! Of course it is all "pie in the sky" now.
 
Of course, it could be argued that Series 31 was a 6 parter, in that they (loosely) were in a serial forum.
 
wstol said:
Of course, it could be argued that Series 31 was a 6 parter, in that they (loosely) were in a serial forum.
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Roy Clarke said that he strongly suspected that 31 would be the final series, and since the BBC hadn't commissioned a special to finish it off, he did the best he could to take it out with some ceremony by writing a 6-part serial.

Marianna
 
index4u said:
Roy Clarke said that he strongly suspected that 31 would be the final series, and since the BBC hadn't commissioned a special to finish it off, he did the best he could to take it out with some ceremony by writing a 6-part serial.

Marianna
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I hadn't heard that before. Was that from an interview or is it in his book?
 
me2 said:
I hadn't heard that before. Was that from an interview or is it in his book?
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Andrew Vine`s book makes it clear that Roy Clarke was seemingly aware that Series 31 was the end and he tried to write it accordingly.

I think Roy Clarke has also been quoted as saying that he intentionally wrote a quiet ending with the final episode.
 
Makes you wonder if he did originally write Ivy into the final episode.

Thank goodness Clegg at least got the final line.
 
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