Vicar of Dibley

[onyx(John)]

Having watched the final episodes of The Vicar of Dibley and seeing the great efforts the BBC went to finish the series off with a bang I again feel so annoyed that they could not have done something similar for LOTSW. For a series that was so popular and enduring they allowed it to tail off into oblivion in such a tame fashion. In making a special effort with Dibley they paid homage to all the cast and crew and underlined the great success they achieved. What a pity they did not do the same for Summer Wine.

 

[amos hames]

The show was treated so badly by the BBC. Over thirty years for a sit com which will never be beaten and just to axe it like they did. They should be so ashamed was and then to read that all the sets were burnt was so sad.

 

[chris]

This attitude was to be expected with the people in charge at the BBC at the time ,everything had to have an "edge" and be acceptable to the young!Sadly LOTSW did not fit the bill it had great actors,great story lines ,but it was for older people who don't count when programes are thought of.

 

[wstol]

Don't feel too bad about the sets being burnt.

The BBC destroy all their sets at the end of each series, and re-build them every year for the new series.

BBC policy - cheaper to re-build than store, and create some employment too. This of course explains all the niggling differences on the set layout and design over the years.

 

[Sarkus]

It would have been nice for the BBC to do more, but they did do two specials that were related to it being the final series. To be honest I'm more unhappy that Clarke and Bell seem to have made a conscious decision to film the final season as if the show was continuing despite the evidence that the BBC was likely to axe it. According to Bell's book, while he wasn't told that the show was done after Series 30, he was told that the BBC did not intend to film a new series on the normal schedule. It was when this news got out that there was a public reaction that lead to Series 31 being commissioned on the normal annual schedule. At that point Bell and Clarke should have realized it was likely going to be it. I find it particularly odd since Bell says (without explanation) that he was so concerned that "Extra! Extra!" might be the end of the show in 1996 that he decided to put himself in for a cameo.

 

[Philosopher Clegg]

This is a subject I have mixed feelings about. What would have been an appropriate send off? With a series like Dibley it ended with most of its original characters. In fact this would be the case with most comedy series. As LOTSW had been around for so long with many having passed away, we are left with a final episode/series of characters that don't have the same presence as what went before. A final episode of Clegg and Truly reminiscing might have worked, but there again it would mostly have been made up of old clips. Any "final" episode that didn't include reference to Compo, Foggy, Blamire, Seymour and Nora wouldn't have any meaning for me as the trio of Hobbo, Alvin and Entwistle didn't have the same appeal.

The last series did give one potential final answer and that was the long running saga of Howard and Marina. Having kicked Howard out, he seemed to accept that his future was with Pearl and Marina seemed to be looking elsewhere in the final episode. There was in effect closure on that story. Overall the ending was weak, but I think in part that was due to the fact that the series was weak and not what it used to be.

I also think that while the BBC do take a lot of flack from some for ending the series, they should be given some credit for sticking with it for as long as they did. Had it been a US series, from the point of view of how ruthless they are with the axe at the first sign of trouble, it probably would have been ended years ago. I also don't believe that any of the UK commercial channels, ITV, C4, C5 or Sky, etc, with one eye on viewing figures and advertising revenue, would have kept it going for as long as the BBC did. I don't believe that sentiment plays any part in the decisions that TV companies make when they decide to end something or keep it going. To them it will be about cost, viewing figures, quality or decline, etc.

I enjoyed the earlier years up to Bill Owen's death the most, but still found some enjoyment post Compo, but did feel that by the end it was not what had gone before. I know quite a few LOTSW fans of the earlier years who didn't feel the same way about the last few series. Most comedies often reach a natural end, story lines get repeated, similar characters turn up, quality isn't what it was, etc. Now that we have videos available via websites like YouTube, I will often watch old comedy series from first to last over a few weeks, and in most you can see that decline the longer they go on. Some go out at the top, but most don't. If we are honest I don't think LOTSW ended at the top, after all, how could you better the years of Compo, Seymour, Foggy, Blamire, etc?

 

[Sarkus]

You make a good point about the decline. When I was first introduced to the show it was right as Compo died and it switched over. So I have some golden feelings towards the Clegg/Truly/Billy series. But watching the earlier episodes in recent years, I see that they were superior. And at this point when I'm watching through the series (again and again) I don't always go beyond, or even up to, Compo's passing. The three pieced together regular episodes that start Series 21 don't seem right and the special and death trilogy are too painful to watch. And I recently watched some episodes from the last trio and its really not very good at all. I don't know why Bell (in his recent book) was so convinced that bringing Hobbo in would secure the series for another several years - he's too much of a Foggy-esque character, and not in the subtle but good ways that Alvin managed to incorporate some of what Compo work.

And really, as you say, other then a long clip show or something like that (i.e. something the equivalent to the anniversary specials), it would not have been able to do much justice to the characters that were gone having a final adventure for the then-current cast.

 

[Philosopher Clegg]

I don't know why Bell (in his recent book) was so convinced that bringing Hobbo in would secure the series for another several years - he's too much of a Foggy-esque character, and not in the subtle but good ways that Alvin managed to incorporate some of what Compo work.

I haven't read Bell's book yet, but his assertion that he thought Hobbo's character might secure the series for several more years suggests misguided hope than the reality that the character lacked originality and was flawed in his fantasist beliefs in a way that was never the case with others that made up the trio. This I find slightly annoying as I do think his back story could have been better written, I would suggest a retired civil servant who worked for a Government Department which is never named rather than a milkman. Truly could have investigated him and found out he was a pen pusher, to which Hobbo could have said that was his cover, etc. The spy fantasy might have built some credibility over time had there been something believable about it, although deep down as with Foggy we would know that he wasn't what he claimed. At least he wouldn't come across as being slightly mad.

Hobbo was very much a Foggy type character, even to the extent that in the final episode one of Foggy's sight gags is used when Hobbo is messing around with a camera tripod and he lifts it behind him right into the path of Toby who gets hit in the unmentionables. Foggy had done that with his walking stick 2 or 3 times early on. I think Foggy could get away with it, but repeating it with Hobbo suggested a lack of new ideas and was almost unforgivable!

I couldn't see Hobbo saving the series and with Frank Thornton passing on recently it would have been more difficult to introduce someone of substance as an alternative to him.

 

[chris]

In November the speaker at our U3A meeting is Paul Mayhew Archer one of the co writers of Dibley he is talking about 32 years in the comedy business should be an interesting talk.

 

[Adanor]

The show was treated so badly by the BBC. Over thirty years for a sit com which will never be beaten and just to axe it like they did. They should be so ashamed was and then to read that all the sets were burnt was so sad.

The original Star Trek was another show that was treated very badly. The show only had three seasons (series) and it would have been cancelled after the second season but for a letter writing campaign by the fans. And then when they did make the third season, the budget was slashed and so the storylines suffered. Suffice it to say that Star Trek was bent but unbroken. Likewise, despite a less than stellar treatment by BCC, LOTSW continues to go on.

 

[Philosopher Clegg]

The show was treated so badly by the BBC. Over thirty years for a sit com which will never be beaten and just to axe it like they did. They should be so ashamed was and then to read that all the sets were burnt was so sad.

The original Star Trek was another show that was treated very badly. The show only had three seasons (series) and it would have been cancelled after the second season but for a letter writing campaign by the fans. And then when they did make the third season, the budget was slashed and so the storylines suffered. Suffice it to say that Star Trek was bent but unbroken. Likewise, despite a less than stellar treatment by BCC, LOTSW continues to go on.

Just to be clear though, Star Trek was a US series shown on NBC. US tv companies have a reputation for using the axe very quickly if something isn't a blockbuster straight away. LOTSW survived for 37 years. Given over time its viewing figures went down I suspect a US company would have axed it years ago, no way would it have got to 37.

 

[Sue]

I am watching 'Tenko' at the moment. This is a series about women prisoners in Japan. I read it up (as you do) and found that the powers that be wanted to axe this show after the second series because it was to focussed on women!!! There was a third series and then a reunion show as well.

We Brits like 'closure'.

 

[chris]

That's typical Sue why cant they axe rubbish like X Factor etc ,I liked Tenco it was a gripping story based on fact.I read about the Japanese at that time and the way they treated civilians they captured and the programme showed this well.

 

[Philosopher Clegg]

That's typical Sue why cant they axe rubbish like X Factor etc ,I liked Tenco it was a gripping story based on fact.I read about the Japanese at that time and the way they treated civilians they captured and the programme showed this well.

Isn't X-factor an ITV program? Apparently it gets around 9-10 million viewers, which annoyingly is about 6-7 million more than LOTSW was getting in its final series. Not my cup of tea, but someone seems to like it.

 

[Sue]

I don't watch any of the reality programs. I do watch a couple of the soaps though. I think this classifies me as being thought of as 'Brain Dead', but at 73, who really cares.

 

[Philosopher Clegg]

I don't watch any of the reality programs. I do watch a couple of the soaps though. I think this classifies me as being thought of as 'Brain Dead', but at 73, who really cares.

Indeed, why care? Just enjoy what you like, it's mostly subjective anyway.