In his personal or professional life, I ask, unsure. "That was a particularly rude thing to say," he replies, gleefully taking offence. "Anyway, I am now exhausted."
His senior colleague, Bill Owen, says that the programme has changed, although the characters have not. At one time, it revolved entirely around this unlikely trio, but now it has broadened to include other regular characters. The basic comic idea of three elderly chaps behaving like children remains the same, and he believes it has lasted so long because it creates it's own self-contained world, where reality never intrudes. The scripts now, he says, read like fairy tales.
The minute that Bill Owen takes off the clothes worn by Compo, the character vanishes. "He has got older, but he's still the same - he still walks with one foot in the gutter. The problem for me is to keep him physically active."
Peter Sallis recovers from the bout of exhaustion in time to say that he finds aspects of Clegg's character not unlike his own. "Physical cowardice is the one that springs to mind. But I don't ever wake up in the morning feeling the least bit like Clegg."
Talk to them about comedy and two pull out names from the past, like Jimmy James and Jack Benny. "What's the secret of good comedy?" asks Owen. before he can finish, Sallis cuts in: "Timing".
His senior colleague, Bill Owen, says that the programme has changed, although the characters have not. At one time, it revolved entirely around this unlikely trio, but now it has broadened to include other regular characters. The basic comic idea of three elderly chaps behaving like children remains the same, and he believes it has lasted so long because it creates it's own self-contained world, where reality never intrudes. The scripts now, he says, read like fairy tales.
The minute that Bill Owen takes off the clothes worn by Compo, the character vanishes. "He has got older, but he's still the same - he still walks with one foot in the gutter. The problem for me is to keep him physically active."
Peter Sallis recovers from the bout of exhaustion in time to say that he finds aspects of Clegg's character not unlike his own. "Physical cowardice is the one that springs to mind. But I don't ever wake up in the morning feeling the least bit like Clegg."
Talk to them about comedy and two pull out names from the past, like Jimmy James and Jack Benny. "What's the secret of good comedy?" asks Owen. before he can finish, Sallis cuts in: "Timing".