Douglas Enwright
Dedicated Member
Well,it’s exactly 40 years ago tonight since that Christmas Eve night at the Butchers with Foggy,Compo,Clegg,Sid,Wally and Gordon Lippenscale (old Splutter) and myself.
Human League were the Christmas number one with Don’t you want me,a pint of beer was 51p and a packet of 20 cigarettes 78p,times were simpler and happier,kids played out all day,social media and selfies and likes didn’t exist,and there were only three channels on the tv,and no daytime tv,and the BBC still played the National anthem when it closed down at the end of the night,and Christmas tv was special then,even with just the three channels,we would look forward to buying the double edition of the Radio times and TV times and circling all the programmes we were looking forward to.
One of those programmes would have been Whoops,the Last of the summer wine Christmas special in 1981.
It’s the 40th anniversary of Whoops this Christmas,it’s my favourite Christmas episode and one of my favourites of any series,it has Foggy,Compo and Clegg at their peak,it has Wally and Sid in it too,but I love it for it’s sentiment of reminiscing about old friends and times gone by,and looking those friends up to be in the end reunited with them all.
I love it for it’s nostalgia of Christmas past,the old radios and tv’s in the shop window,the (now) old fashioned Christmas decorations in Sid’s cafe.
I love the way Foggy and Compo interacted in those days,exchanging insults that we often saw in the earlier series
Foggy : Why don’t you wear that outfit you’ve rarely worn- your work clothes
Compo : Ha bloody ha,eeurgh look at his face,he’s got a face like Uncle Dudley’s donkey
And I love the monologue by Cleggy about the excitement of his honeymoon,and how he thought he only had to take her a cup of tea in a morning,and how even now he can’t look at an illustrated medical book without thinking of Al Jolson.
I love the way they remember old friends,and decide to look them up,and when they do,have to get past a certain Mrs Enwright
Compo : Is Chuffer in ?
Mrs E : Who’s Chuffer when he’s at home ?
Foggy : He means Douglas,Mrs Enwright
Mrs E : Well why didn’t he say so,is there something wrong with him,Douglas,there’s a tramp at the door,get rid of him,and there’s two other weird looking beggars,don’t give them anything
I love how in the shed,the least socially equipped to do so,Compo,tries to keep the conversation flowing,and I wonder how many watching at home looked for the nobbly thing at the side of their knee,I know I did,and there is one !
Chuffer : The question is,does everyone have that nobbly thing ?
I love the silliness of the stunts,like jumping off a moving bus shouting Geronimo (Whoops is much more appropriate) and falling down the steps outside Nora’s,and how they go to their Christmas Eve drinks at the Butchers in the quiet part of the pub thinking no one wants to join them,with a somber start to the evening as Compo reflects on the demise of his passion
Cleggy : Why don’t we move in there where there’s more life
Compo : I don’t think I’m ready for life
Foggy : My God this is going to be a sparkling Christmas eve with him in this mood
Compo : One day you find that it’s all gone,all the raging lust for the pleasures of the flesh
Cleggy : I was glad when mine stopped raging and I could settle down to being 29
Compo : I never thought it’d happen to me
But I love how they are joined by Sid,and Wally,and their old friends Chuffer and Splutter,and that the women come looking for them
Duck impressions ! I don’t like the sound of that !
And in the end everyone goes home drunk and happy.
Exactly 40 years later I followed in their footsteps this Christmas,and recreated exactly their day,in the order they spent it,from looking into the electrical shop window to having a pint at night in the Butchers Arms,to see what’s changed,and what our trio would recognise today,exactly 40 years after their own Christmas there.
Starting with the scenes from the opening credits,
Merry Christmas everyone,
Chuffer x
Human League were the Christmas number one with Don’t you want me,a pint of beer was 51p and a packet of 20 cigarettes 78p,times were simpler and happier,kids played out all day,social media and selfies and likes didn’t exist,and there were only three channels on the tv,and no daytime tv,and the BBC still played the National anthem when it closed down at the end of the night,and Christmas tv was special then,even with just the three channels,we would look forward to buying the double edition of the Radio times and TV times and circling all the programmes we were looking forward to.
One of those programmes would have been Whoops,the Last of the summer wine Christmas special in 1981.
It’s the 40th anniversary of Whoops this Christmas,it’s my favourite Christmas episode and one of my favourites of any series,it has Foggy,Compo and Clegg at their peak,it has Wally and Sid in it too,but I love it for it’s sentiment of reminiscing about old friends and times gone by,and looking those friends up to be in the end reunited with them all.
I love it for it’s nostalgia of Christmas past,the old radios and tv’s in the shop window,the (now) old fashioned Christmas decorations in Sid’s cafe.
I love the way Foggy and Compo interacted in those days,exchanging insults that we often saw in the earlier series
Foggy : Why don’t you wear that outfit you’ve rarely worn- your work clothes
Compo : Ha bloody ha,eeurgh look at his face,he’s got a face like Uncle Dudley’s donkey
And I love the monologue by Cleggy about the excitement of his honeymoon,and how he thought he only had to take her a cup of tea in a morning,and how even now he can’t look at an illustrated medical book without thinking of Al Jolson.
I love the way they remember old friends,and decide to look them up,and when they do,have to get past a certain Mrs Enwright
Compo : Is Chuffer in ?
Mrs E : Who’s Chuffer when he’s at home ?
Foggy : He means Douglas,Mrs Enwright
Mrs E : Well why didn’t he say so,is there something wrong with him,Douglas,there’s a tramp at the door,get rid of him,and there’s two other weird looking beggars,don’t give them anything
I love how in the shed,the least socially equipped to do so,Compo,tries to keep the conversation flowing,and I wonder how many watching at home looked for the nobbly thing at the side of their knee,I know I did,and there is one !
Chuffer : The question is,does everyone have that nobbly thing ?
I love the silliness of the stunts,like jumping off a moving bus shouting Geronimo (Whoops is much more appropriate) and falling down the steps outside Nora’s,and how they go to their Christmas Eve drinks at the Butchers in the quiet part of the pub thinking no one wants to join them,with a somber start to the evening as Compo reflects on the demise of his passion
Cleggy : Why don’t we move in there where there’s more life
Compo : I don’t think I’m ready for life
Foggy : My God this is going to be a sparkling Christmas eve with him in this mood
Compo : One day you find that it’s all gone,all the raging lust for the pleasures of the flesh
Cleggy : I was glad when mine stopped raging and I could settle down to being 29
Compo : I never thought it’d happen to me
But I love how they are joined by Sid,and Wally,and their old friends Chuffer and Splutter,and that the women come looking for them
Duck impressions ! I don’t like the sound of that !
And in the end everyone goes home drunk and happy.
Exactly 40 years later I followed in their footsteps this Christmas,and recreated exactly their day,in the order they spent it,from looking into the electrical shop window to having a pint at night in the Butchers Arms,to see what’s changed,and what our trio would recognise today,exactly 40 years after their own Christmas there.
Starting with the scenes from the opening credits,
Merry Christmas everyone,
Chuffer x