Roy
Clarke's Last Of The Summer Wine: Vintage 1998
(BBC DVDs)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: D Episodes: C+
Hard
to believe Roy
Clarke's Last Of The Summer Wine
has been on the air for 40+ years since this show premiered on the
BBC in 1973. The characters were even considered past their prime
when the show was conceived and two of the main male leads Peter
Sallis (Clegg) who is still current with the last episode and the
late Bill Owen (Compo) stayed intact at least until the 1990s. The
3rd scoundrel in their Three Stooges like trio is Frank Thornton
(Truly) who makes his debut in this set as well, the others before
him have been interchangeable throughout the series do to the natural
causes of the actor playing the 3rd character at the time. Two of
their old
broads
from near the beginning Jane Freeman (Ivy) also appeared til 2010 and
Kathy Staff (Nora Beatty) til 2008.
When
I watch the episodes for this series. I'm astonished that a show
like this could be on the air even as a mid-season replacement (but
I'm thinking from an American stand point). I'm constantly reminded
how different this is from American TV and how this type of show
would of never made it past a couple of episodes on network TV in
America aka The States. At least The
Golden Girls,
with all it's flaws and inconsistencies with continuity, had four
strong actresses that made it believable and sharp wit to go along
with it, that you looked forward to it every week no matter how bad
the writing got, but I digress. These characters who mean well and
still try to live out their youth never seem to evolve past the
childhood schemes to get the attention of the old broad's in the
village. Some of the trio's shenanigans in this box set include a
childhood tradition of rolling down a hill, taking up skydiving, a
three man windsurfing sailboard and bicycle safety underwear, etc.
Must be they deal with age differently than we do?
In
a way it's kinda uplifting that people in their prime can still live
like they are forever young, but also remind me of some of the old
fogie bachelor clicks I witnessed growing up within the confines of
my Midwest city neighborhood who were happy just to get by and never
got rich from their hair brained schemes or the girl for that
matter!
This
2 set DVD also includes the 1997 Christmas special There
Goes The Groom.
Despite the beauty of the Yorkshires scenery, the 1.33 X 1 picture
quality and lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound are average and
could be better for a series that's put out this many DVDs.
-
Howard Saul
