Oh, What Will I Do Without Tho

Byline: by Roy Hattersley

WE KNOW all good things must come to an end. But some of us had hoped fate would make an exception for Last of The Summer wine.

Its record life span -- 31 series spread over 37 years -- was, in itself, enough to make swiss army brand watch it seem as indestructible as the limestone landscape in which it was filmed.

And the idea it might go on for ever was encouraged by its consistent quality. Devotees of the series were also persuaded to believe in the immortality of its characters.

Last of The Summer wine, after all, was the story of a band of elderly Peter Pans who resolutely refused to grow up. now, however, it really is over. Compo, Clegg and nora Batty have passed into history.

Last night, after the last ever episode, we were left to contemplate, perhaps for the first time, what that evocative title really meant.

The programme was meant to entertain and we should not be too serious or solemn about its meanings and messages. But at its heart was a joyous idea: that age should never prevent life from being fun. we grow old. But we do not have to become bored or boring.

The poet Andrew Marvell made the same point 400 years ago: 'Thus, though we cannot make our sun stand still, yet we will make him run.' And so they did -- all the characters which Roy Clarke, the writer from start to finish, created to enthral the Sunday audiences which, at the peak of the series' popularity, numamorous. bered more than 20 million.

Only norman Clegg, played by Peter Sallis, was a genuine adult -- in his heart and mind, as well as on the evidence of his birth certificate. As the calm and careful Clegg -- rarely seen without his cardigan and cap -- he was always the fulcrum of the story. The elderly schoolboys he called his friends and confederates revolved around him.

Clegg's world-weary tolerance of their irresponsibility emphasised the mindless pleasure they found in simple things and the importance of making the most of every minute.

When the series began, Clegg's greatest friend was Compo. It was an attraction of opposites. Clegg was neat, well-organised and polite. Compo -- played by Bill owen until he died -- was dirty, dishevelled and disrespectful.

His defining characteris-t i c (apart from his need for a good bath and wearing clothes that should have been in an incinerator) was his infatuation with nora Batty.

She was the formidable and house-proud widow who became as famous for her wrinkled stockings as for the ferocity with which she repulsed the indomitable Compo's amorous advances.

One of the most memorable moments in the whole of television history is nora standing on the steps outside her house and preparing to defend her honour with the aid of jewelry and handbag store a broom, which she brandishes like a lance.

Now those steps are a place of pilgrimage for Last of The Summer wine fans when they visit Holmfirth, the west Yorkshire town where the series was filmed.

This scene radiates innocence. Compo, the elderly swain, is suffering from -- and profoundly enjoying -- an outbreak of puppy love.

The height of his ambition is to sit with nora in the back row of the cinema. But Compo was not only reckless in love. He lived in constant danger of death Replica Watches
Replica Watches