Filmed on location in and around Holmfirth in the Holme Valley, Last of the Summer Wine is the longest-running comedy programme in Britain and the longest-running sitcom in the world.
Centred around the activities and shenanigans of three elderly men, Last of the Summer Wine is a gentle comedy about the pleasures of growing old. The cast has changed my times over the years with the original trio
consisting of Bill Owen as the scruffy and child-like Compo, Peter Sallis as deep-thinking, meek Clegg and Michael Bates as authoritarian and snobbish Blamire.
Over the years the original cast has grown to feature a wide variety of supporting characters, with each helping to contribute to their own unique subplots and often finding themselves somehow involved in the daredevil stunts and boyish pranks of the trio.
Whilst the trio has changed over the course of the show, Peter Sallis as ‘Clegg’ has remained a constant character as was Bill Owen as Compo for some 26 years until his death.
Often seen as ageing delinquents, the three men have never seemed to have grown up. With their often youthful stunts and japes aimed at wooing their lady friends or getting male chums out of trouble.
Last of the Summer Wine continues to raise a large viewing audience on the BBC, and has been awarded in the past for it’s positive portrayal of older people and it’s family-friendly humour and content.
On the 26 June 2009 the BBC announced that it had recommissioned the show for its 31st series, consisting of 6 episodes to be broadcast in 2010.
