Summary

Last Of The Summer Wine began as a one-off episode of the BBC's 'Comedy Playhouse' programme in January, 1973. Reaction from viewers was positive enough to warrant a six-part series later that same year.

The programme deals with the second childhood of a group of aging delinquents.

Compo Simmonite (Bill Owen) and Norman Clegg (Peter Sallis) were principal characters from the beginning until the death of Bill Owen.

The third member of the trio has been, at various times, Cyril Blamire (Michael Bates), Foggy Dewhirst (Brian Wilde), Seymour Utterthwaite (Michael Aldridge) and Truly Truelove (Frank Thornton).

Set in and around Holmfirth, Yorkshire, the programme boasts an unusually large number of regular supporting characters.

Series 30 is currently being transmitted in the UK, making this the longest running British TV comedy programme by a very long way.

When recordings were "repackaged" for overseas sale, UK series 9 (12 episodes) was split into "Season 9" and "Season 10" (each of 6 episodes), with all subsequent "seasons" being renumbered accordingly. As a result (for example) "Series 29" in the UK may be referred to as "Season 30" in the USA.

Series: 30
Episodes: 289
Transmitted: 1973-2009
Channel: BBC1

BBC Television