A prequel to Roy Clarke's original Last of the Summer Wine and featuring Peter Sallis, First of the Summer Wine takes place in a small Yorkshire village. The action revolves around the antics of the young Compo, Clegg and Seymour and their usually level-headed female counterparts, all of whom are grappling with the world around them, their youth, and their experiences with the opposite sex – usually with hilarious consequences. Set in 1939 as Hitler's Nazi Germany and Great Britain become increasingly poised for war the charactes' lives are about to be changed forever.
It's such a shame that this series has been buried away for so long (pretty much twenty years, in fact, before Series 1 was released) as it was just perfect in all respects - the typical BBC period detail, the interaction between the cast, and most importantly, the brilliant scripts, all by LOTSW creator Roy Clarke.
All of the actors were well chosen and fit well with the older versions of the characters that we are more familiar with - the superb casting is one of the series' main strengths - but Richard Lumsden in particular deserves special mention as a young Foggy Dewhurst. He has captured perfectly the performance of Brian Wilde, whilst at the same time being believable in his own right and not being some kind of second rate imitation.
Occasionally you will see one or two of the cast pop up in things, but none of them really have gone on to be big stars. It's hard to see why these people are not all household names. About the most familiar face from the cast on tv these days is Paul Oldham, here playing Clegg's best mate Sherbet, who seems to have a career playing violent low-lifes, totally at odds with his shy character here.
It was a nice touch too to have Peter Sallis playing Mr Clegg, a character obsessed with the painting of gates, worrying about Poland, and barely communicating with anyone, least of all his own family.
For me, the stand-out episode is "The Body Snatchers" where the gang convince Foggy that they have borrowed a corpse from the Co-Op. Foggy, having previously told them that he has never seen one and thinks it would be advantageous in the war that is to come. Of course, it is not a body at all, but one of the lads wrapped in a sheet, and of course, complications and misunderstandings ensue.
The very end of the series takes place on the day WWII is declared. Hearing the sirens going off in the idyllic village (the scene of such innocent hilarity in the earlier episodes) is quite eerie and poignant. Slightly reminiscent (though less celebrated) than the climactic Blackadder Goes Forth episode, in fact.
With the cancelling of the Last of the Summer Wine itself, maybe they could reunite this cast for a post-war series? Anyone?
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play All six episodes from the second series of the prequel to Roy Clarke&39;s popular comedy &39;Last of the Summer Wine&39; Set in a small Yorkshire village immediately prior to the outbreak of WWII the series follows the exploits of young Compo (Paul Wyett) Clegg (David Fenwick) and Seymour (Paul McLain) as they explore their youth the opposite sex and the world at large The episodes are &39;Not Thee Missus&39; &39;Compo Drops In&39; &39;The Gypsy Fiddler&39; &39;Ain&39;t Love Dangerous&39; &39;The Body Snatchers&39; and &39;Quiet Wedding&39;
All six episodes from the second series of the prequel to Roy Clarke's popular comedy 'Last of the Summer Wine'. Set in a small Yorkshire village immediately prior to the outbreak of WWII, the series follows the exploits of young Compo (Paul Wyett), Clegg (David Fenwick) and Seymour (Paul McLain) as they explore their youth, the opposite sex and the world at large. The episodes are: 'Not Thee Missus...', 'Compo Drops In', 'The Gypsy Fiddler', 'Ain't Love Dangerous', 'The Body Snatchers' and 'Quiet Wedding'.
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