when did the last of the summer wine finish
Last of the Summer Wine Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC. It premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973, and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and directed all episodes of the show. The BBC confirmed on 2 June 2010 that Last of the Summer Wine would no longer be produced and the 31st series would be its last.[1] Subsequently, the final episode was broadcast on 29 August 2010.[2] Tom Owen criticised the BBC for not permitting a special final episode.[3] Roy Clarke, however, stated that he was fully aware this was the last series, and preferred the show to have a quiet ending.[4] The final line was said by Peter Sallis, the longest-serving actor.[5] Since its original release, all 295 episodes, comprising thirty-one series — including the pilot and all Specials — have been released on DVD.[6] Repeats of the show are broadcast in the UK on Gold, Yesterday, and Drama. It is also seen in more than twenty-five countries,[7] including various PBS stations in the United States and on VisionTV in Canada. Last of the Summer Wine is the longest-running comedy programme in Britain and the longest-running sitcom in the world.[8][9]
List of Last of the Summer Wine characters (1985, 1986â€“2010) Howard is the shy, beady-eyed, constantly conniving, simpering, henpecked husband of Pearl. Doubtless owing to his wife's domineering nature, Howard often tries to escape from her. Most episodes involve Howard dating peroxide blonde, Marina, behind his wife's back. In most episodes, Marina would simper, "Oh Howard.", followed by Howard's "Oh Marina."- sometimes the order was reversed, He is a creative but unconvincing liar. He and Pearl live next door to Clegg, and, much to the annoyance of the latter, Howard is always pestering him for aid in his various schemes to escape Pearl and be with Marina. Over the years he has come up with countless disguises, cover stories and hideaways to allow him to see Marina, all of which have ultimately been doomed or exposed by Pearl. In their earlier appearances, they were frequently shown in disguise with Howard saying, "I think we've really cracked it this time". However, he tends to ignore Marina when he's out with her, partly out of fear of his wife Pearl, and partly because he gets so deeply caught up in fabricating charades to cover up his affair. As a result, their relationship does not appear to have gone beyond hand-holding and gazing into each other's eyes (much to the annoyance of Marina), and the occasional kiss in a field, haystack, or mobile hut somewhere, and it is hinted that if Howard ever did get the chance, he would be too cowardly to go through with it anyway. It has also been suggested that Howard loves Pearl underneath it all. In later series Howard was shown to be out of the house more regularly (despite Pearl knowing about his attempted affair with Marina) and eventually became more involved in the schemes of the main trio. Howard first appeared in the Bournemouth summer season show of the series, and was popular enough and felt to have enough potential that he was soon made a regular character. At first, he, Pearl and Marina were used semi-regularly, but as time passed and their popularity grew, they appeared in every episode (particularly after Wally Batty died). Howard and Pearl's surname was given as Sibshaw in Roy Clarke's novel 'The Moonbather' in 1987, but only mentioned once in the entire TV series, in one of the last episodes, when Glenda refers to Howard as Mr. Sibshaw.