Customer Reviews

Last of the Summer Wine - Series 23 & 24 [DVD]

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the first DVDs purchased from Amazon without Compo but the presence of Truly of the Yard and the descendant of Robin Hood together with Cleggy continue to make the whole DVD amusing without alternative comedy's swearing etc. The programme is sadly missed on tv and I for one look forward to being able to purchase copies of later editions.

Although Last Of The Summer Wine was never the same following Bill Owen's death, the series was still very funny with Keith Clifford in the cast. There's a particularly funny scene at the end of "The Mystical Squeak Of Howard's Bicycle" where either Cleg or Truly pop a bag and Billy falls into a stream! I also loved the policemen, who became more prominent from this point on. I was sad that Kathy Staff left but I understood her reasons and she did come back until she died. Heaven must be an entertaining place with former LOTSW cast members, including: Michael BAtes, John Comer, Joe Gladwin, Michael Aldridge, Bill Owen, Brian Wilde, Gordon Wharmby, Kathy Staff and Trevor Bannister.

Another release of the much loved and worlds longest running sitcom, however due to universal calling the series 9 dvd series 9 & 10 what we should be getting is series 22 & 23 which are from 2001 and 2002 plus the 2001 christmas special, so what can we expect from this release, well were now into the post Compo episodes and we welcome Keith Clifford as Billy Hardcastle into the trio (who made a guest appearance in series 20 (DVD 21) and the millenium special) and in the first series we see a more prominent role for Tom Owen as Tom Simmonite (Compo's son who came in series 21 (DVD 22) after the episodes about Compo's death) and we get some very good episodes from series 22 (DVD 23) such as "Getting Barry's Goat", "Hey, Big Vendor", "Enter the Hawk", "Gnome and Away", "A White Sweater and a Solicitor's Letter" and "The Coming of the Beast", we should also get the 2001 christmas special "Pott's in Pole Position" guest starring Warren Micthell and June Whitfield (in a different role to her role in later series of Last of the Summer Wine), in series 23 (DVD 24) there are some fantastic episodes such as "A Brief Excursion in the Fast Lane", "The Mystical Squeak of Howard's Bicycle", "Beware of the Hot Dog", "A Chaise Longue Too Far", "Exercising Father's Bicycle" and "Sadly, Madly, Bradley", another fantastic set of episodes from playback who will have only 8 series (4 DVD boxsets) left to release after this release so i ask them to release them ASAP

List of expected episodes on this set

Series 22 (DVD 23)

1 April 2001 "Getting Barry's Goat"
8 April 2001 "The Art of the Shorts Story"
15 April 2001 "The Missing Bus of Mrs. Avery"
22 April 2001 "Hey, Big Vendor"
29 April 2001 "Enter the Hawk"
6 May 2001 "Gnome and Away"
13 May 2001 "A Hair of the Blonde That Bit You"
20 May 2001 "A White Sweater and a Solicitor's Letter"
27 May 2001 "Why is Barry at an Angle?"
3 June 2001 "The Coming of the Beast"

Series 23 (DVD 24)

30 December 2001 "Potts in Pole Position" (Special)
6 January 2002 "A Brief Excursion in the Fast Lane"
13 January 2002 "The Mystical Squeak of Howard's Bicycle"
20 January 2002 "Mervyn Would be Proud"
27 January 2002 "The Incredible Ordeal of Norman Clegg"
3 February 2002 "Beware of the Hot Dog"
10 February 2002 "In Search of Childlike Joy and the Farthest Reaches of the Lotus Position"
17 February 2002 "A Chaise Longue Too Far"
24 February 2002 "Exercising Father's Bicycle"
3 March 2002 "Sadly, Madly, Bradley"
10 March 2002 "It All Began With an Old Volvo Headlamp"

I am a young fan of 'Last of the Summer Wine' and i can honestly say i adore this comedy series, from the pilot episode, 'Of Funerals and Fish' and the 1st.ever series of episodes in 1973, including 'Short Back and Palais Glide', 'Spring Fever' and 'Hail Smiling Morn or Thereabouts', till the last ever episodes in 2010, including 'Behind Every Bush There is Not Necessarily a Howard' and 'How Not to Cry at Weddings'. In those early days Kathy Staff was known as Mrs.Batty, Michael Bates was head of the trio, playing know-all Cyril Blamire and the series had a completely different feel to it, for example the trio smoked, also Compo and even Ivy would swear. I always liked Michael Aldridge, who joined the cast in 1986 as Seymour, the retired headmaster and his sister, house proud Edie Pegdan, with her spotless kitchen floors and coffee mornings, whilst her husband Wesley enjoyed tinkering with old cars in his shed. People say the show was never the same, or had declined in 2000 when Bill Owen (Compo) passed away, but i am re-watching episodes on Free sat and i don't agree, the series is still funny, very funny!! wonderful characters include Billy Hardcastle (Keith Clifford), always ready to remind people he is a direct descendant of Robin Hood!, Brian Murphy as Alvin, who at one point, teaches Nora how to line dance, (word soon gets round and he ends up, not just teaching Nora, but the rest of the ladies coffee morning!), Ken Kitson and Louis Emerick as the work shy policemen, Burt Kwouk as Entwistle, the Chinese electrician (from Hull), who will gladly sell you a reconditioned washing machine and Auntie Wainwright (Jean Alexander), the tight fisted, miserly owner of the second hand shop, still looking out for potential customers, who always, (unwillingly) end up parting with their money, I know a lot of people liked Brian Wilde as Foggy, but my favourite of all to make up the trio was Herbert Truelove 'Truly of the yard' (Frank Thornton), i think he was much less of a know-all than Blamire and Foggy and he looked after Clegg and the others with great kindness and friendship, also i loved his references to the 'former Mrs.Truelove'. In the very last season, out for a walk with Clegg he said the countryside reminded him of Mrs.Truelove, ''a vast expanse, with few signs of humanity''. Sad the series ended after Season 31, i say sad because it was still a very funny series. Glad we can all buy 'Last of the Summer Wine' on DVD. Speaking as a young fan, it was a terrible mistake axing this lovely comedy series, i still miss it very much on BBC One HD. Peter Sallis (Clegg) holds the record for being the only member of the cast to appear in every single episode of 'Summer Wine' ever made.

I'll still give the DVDs a 5 star but as other viewers have noted the color saturation is horrible. Thora Hird is always wonderful but her age and health show.

I don't mind about the color as my TV has 5 settings, one for movies that corrects the color settings perfectly for these DVDs. If you have a TV that has a 'film' or 'movie' setting try using that to view the DVDs or the color will be very heavily saturated.

As always the old guys come up with some funny situations and resolutions. It's not quite the same without Compo, but it remains one of the best sit coms, set in lovely locations with terrifying women and daft plots. But hey...........
Why don't BBC bring it back !

Now have all from 1 to 24. Only another 11 series to collect !!

i have purchased all of the DVD's from this wonderful series of Last Of The Summer Wine, and was looking forward to the latest offering ie series 23 and 24, however, I was terribly disappointed as I find the quality of these latest DVD's leave a lot to be desired.
The colour is all wrong, to the point I feel like returning the product as `unfit for purpose` surly in this day and age of high technology it is not beyond the whit of man to digitally remaster from the original tapes an acceptable picture quality. I am not sure who is responsible for this debacle, but if the BBC gave them the OK then all I can say is, badly done BBC, badly done.
Any prospective purchasers should be aware of this problem before buying. !

We miss Compo, but the others do a great job. Looking forward to the rest of the episodes, but they seem to be taking a long time. We have had to watch Series 1 to 24 for a second time, and about to start a third!

Excellent series - timeless great viewing , will purcahse more of series., over coming months - don't push your luck - said all needs saying

I love this series and hope to collect every episode. It's great to see the actors who have passed and now Frank Thornton has gone which is a great pity, but we can still see him via this DVD.