''First of the Summer Wine'' is a

British sitcom A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television. Most British sitcoms are recorded on studio sets, while some have an element of location filming. A handful are made almost exclusively on location ...

written by

Roy Clarke Royston Clarke Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 28 January 1930), usually known as Roy Clarke, is an English comedy writer best known for creating the sitcoms ''Last of the Summer Wine'', ''Keeping Up Appearances'', ''Open All Hours'' a ...

that aired on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

. The pilot originally aired on 3 January 1988, and the first series of episodes followed on 4 September 1988. The show ran for two series of six episodes each, with the final episode airing on 8 October 1989. The pilot episode was produced and directed by

Gareth Gwenlan Gareth Gwenlan (26 April 1937 – 8 May 2016) was a Welsh television producer, director and executive, best known for his work on shows such as ''The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'', ''Butterflies'', ''To the Manor Born'', ''Only Fools and Ho ...

. Both series of episodes were produced and directed by Mike Stephens. The

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

has never shown repeats of the show, although repeats do occasionally appear in the UK on

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

station

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

. The show was broadcast in Australia on the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

network in the early 1990s. ''First of the Summer Wine'' is a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

to Clarke's long running show, ''

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 from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of ''Comedy Playhouse'' on 4 January 1973, and the first series of episodes foll ...

'', portraying the youth of the principal characters from the mother show in the months leading up to World War II. With the possibility of war hanging over them, the young men and women enjoy their youth while trying to find a place for themselves in the world. The show used young, mostly unknown actors to play the characters, with only two actors from the original series making an appearance in the prequel.Bright and Ross (2000), p. 28

Production

With the success of ''

'', the

approved a new series which

would carry over characters of the original show. With the new series, Clarke hoped to show the lives of his characters as they were in the "first summer" of their lives, as opposed to the last summer depicted in ''Last of the Summer Wine''. While there would still be the "shadow of the Grim Reaper" hanging over them, this time it would be because of World War II, not due to their old age. For the new series, Clarke used mostly young, inexperienced actors to fill the roles of the characters carried over from the original series. The actors were required to mimic the vocal characteristics and mannerisms already established in ''Last of the Summer Wine'' to create a continuity between the two series. The show features much 1920s and 1930s music, which adds to the nostalgic feel of the show. The

theme tune Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

is "Sweet and Lovely", sung by

Al Bowlly Albert Allick Bowlly (7 January 1898 – 17 April 1941) was a Mozambican-born South African–British vocalist and jazz guitarist, who was popular during the 1930s in Britain. He recorded more than 1,000 songs. His most popular songs include ...

, accompanied by Roy Fox and his Band. The recording was made in London on 18 September 1931.

Characters

''First of the Summer Wine'' followed a group of young men and women, some of whom were adapted from ''Last of the Summer Wine'', with others being specifically created for the new show. The men consisted of Paul Wyett as the scruffy and immature Compo Simmonite; David Fenwick as meek and deep-thinking Norman Clegg; Paul McLain as snobbish ladder-climber Seymour Utterthwaite;

Richard Lumsden Richard James Lumsden (born 24 June 1965) is an English actor, writer, composer and musician. He has made regular appearances on TV and film throughout his career. Notable series include Channel 4's Emmy-award winning ''Sugar Rush'', ''Is it L ...

as the eager soldier Foggy Dewhurst; Gary Whitaker as the love-smitten Wally Batty; and Paul Oldham as their friend, Sherbert. The women consisted of Helen Patrick as the object of Wally's affections, Nora Renshaw; Sarah Dangerfield as Ivy; Joanne Heywood as Dilys,

Judy Flynn Judy Flynn is a British actress. She is known for her roles as seamstress Madge Howell in the BBC drama ''The House of Eliott'' (1991–94), and as the secretary Julie in the BBC sitcom ''The Brittas Empire'' (1992–97). Her other television c ...

as Lena, and

Linda Davidson Linda Davidson (born 18 June 1964 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian-British former actress and writer. She played the wayward punk Mary Smith in the BBC soap opera, ''EastEnders''. Mary was one of the serial's original characters; Davids ...

as Anita Pillsworth. The adults around the young people act as supporting characters.

Peter Sallis Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

and

Maggie Ollerenshaw Margaret Ollerenshaw (born 8 October 1949) is an English actress. She is known for portraying the role of Mavis in the BBC sitcom ''Open All Hours'' (1981–1982) and its sequel ''Still Open All Hours'' (2013–2019). Her other television credits ...

play David and Violet Clegg, Norman's parents.

Derek Benfield Derek Benfield (11 March 1926 – 10 March 2009) was a British playwright and actor. He was born in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, and educated at Bingley Grammar School. He was the author of the stage farce ''Running Riot'' and pla ...

portrays Mr Scrimshaw, the manager of the shop where Ivy, Dilys, Sherbert, Norman and Seymour work.

Scenario

''First of the Summer Wine'' takes place between May and September 1939, in the months leading up to World War II. The series revolves around the diary entries of the young Norman Clegg. Each episode begins with him resting on his bedroom windowsill and greeting the day; the words "the diary of Norman Clegg, aged 18 years" introduce the theme of each episode. Episodes revolve around the antics of the young men of a small Yorkshire village 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. With rumblings of war on the European continent as Hitler's

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and the United Kingdom become increasingly poised for war, the lives of the young men and women will be changed forever. The scenario uses

retroactive continuity Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subse ...

. In ''Last of the Summer Wine'', Seymour is introduced in later series, and is initially unknown to the other central characters.

Episodes

Series 1 (1988)

Series 2 (1989)

Home video releases

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{Roy Clarke 1988 British television series debuts 1989 British television series endings 1980s British sitcoms BBC television sitcoms Television shows set in Yorkshire Last of the Summer Wine Television series set in the 1930s English-language television shows Prequel television series