THURS AM: BBC hits back in Last Of The Summer Wine row

Dec 18 2008 By Andrew Jackson

The news came after the recent death of Kathy Staff, the 80-year-old actress who played Nora Batty on the show, prompted speculation about its future. Nora’s attempts to fend off amorous advances from scruffy layabout Compo - often with a broom - were a series staple.

Her co-star Peter Sallis, who played Norman Clegg, said she was irreplaceable, telling the BBC: "I don’t know quite for sure whether we are going to do any more (episodes) but if we do, she is going to be terribly missed."

Ms Staff was one of the original members of the Summer Wine cast, appearing in the show’s first episode in 1973, and her death left another hole in the elderly line-up.

Brian Wilde, who played pompous ex-army corporal Foggy Dewhirst and led his pals Clegg and Compo in various hare-brained adventures, died in March, aged 80.

Bill Owen, who starred as loveable rogue Compo for 28 years, passed away in 1999, while Dame Thora Hird, who played village gossip Edie Pegden, died in 2003.