Last of Summer Wine boss quits in axe row

Dec 24 2008 by Neil Atkinson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

He added: “I have now decided I will not do it again.

“I have had enough of the BBC’s attitude.

“Summer Wine was a joy to work on and I have loved coming to Yorkshire for the filming.

“I had spoken to the writer, Roy Clarke, and our new star, Russ Abbott, about the idea of a feature special next year and they were very supportive.

“Now the BBC has come back and said they had no money. I’m tired of the lot of them. I have done 244 episodes and I believe I know what works.”

The cost of a one-off special was believed to about £250,000.

The new series was filmed over the summer. A festive special goes out on New Year’s Eve.

A BBC spokesman said: “Despite rumours that Last Of The Summer Wine was due to be axed the commissioning team at the BBC is happy to confirm that this is not the case.

“There is life in the old dog yet!”