Summer Wine's new star

Jan 12 2001 By Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Holmfirth-based TV series Last Of The Summer Wine is back - with a new man in one of the starring roles.

The gap left by the death of Compo - played by the late Bill Owen - will be filled by Billy Hardcastle, portrayed by former Coronation Street actor Keith Clifford (pictured).

He has appeared in the series for a year, but is now being thrust forward as the new pal of Clegg, played by Peter Sallis, and Truly, played by Frank Thornton.

"A great camaraderie has developed between the three of us" he said.

"I have just come into the role, but Frank is the one who calms down the situation and Peter is the one who has all the ideas.

"I am learning from them all the time," Keith added.

Fans will be able see the threesome on February 18, when a new 10-week series begins.

Comparisons with Compo are inevitable, but Keith insists there is a difference.

"Compo was the scruffy one who was in love with Nora Batty.

"Billy doesn't have that - but he has a mystery wife who no-one has seen" he said.

Keith, who originates from Halifax, was first spotted by Summer Wine director Alan Bell when he appeared in the drama Lost For Words, which starred Thora Hird.

"He asked me to play Robin Hood and I thought 'I didn't know you did panto' but I said, `That would be wonderful'," he said.

Billy first appeared in 1999, and also in a millennium special.

"I received a phone call to say I'd got the job full time, but I didn't know the responsibility that would come with it" said Keith.

"When I got the script I realised I was thrust very much to the forefront.

"Before I got halfway through it I realised I was filling a space vacated by Bill Owen."

Bill's son, Tom, who joined Summer Wine after his father's death, also returns in the new series, as New Age nomad Tom Simmonite.

"The legend of Compo really does live on. Truly and Clegg talk about him all the time, and say things like 'Compo wouldn't do it like that,' " said Keith.

Keith only crossed over from theatre to television work five years ago, when he appeared in Channel 4 series GBH.

He has also performed in the film Captain Jack, set in Whitby, with Bob Hoskins, and played loveable rogue Charlie West in Coronation Street.

"I still get fan mail for Charlie" he said.

The actor can also be seen this spring in the new series of Dalziel and Pascoe and a film by Train Spotting director Dannny Boyle.

For 10 years he has toured with his play Scandals, about the late Lancashire-born comic Frank Randle.

He is bringing the production to Cragrats Theatre in Holmfirth on June 28-30, when filming starts on the next series of Summer Wine.

In the meantime, Keith and his wife are looking for somewhere to live.

"We are looking for somewhere in Yorkshire with a good train link.

"I love Holmfirth and all the area around it, and we have also looked in Marsden," he said.