A man with a telly vision!

Oct 23 2001 By Neil Atkinson, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

IT was a show that was expected to last for three or four years at most.

But now a gentle, rambling tale about three old men doing nothing is on the verge of a unique anniversary.

Next year will mark the 30th year of Last Of The Summer Wine, the BBC comedy that has secured a permanent niche in the annals of television history.

And the man credited with its creation is delighted at its success - and delighted to be still involved.

Writer Roy Clarke - a quiet, polite, thoughtful man - honestly admits he never thought the series would run and run after the pilot show in 1972.

"For the first six or seven years, I kept sitting back while working on the scripts and wondering when it was going to end.

"I wondered if the audience had had enough. The only sure guide to the programme planners are the audience figures and if the Wine figures started to go down, I thought it best to get out while the going was good.

"But the figures kept as steady as ever throughout those first six or seven years as I went through that same analysis and the next time I looked up we had gone past 20 years."

Clarke is rightly lauded by the actors and those behind the scenes for his brilliant creations of characters like Compo, Clegg, Auntie Wainwright and Marina.

But he in turn is quick to praise the efforts of producer Alan J W Bell and the production crew, as well as many of the stars who have become familiar figures in millions of living rooms.

"Quite honestly, after 30 years, the work is getting easier.

"I believe that in the last few years, the casting has got better and to me, the whole thing works better than ever.

"There is something special about Summer Wine.

"It is something I take great care with and I believe everyone else involved does the same.

"There are some great characters to work with and that casting helps me to do my best with it."

* Tomorrow: The director's cut.