Comedy role for former television heart-throb

Oct 26 2001 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

HE was a star in The Virgin Soldiers and

became a heart-throb in the television series Shelley.

And now Hywel Bennett is to become the Wise Man Of The Woods - another comic creation from the pen of writer Roy Clarke.

Bennett is one of the stars of the new series of Last Of The Summer Wine - due to celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2002.

And the much-respected actor is highly delighted that he has been invited to join the cast.

He loved filming in Yorkshire - a part of the country with which he is familiar as his brother and family live in Gomersal.

"I didn't know Huddersfield before we started filming, but I have really enjoyed my time in the town.

"I have always admired Roy Clarke's writing and appreciated from afar the talents of Michael Bates, Peter Sallis and Brian Wilde, who were stars in the early episodes.

"I always thought the work was very strong, with the early series very impressionable. Nothing much happened, just three old men wandering around, speaking very few lines and going to a cafe to get told off.

"And then there were the women - sitting discussing the male faults and putting the world to rights. It was highly original.

"I regard it, and I'm not afraid to say it, as a classic of British television. Anything that lasts over 30 years must have something.

"For me, it was so different to my other work. Luckily I was asked to do it and I had no hesitation. When I go to my Maker I can say: `I was in that and made a small contribution'.

"The episode I am in is different to the others. The Wise Man Of The Woods is Welsh, set in his ways, and the episode looks at how the others react to him. It has been a treat."