Summer Wine `show goes on'

May 28 2002 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

The show goes on without Gordon Wharmby

FILMING is about to start for a new series of Last Of The Summer Wine.

Producers of the long-running comedy say the show will go on, despite the death of actor Gordon Wharmby.

A BBC spokeswoman said writers had anticipated that Mr Wharmby, 68, who played Wesley Pegden, might not be well enough for the filming, much of which is done in the Holme Valley.

She said: "They knew he was ill so it was already pre- thought that he might not be in the new series."

Mr Wharmby played husband to Edie, acted by Dame Thora Hird, in the series.

Mr Wharmby, who lived in Rhyl, suffered from cancer and died in hospital on May 18.

He had worked as a decorator before turning to acting.

He had appeared in many other television programmes including Heartbeat, Brookside, Coronation Street, and The Liver Birds.