Last Of The Summer Wine, The Michael Aldridge Years, 1986 – 1990
It’s 35 years this year since Michael Aldridge appeared in his first full series of Last Of The Summer Wine, in an episode screened on 4th January 1987, entitled “Why Does Norman Clegg buy Ladies’ Elastic Stockings?”
Aldridge had made his debut as Seymour Utterthwaite in a feature length special, Uncle Of The Bride in 1986, followed by another appearance in a Christmas special later the same year. However it was 1987 before the new trio took to our screens for Seymour’s first full series.
So we go back 35 years and look at the Michael Aldridge years.
Following on from two specials the previous year Last Of The Summer Wine returned for it’s ninth series with an extended run of 12 episodes, before reverting back to the usual 6 for series ten. By the end of series 11, Michael Aldridge decided to leave the series for health reasons.
Summary
With Michael Aldridge installed as the new third man and the introduction of some new characters the series followed the same successful formula as had worked previously, but as Seymour was an inventor new challenges awaited Compo.
There was the running gag of Edie’s poor driving that ran through the series, some excellent pop up gags and hair raising situations with Ely, the partially sighted character that sprung up from time to time.
Clips
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Cast
Michael Aldridge
Peter Sallis
Bill Owen
Details
Channel: BBC1
Written By: Roy Clarke
Original Transmission Dates: 1st January 1986 – 23rd December 1989, plus a brief appearance 2nd September 1990