Last Of The Summer Wine – Where Are They Now? Part 3
Last one of these for a while as we look at some more classic characters
Mr Wainwright and Miss Partridge
Perhaps the early Howard and Marina. Mr Wainwright was a rather timid head of the local library, a favourite destination of the trio in the early series. Despite his position he only actually appeared in five episodes of the show in series one and three. He was primarily seen romancing his assistant Mrs Partridge. Both characters left the show during series 1 only for Mr Wainwright to make a brief re-appearance in series 3 up to his old tricks with new assistant Miss Moody.
He was played by Blake Butler, full name John David Blake Butler, he died in 1981 aged just 56.
Mrs Partridge was the assistant librarian having an affair with Mr Wainwright which they both believed to be secret. She appeared in series 1 and left the same time as Mr Wainwright.
She was played by actress Rosemary Martin who died 14th August 1998
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Seymour Utterthwaite
The third leader of the trio after Blamire and Foggy and Foggy’s first replacemnent.
Seymour was an ex-headmaster, the brother of Wesley’s wife Edie who we meet for the first time as Seymour joins the cast. An eccentric inventor and head of the Utterthwaite Postal Acadamy. Whilst Blamire and Foggy had often caused chaos trying to solve people’s problems, during the Seymour era stories often revolved around his latest invention.
As an inventor it was the perfect tool for the Compo character as there was always a need for a tester. As you’d expect the inventions seldom worked usually ending in disaster for Compo, whilst Seymour would often blame failure on divine punishment for his once having had an affair with a barmaid.
The character was played By Michael Aldridge who joined the cast in January 1986 and left for ‘personal reasons’ in 1990. It is believed that there had been plans for Seymour to make a return. Sadly Michael Aldridge died in 1994.
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Pearl Sibshaw
The domineering wife of Howard. When she was first introduced on the show, Pearl was somewhat naive, especially towards Howard’s affair with Marina. When introduced to the ladies’ tea group, Nora, Ivy, and Edie integrated her into the group and, over time, her demeanour hardened.
Over the years Pearl becomes shrewd and always one step ahead of Howard’s crafty schemes to get out of the house. She knows about his (attempted) affair with Marina, but is almost gleefully obsessed with exposing Howard’s philandering and generally tormenting him.
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Pearl was played by Juliette Kaplan. She joined the cast alongside Robert Fyffe in 1984 during a stage production, joining the regular TV cast in 1985, she played Pearl for 226 episodes until the show came to an end in 2010.
Juliette Kaplan died in 2019.
Milburn (Crusher)
Sid and Ivy’s giant nephew. Milburn joined the cast following the death of Sid (John Comer) in 1984. He was brought in to help his Auntie Ivy run the Cafe “I’m learning the business” he often told people.
The character insisted on being called “Crusher”. He was well meaning, clumsy and easily led.
Milburn was played by Jonathan Linsley who joined the touring production in 1984 before becoming a regular on the series in 1985. He stayed with the show for three and a half years departing after the 1987 Christmas Special. He went on to concentrate on other TV projects. He’s still around today.