Due to Covid a had a lot of time on my hands; so I decided to watch something a had seen some of the later episodes of; LOTSW. I watched the entire series in three weeks. The later episodes are friendly and mildly entertaining but to my surprise the earlier ones are much more gritty, much rawer and so much better! So much so that it even made me wonder; why was the series so watered down over time? It must have been to please a general audience. But so much was lost this way. If you watch the series in quick succession, as I did, the change is very obvious. The language becomes gentler, the actors get replaced by more polished substitutes. Even if the stay on, like Nora Batty or Cleggy, they lose their edges. Attitude towards women has to become PC. Even Compo's teeth have to be fixed. But with this it loses a lot of honesty and in the end it is just mildly entertaining instaead of a wonderful social satire. How great this could have been if the BBC had had a bit more courage.
Review of Last of the Summer Wine
