Last of The Summer Wine Read Online Free PDF

though, the BBC costume department kitted me out with a low-cut red jumper and black skirt, but the following year, we went to Dorothy Perkins and bought miniskirts. A lot of her jackets, meanwhile, come from charity shops.
    ‘I receive lots of fan mail, particularly from older men who think Marina is the bee’s knees. But children, as young as nine, write saying how much they love the character.
    ‘I’ll never forget filming the episode, ‘The Treasure Of The Deep’. Howard and I had to fall out a rowing boat. We were terrified, especially as we were fully-clothed. A special effects’ man tipped the boat up from underneath. Robert hadn’t told me he couldn’t swim and was more scared than me; he ended up putting his hand on top my head, completely submerging me!
    ‘Unfortunately, we had to shoot the scene again, once our clothes were dry and my wig—we used three different ones over the 25 years—reset.’
    JEAN FERGUSSON (Marina)

    HOWARD: You know what the trouble with the world is?
    MARINA: What’s the trouble with the world, Howard?
    HOWARD: They wouldn’t really believe we came out here, looking for the caterpillar of the woodmoth.
    MARINA: (To herself, in frustration) I know just how it feels!

‘EDIE AND THE AUTOMOBILE’
    Compo comments on Nora’s wrinkled stockings.
    COMPO: Look at ’em—urgh, like a couple of Chinese lanterns.
    Glenda and Barry are in their kitchen. Glenda has placed a chocolate éclair in front of Barry. Barry is in a state of shock after giving driving lessons to Edie.
    GLENDA: (Trying to be comforting) It wasn’t anything personal.
    BARRY: I’ve never heard a motor car whimper before.
    GLENDA: I just thought, you know, fresh blood. No, forget I ever said that.
    M EMORIES …
    ‘While appearing in J B Priestley’s comedy When We Are Married in Leatherhead, I wrote to about six light-comedy producers, one of them Alan Bell. He brought his family to see the show. He was looking for a Glenda and on the last night left a note asking me to see him—and I got the part. I’ll never forget my first day’s filming, though. I arrived, wearing beautiful white leather shoes and stepped out of a car into a big puddle.
    ‘Glenda was a weak child to begin with but has grown hugely in confidence; she’s showing signs of becoming like her mother, Edie, played by the late Thora Hird, who’d never allowed her to be modern. In fact, the show has always had an oldfashioned quality about it, which is one of its strengths.
    ‘I hit it off with Mike Grady, who plays Barry, from the beginning. We’ve got a strong screen partnership and I love our scenes together. I’ll never forget recording a breakfast scene for the episode, ‘Last Post And Pigeon’. Mike was supposed to eat a boiled egg but couldn’t break it open. Someone suggested using a knife but we did take after take—we were in hysterics. Eventually, he opened the egg but it whizzed across the room. But things like that happened—often the doors of Edie’s Triumph Herald would stick; even the steering wheel came off once!’
    SARAH THOMAS (Glenda)

    BARRY: I’ve heard a gearbox scream, but I’ve never heard one whimper—unless it was me?
    GLENDA: Anyway, is me mam getting any better?
    Barry looks distressed again.
    GLENDA: Does that mean you’re not going again, Barry?
    BARRY: I’m not, I’m not going again. Why did you send me?
    GLENDA: Oh, it’s not easy being torn between your father and your husband.
    BARRY: It’s not easy tearing between two lorries on Stackpool Street.
    GLENDA: She didn’t?
    BARRY: I had to close me eyes after that.
    GLENDA: I always think how attractive you look with your eyes closed, Barry.
    BARRY: You know, I’d do anything for you, except teach your mother to drive. Honest, Brenda.
    GLENDA: The name’s Glenda, Barry, it’s always been Glenda. You’re a stranger, Barry. You won’t eat your éclair and you’re calling me Brenda.

‘MERRY CHRISTMAS, FATHER CHRISTMAS’
    Wesley has been