Overview
The show was set in the fictional commuter village of Bradly Bush although actually filmed on location in Claygate, Surrey, England.
Retired soldier Major John Wyatt (Brian Wilde) is spurred into action after his sister Edwina's (Anne Ridler) home is burgled in broad daylight. Ignoring correct police procedures, he forms his own Neighbourhood Watch group of incompetents and patrols the streets in his Range Rover known locally as the 'Dogmobile'. The Watch members are a hopeless bunch drawn together to fight crime, and bungling and personality clashes are highly evident. Brian Wilde as Major Wyatt clashes worst of all with Peter Pitt (Trevor Bannister), a smooth-talking womaniser and burglar-alarm salesman. He only has two things in mind – to flog his alarms and meet women! Other regular characters include the glamorous man-eater Virginia (April Walker), an interfering Vicar (David Jackson), and a frustrated police sergeant, Springer (James Warrior).
The show actually had the working title of Every Street Should Have One but this was changed at the last minute to Wyatt's Watchdogs. The reason being that the BBC were transmitting the programme on Monday evenings straight after ITV's Coronation Street but before another BBC show called Streets Apart .
Much of the series was devised to act as a vehicle for Wilde, who had left his role as Foggy Dewhurst in Last of the Summer Wine in 1985 over creative differences with Alan J. W. Bell. The character of Wyatt shared a number of similarities with Foggy, particularly with them both having a military background, although Wyatt was far more assertive and not afraid of conflict as Foggy was.
Although it performed moderately in its time-slot, the BBC felt – who had hoped that, starring Wilde, it would have gained much of Last of the Summer Wines viewing figures – that the programme had not really caught on with viewers, and it was dropped after its initial series.
However, with the production of this series, Wilde and Bell managed to settle their differences regarding Last of the Summer Wine, and two years later in 1990, when the next series of Summer Wine was due to start filming and actor Michael Aldridge left the show to look after his sick wife, Brian agreed to return as Foggy Dewhurst, staying with the series for seven more years.
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973, and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. Alan J. W. Bell produced and directed all episodes of the show from late 1981 to 2010. The BBC confirmed on 2 June 2010 that Last of the Summer Wine would no longer be produced and the 31st series would be its last. Subsequently, the final episode was broadcast on 29 August 2010. Since its original release, all 295 episodes, comprising thirty-one series—including the pilot and all films and specials—have been released on DVD. Repeats of the show are broadcast in the UK on BBC One, Gold, Yesterday, and Drama. It is also seen in more than 25 countries, including various PBS stations in the United States and on VisionTV in Canada. With the exception of programmes 'rebooted' after long hiatuses, Last of the Summer Wine is the longest-running TV comedy programme in Britain and the longest-running TV sitcom in the world.
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