Last of the Summer Wine fans take show to Edinburgh Fringe
- Published
Andrew T Smith (left) and Bob Fischer spent seven years watching all 295 episodes of Last of the Summer Wine
Two fans of the world's longest-running sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine, have turned their obsession into an Edinburgh Fringe Show.
Andrew T Smith and Bob Fischer spent seven years watching all 295 episodes made between 1973 and 2010.
The TV show, set in Holmfirth, followed the antics of Compo, Foggy and Clegg.
The two friends said the labour of love brought back treasured childhood memories and offered a snapshot of Britain through the decades.
The TV show, set in Holmfirth, followed the antics of Compo, Foggy and Clegg
The plan to watch all 295 episodes in order was hatched in August 2010 as the credits rolled on the final ever episode.
The two men wrote a blog as they made their way through 12 series and numerous Christmas specials, which became the inspiration for the live show.
Mr Smith, from Gateshead, said: "We're not playing the characters from Last of the Summer Wine, it's very much about us and our obsession, we just happen to be obsessed enough to wear the costumes.
"The show itself is about the social history of Last of the Summer Wine, what it means to us and what it tells us about Britain over the course of four decades."
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Mr Fischer, a BBC radio presenter from Middlesbrough, said as well as watching the characters develop, Holmfirth too evolved with the show.
"If you watch the early episodes you get a glimpse in to a really fascinating era of British social history," he said.
"Holmfirth itself is a post-industrial town, the buildings are black with soot, the countryside surrounding the town is full of abandoned factories and derelict mills.
"As the series became more popular we think that Holmfirth became Summer Wine country, tourists flocked there and that kind of fed in to the town itself and it became a lot more picturesque."
- Published4 September 2014
- Published27 August 2010
