The New Ensemble | Summer Wine Decanted

[@DaveG6HNI]

I'm really surprised that some people didn't take to Hobo / Russ Abbott, I really enjoyed his performance and thought we were on the cusp of a new golden age for the series.

[@upstagedbyadog]

I think Roy Clarke just needed a bit more time to get Hobbo to fit in with the older characters.

[@andywalkerchannel]

Another wonderful video. Your writing and presenting are fantastic. They bring so much to the series. Thank you so much.

[@upstagedbyadog]

Thank you, makes the hours of work worthwhile!

[@89awcock]

@@upstagedbyadog I would just like to say thank you very much for doing these videos they are well written the presenting is fabulous and great research the characters and actors. I have enjoyed each and every video you have made if they were on a DVD to add to my Summer Wine collection. If they weren't made for KZbin you could have added some clips from the series and also clips from the actors and actresses his other works make it a more rounded program. Pasta made from KZbin you can't do that cause of copyright but I'm still very happy satisfied you certainly know your Summer Wine. Thank you thank you thank you once again for these episodes.

[@billthetill2434]

Another. Good one, keep them coming, I have to agree hobbo was over the top, trouble is he had a hard act to follow

[@jayoneill1533]

To be fair Russ Abbot is a talented performer however his portrayal of Hobbo was way over the top. I think director Alan Bell could have reined Abbot in and worked with the actor to give the character Hobbo some dimension. It’s part of the the director’s job.

[@gunnerdownunner570]

Snowing here down under🥶🥶🥶🥶, but your delightful updates of my favourite ever show are keeping me toastie 😀😀 mr Burt Kwouk was also in David Jason’s pilot episode of lucky fella as thy Chinese restaurant waiter, keep up thy outstanding work Leigh, and love from new🥝🥝🥝zealand 🍻🍻🍺🍺🍺cheers all winos 🥳🥳🥳

[@ezza2x899]

I’ve being binge watching/listening to your videos over the last few days, a great listen! I really liked Billy as a character, his comments about the wife & wife’s sister always cracked me up (too close to home maybe 😂) Billy, Clegg & Trully for me was a really enjoyable overlooked line up in later years

[@upstagedbyadog]

Thanks, Ezza! Billy had some good lines and was a bit of a clown, so he covered the middle-ground between quiet sensible Clegg and Officious Truly!

[@jayoneill1533]

Thank you for the insightful episode Leigh, you gave some interesting critiques of the show’s many year arc. Entwhistle was a delight but Hobbo was overly one dimensional and was the sad end of Clarke’s line of eccentric and delusional third men.

[@volcwatcher7563]

What a wonderful video. Thank you 👍

[@upstagedbyadog]

Thank you too 😉

[@diversionbob8482]

I liked Hobbo, but by that time it was a different show and it was only the location that connected it with the original episodes.

[@hancecrawford]

Thank you for another interesting video and bring to life past and present thank you so much

[@upstagedbyadog]

Glad you enjoyed it, John!

[@randomaccount-dq1jq]

I loved Entwistle, he was my favourite of the new cast r.i.p Burt Kwouk and the rest of the cast now passed.

[@upstagedbyadog]

Some people thought Entwistle was "under used", it's true he had little or nothing to say in some scenes - but that's quite realistic. There's often someone that dominates (Truly, Hobbo) so some others get lees chance to speak. However, Burt was always in character, looking like he was listening and ready to take part. Some actors do forget to act when they are not the focus of a scene. If I have to have a favourite for the "new" cast it would be Alvin, partly as it was great to see Brian Murphy in a character so different from George Roper, and because he threw himself in to the part!

[@BarryFrancis]

I didn’t like Hobbo, he seemed more like a caricature than a character, if you know what I mean. The trouble was with Clegg being sidelined and there being a different main trio it wasn’t the Last of the Summer Wine that I knew and loved. I think it’s a bit like everyone has their Doctor Who that they remember watching and enjoying, I think that everyone has their favourite Last of the Summer Wine trio. Mine being Compo, Clegg, and Foggy as that is the trio when I first watched the show.

[@johnrider5701]

I agree he was a very annoying unfunny imatation of Foggy .

[@robertsmith3672]

​@@johnrider5701Russ was always overrated , over the top and unfunny .

[@gavinreid8937]

Agreed. The door was open for Brian wilde after he left the second time with shingles, but he felt he,d been there done that. Truly, & Hobo were pale imitations & the sniper milkman who doesnt know who his mother is made it more Old Folk Are Senile!

[@ladym6738]

Another well written piece. Love the little details and elaborations on each characters but would appreciate the name of the last piece that each appeared in. Plus am interested as to which had stunt doubles for what bits. The backgrounds are lovely. Thanks.

[@upstagedbyadog]

Pleased you're enjoying the videos. I sometimes mention the final episode a character appears in, however, most of those mentions are in forthcoming videos. There is also a little more about the stunt crew and on-screen doubles in later videos.

[@ladym6738]

@@upstagedbyadog Thank you. Looking forward to.

[@stephenchecksfield632]

My thoughts on Russ abbots portrayal of hobbo in last of the summer wine was rather other the top and whilst not being unkind to the late Bill Owen Peter Sallis and the late Brian Wilde was not a patch on the original characters of Compo Clegg and Foggy Dewhirst my honest opinion was the same of Bill Owens real life son Tom Owen though he did quite a good job of stepping in to the shoes as the long lost son of Compo Simmonite he just didn't have the same sparkle as his late father Bill Owen but I also liked how Michael Aldridge played the part of Seymour Uttherswhaite so well the retired headmaster in the sitcom i found that the late Michael Aldridge was well written for the part of retired headmaster Seymour Utterswhaite and they seemed to work well together in the comic timing

[@upstagedbyadog]

I think the Hobbo character would have evolved in time, but he didn't get the chance! Seymour was more sympathetic to the others than Foggy was, perhaps that's what made the difference.

[@MagiTailWelkin]

I can attest that Hobo did not ingratiate himself in my household. My mother in particular disapproved of his characterisation. It's true Foggy often spoke clobbers when over-exaggeration about his war service, the same as Seymour's head-mastery excellence, and Truly's tales in the Vice Squad. But at least they all some experience in the organisation they talked about. Hobo's claims were just too fanciful for my mother's tastes. And I personally agreed.

[@upstagedbyadog]

Hobbo certainly had a flair for make-believe, that was a bit more fanciful than Foggy, Seymour and Truly!

[@Scotty19]

Hi ya Leigh I just watched George and Mildred and George was in a side car with Mildred it reminded me off beware of laughing at Nora Batty hats episode with Nora and Audrey Craig in Side car

[@upstagedbyadog]

At least Nora didn't get a deluge of rain water from the sidecar, like Mildred did...

[@goyles]

I thought it was Bradshaw & not Bradbury, that was the surname of the family name Hobbo mentioned

[@upstagedbyadog]

It was Bradshaw, I can't read my own writing!

[@alansmith1989]

We only watched a couple of episodes when `Hobdyke` entered. We had enough (Like a lot of other viewers) but its partly the fault of the Director. Alan Bell's first instincts were correct- but that is a Directors job! His responsibility to get the best possible performance from an artist. If (And I can only speculate here) Mr Bell felt that to try and `tone down` Russ Abbotts performance would risk upsetting Abbott or writer Roy Clarke; then that is a recipe for disaster! If a Director senses a character or performance is `askew` his job is to work with artist and writer and persuade them to try to improve things.

[@upstagedbyadog]

Russ Abbot had been someone Alan Bell wanted in the show, but only for a one-off character - bearing in mind that some one-offs returned to be regulars. That might have worked, but Abbot declined the part, so had come in as Hobbo, whose spy boasts were ridiculed by Alvin and Entwistle. In 2010 social media was not as influential as today, but even so, Summer Wine was sometimes partly shot a year before broadcast, making it difficult to respond to most audience reaction. I would like to think that if the cast had not changed so dramatically in the last two series, there would have been a more "acceptable" version of Hobbo, or alternative Abbot characterisation.

[@alansmith1989]

@@upstagedbyadog Very true; but as the `criticisms` were mostly regarding Abbotts `over egged` performance, it needed firmer direction. I find it hard to believe that Alan Bell could not have reigned him in. To an experienced Director (As Alan surely was by then) an actors `over playing` is easy enough to spot. That nothing was done, unfortunately was bad news for the programme as viewers (Such as our family) just did not want to watch it any more. Of course I caught up with the final two series via the repeats, but barring one episode (The box of Chocolates burial one) which I thought really good- I am afraid they just pall for me! Just my personal view there.

[@upstagedbyadog]

@@alansmith1989 Yes, I agree about Abbot... I noted how Burt Kwouk and Brian Murphy, underplayed their parts, whereas Abbot was used to being a scene-stealer... Perhaps Alan Bell was being pulled in too many directions at once to keep Abbot in check and make everything else work. I think it's possible "Goodnight Sweet Ferret" worked was because the object of the plot was not solely driven by Hobbo trying to impress everyone with his boasting, but was preoccupied actually helping someone.

[@alansmith1989]

@@upstagedbyadog Yes! It is a great episode, and because of the reasons you state. Another problem with getting actors to `Tone it Down` is if they are a well known name. An example of this is in a 1980s `Dr Who` story "Paradise Towers" The script editor-Andrew Cartmel; called Producer John Nathan Turner to the set; due to guest star Richard Briars oh-so obvious - `Over the Top` Performance. Both talked with him, but to no avail. They had a tight schedule and could not re-cast. Briars, in a later interview to `Dr Who Magazine` admitted he went OTT quite on purpose as he'd enjoyed it! With Russ Abbott, It was so obvious he was `overdoing` his performance- but did Director or any one else on the Production staff tackle him on it? The end result was a plethora of viewer complaints and people switching to another channel. Such a shame!

[@dcworld1076]

i loved alvin and entwhistle but i just didnt like hobbo

[@eveb446]

I did not care for nor did I like the character of Hobbo. At the very beginning of Last Of The Summer Wine, with Blamire, Clegg and Compo, the trio was fantastic. Then came Foggy, he was a great third man. Although I loved Frank Thornton, in "Are You Being Served," I felt that he was out of place in Summer Wine. Did not like the "other third men."

[@DMfilmfan]

Nothing against the actor who had the burden of playing Hobbo as he was written, but when Hobbo joined LOTSW it "jumped the shark".

[@wandyy8078]

Love the show but after bill died I could never take to it the same & didn't watch much of it.. the foggy years is LOTSW for me.. the show is a British institution but went on for far too long imo..

[@sameyers2670]

I agree, it wasn't the same show after Compo died

[@marybuckley4375]

Russ Abbot was good, when he had a good script to work with, but his early scripts in LOTSW weren't good, particularly the references to Hobbo being an orphan/abandoned baby; I'm not an orphan myself, but that particular plot-line came across as disingenuous and insulting to orphans and was simply not funny. The three episodes towards the end of the very last series where Howard pretends to be living in a tent, (having been thrown out by Pearl), show Russ' comedic talents very well, the 'orphan' plot-line had been mostly dropped, at that stage.

[@upstagedbyadog]

Hi Mary. With an new character there seems to be a need to create a memorable story for them, to build up the character. I think if the orphan idea had been dealt with in one episode as a minor sub-plot it would have been more acceptable. Russ' first series was something of an experiment for Roy Clarke - similar to when Tom, Mrs Avery and Babs were introduced - so getting the character right was going to take time. Foggy's character developed over time, but Hobbo did not get the opportunity to be around long enough for that to happen.

[@teniellehardwidge5285]

@@upstagedbyadog i agree i think Hobbo would have been much better had he been introduced in series 28-29(like alvin/entwhistle) were so viewers could get used to Hobbo before he joined the trio

[@upstagedbyadog]

@@teniellehardwidge5285 That's a good point, although, from what I have read, Russ Abbot would not have been satisfied unless he was a principle character.

[@Scotty19]

Hi I like Alvin and Nora years Alvin I’m not available for romantic purposes Nora romantic purposes I haven’t had them for 50 years then they wasn’t on purpose then Nora remember what Alvin said then Nora says oh 🤣

[@upstagedbyadog]

It worked really well having Alvin to keep Nora on her toes! As you are so good at spotting doubles, see if you can identify the three characters replaced by doubles - at least one is a member of the crew - in the series 26 episode "Watching the Clock" - and it is not the Trio (although they might have doubles as well)...

[@patmckeane6588]

Hated hobbo

[@johnrider5701]

That seems to be the consensus among summer wine fans. My late parents loved the series but never liked him.

[@greatlambrini8722]

It was absolute garbage. They should not try recasting old favs.