Last of the Summer Wine

National institution Last of the Summer Wine limps back on to our screens during the festive period and nothing much appears to have changed. Although billed as festive special, there is no Christmas theme, indeed the episode is obviously set in the summer and looks as if it’s just been plucked from the forthcoming series.

The show remains a cuddly tale of the misadventures of a bunch of superannuated northerners who get involved in ridiculous activities. In the early days of course it was just about three old men rambling about the moors but as the years have gone by more and more eccentrics and oddballs have joined the ever-expanding cast.

It sometimes seems as if the show is a bolthole for any actor over seventy to find gainful employment. This episode sees the return of Kathy Staff as the indomitable Nora Batty and a turn from Norman Wisdom while sadly absent this time is mad inventor Wesley who is much missed.

The plot involves a summer fete, one of those mechanical organ things and a ventriloquist puppet. However this is just a front for the usual bout of dodgy gags, slapstick comedy and familiar scenarios.

The cast are by now so well established that could perform this stuff in their sleep, indeed it wouldn’t surprise me if some of them were.

Roy Clarke’s script contains some funny lines but the whole thing is beginning to have a recycled feel now and a feeling of déjà vu persists throughout.

A bit of magic left the show with the passing of Bill Owen and anyway the show has never been what you’d call cutting edge comedy.

Having said it’s as comfy as pair of old slippers and makes for cosy undemanding viewing on a cold Sunday teatime.

Rating 7 out of 10

Last of the Summer Wine airs on BBC ONE on Sunday 29th December at 5.45pm