I shall start by saying that this is coming from someone who grew up with this show and pretty much hated it. The twee theme tune, the boring conversations, the dreadfully unfunny moments. That said, i still have the odd memory of laughing my head off at Compo getting into scrapes, such as rolling down the hill in a tin bath and dressing up as Santa.
As a massive fan of older comedy and British sitcoms, this is one show i have steadfastly declined to revisit. Until now. I'll never watch every episode, it would take me forever, but i have watched a fair chunk of them recently. I started from the beginning, what ididn't realise wes that the "original trio" weren't actually the original trio!
First 2 series, Foggy isn't even in it. I still liked it a lot more than later episodes though. The "boring conversations" were actually pretty interesting to a now middle-aged viewer. No question, it hits it's stride properly when Foggy comes along. There's a real chemistry between that trio. I'd forgotten all about Sid too. I think the show really dropped off a cliff when Sid and then Foggy departed.
I can now vaguely remember the actor who played Sid dying and being sad about it, even though i was very young at the time, so he was clearly one of my favourites in those early years. Viewing now, it's clear to me that the show was actually a lot better than i remembered it. That is...until Sid was "replaced" by a whole raft of unremittingly awful characters.
Nothing against the actors, but the characters of Howard, Marina and Pearl for me were never even remotely funny or interesting and still aren't now. It's essentially one (not very funny) joke, dragged out for an eternity. It's pretty much a rehash of the librarians in the first series and that wasn't funny either. I can now pinpoint that as the moment i started hating the show. Foggy then left (although would later return) and the temptation to then turn it into "The Compo Half Hour Farce" was clearly too strong to resist.
Some great actors then followed, i've always liked Brian Murphy especially from his Man About the House and George & Mildred days. Definitely there are some golden moments still to be had, but far too often they are ruined by the ridiculous caricatures of the peripheral characters.
Once it stopped being about the friendship of the main trio, it just slipped into rubbish sitcom territory. I can now at least see why it's loved by so many. At it's best, with the trio walking in the countryside and having pointless but humorous conversations, it's a lovely sweet relaxing watch. But pretty much all of the secondary characters, apart from the excellent Sid and often genuinely funny Ivy, seem to be just written to be as annoying as possible. Totally goes against the grain of the show. First 7 series 7.5/10, the rest 4/10 if that.
As a massive fan of older comedy and British sitcoms, this is one show i have steadfastly declined to revisit. Until now. I'll never watch every episode, it would take me forever, but i have watched a fair chunk of them recently. I started from the beginning, what ididn't realise wes that the "original trio" weren't actually the original trio!
First 2 series, Foggy isn't even in it. I still liked it a lot more than later episodes though. The "boring conversations" were actually pretty interesting to a now middle-aged viewer. No question, it hits it's stride properly when Foggy comes along. There's a real chemistry between that trio. I'd forgotten all about Sid too. I think the show really dropped off a cliff when Sid and then Foggy departed.
I can now vaguely remember the actor who played Sid dying and being sad about it, even though i was very young at the time, so he was clearly one of my favourites in those early years. Viewing now, it's clear to me that the show was actually a lot better than i remembered it. That is...until Sid was "replaced" by a whole raft of unremittingly awful characters.
Nothing against the actors, but the characters of Howard, Marina and Pearl for me were never even remotely funny or interesting and still aren't now. It's essentially one (not very funny) joke, dragged out for an eternity. It's pretty much a rehash of the librarians in the first series and that wasn't funny either. I can now pinpoint that as the moment i started hating the show. Foggy then left (although would later return) and the temptation to then turn it into "The Compo Half Hour Farce" was clearly too strong to resist.
Some great actors then followed, i've always liked Brian Murphy especially from his Man About the House and George & Mildred days. Definitely there are some golden moments still to be had, but far too often they are ruined by the ridiculous caricatures of the peripheral characters.
Once it stopped being about the friendship of the main trio, it just slipped into rubbish sitcom territory. I can now at least see why it's loved by so many. At it's best, with the trio walking in the countryside and having pointless but humorous conversations, it's a lovely sweet relaxing watch. But pretty much all of the secondary characters, apart from the excellent Sid and often genuinely funny Ivy, seem to be just written to be as annoying as possible. Totally goes against the grain of the show. First 7 series 7.5/10, the rest 4/10 if that.