and says 'blimey I thought he was dead'

Now I can buy the DVD box set and watch it in its entirety. Please nobody tell me what happens at the end.

when it started. First two series were marvelous. Reet strange in almost surreal fashion it were. Took three episodes 'fore I could work out what they were sayin' wi' any certainty like. Went down'ill fast after that. In't bathtub.

"It only seems five minutes since we were at school"

How many times has that been said I wonder?

I don't watch it these days but I will miss it.
The soundtrack was special too.

Ad that to the list of things that I've never done:
I've never seen an episode of "Last Of The Summer Wine".

That cameo role as Compo's great nephew Rocky will never happen now.

for those of us of a certain age LOTSW and All Creatures Great and Small made us realise that the weekend was over, it was school tomorrow and we still hadn't done that homework *

* sorry if that came over too Peter Kay

It's been done a lllooonnnnggg time.

as a choice but I can appreciate the fact that it pleased a great many people for a very long time. I remember catching episodes years ago with grand-parents and when I was 6 or 7 laughing along at some of the visual humour in that "aren't adults stupid?" way that tickles kids of a certain age.

Watching All Creatures Great And Small on the other hand is still a pleasure today as it's often repeated on satellite. It was TV that made me feel safe and homely as a lad - especially in the winter, I always associate ACGAS with Christmas and snow - and the only other TV these days that has anywhere near a similar effect is Springwatch, although it's Kate Humble who gives me the warm glow as much as the nostalgia. I suspect it's also because my dad was a surveyor for many years and I used to go out with him during the holidays to places like the Yorkshire Moors and stay in remote farmhouses battered by gales and encounter farmers of varying temperaments and ruddiness as we tramped over hill and dale carrying all manner of equipment, back in the day before satellite imagery and GPS.

I've seen the leaked final episode. Turns out they were in purgatory all along.

Back in the 1950s, my mother apparently dated Bill Owen, a.k.a. Compo.

yet he must only have been in his 40s

I watched a couple of episodes years ago and never got it.

Do you have to be a Northener to appreciate it?

I lived in Yorkshire for 8 years but I still find it a bizarre programme.

Compo, Clegg and Foggy era with my old man it will always have a place in my heart. Peter Sallis has a wonderful voice.

Countryside's nice and works on a Sunday evening and I'd prefer to be stuck in a lift with Peter Sallis than Ben Elton any day.

Whilst I wouldn't name it a particular favourite, the first few series beat hands down.....'My Family', 'Two Pints and a Packet Of Crisps', 'Coupling', 'The Thin Blue Line' etc. etc.....indeed 95% of BBC comedies of the last thirty years.
Don't they?

It's a shame but it's not surprising. Roy Clarke is in his '80s. Peter Sallis is 89. All things must pass. Like many people I didn't watch it for years and years. Then I found myself watching it one night soon after my father died. And suddenly it clicked into place. That was my dad and his pals at the bowling club (crown green...none of that backwards and forwards and wearing white southern nonsense) having a laugh all summer long. The nostalgia always seemed overplayed to me but now it isn't. It's about friendship and a sense of belonging and happy memories. Beautifully acted and written. I don't want to die before I grow old. I want to be like Compo and have a bloody good time.