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<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&amp;#039;Drama" data-source="post: 147756" data-attributes="member: 23">For a sitcom to go for over three and a half decades, twenty nine series and more than 275 episodes on all original material is quite an achievement. For a sitcom to suddenly have a clip show after all those milestones is then perhaps a red flag that the end is nigh. As it turns out, the episode in question was passable. The best thing about it being that all the linking scenes featured only the main trio of Clegg, Truly and Alvin in various locations with their chemistry still firing. In that respect, it felt like a bit of a last gasp from this trio (the next episode for me to watch will be the final one before Sallis and Thornton step down into supporting status to satisfy the Beeb&#039;s insurers). My worry going in was that the clips of Compo&#039;s heyday would highlight the deterioration in the series which although subtle and incremental is certainly a fact. Actually it didn&#039;t feel that way. If anything, I enjoyed the linking material more than the clips shown which seemed a little arbitrary. But the clip show&#039;s objective was unclear to me. It was a tribute to Combo, and in turn Bill Owen (according to the script it&#039;s ten years since he&#039;s died although it&#039;s actually eight). Certainly it&#039;s nice that the show hasn&#039;t forgotten Compo. But as a tribute it&#039;s very late coming when the series has moved on so much (and considering what a great tribute the funeral episodes were, some years earlier). And it&#039;s a couple of years premature for series&#039; end. It felt suspiciously like Roy Clarke was an episode short and this was a way to run out an episode with minimal writing and to save a bit on paying the rest of the cast.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 147756, member: 23"] For a sitcom to go for over three and a half decades, twenty nine series and more than 275 episodes on all original material is quite an achievement. For a sitcom to suddenly have a clip show after all those milestones is then perhaps a red flag that the end is nigh. As it turns out, the episode in question was passable. The best thing about it being that all the linking scenes featured only the main trio of Clegg, Truly and Alvin in various locations with their chemistry still firing. In that respect, it felt like a bit of a last gasp from this trio (the next episode for me to watch will be the final one before Sallis and Thornton step down into supporting status to satisfy the Beeb's insurers). My worry going in was that the clips of Compo's heyday would highlight the deterioration in the series which although subtle and incremental is certainly a fact. Actually it didn't feel that way. If anything, I enjoyed the linking material more than the clips shown which seemed a little arbitrary. But the clip show's objective was unclear to me. It was a tribute to Combo, and in turn Bill Owen (according to the script it's ten years since he's died although it's actually eight). Certainly it's nice that the show hasn't forgotten Compo. But as a tribute it's very late coming when the series has moved on so much (and considering what a great tribute the funeral episodes were, some years earlier). And it's a couple of years premature for series' end. It felt suspiciously like Roy Clarke was an episode short and this was a way to run out an episode with minimal writing and to save a bit on paying the rest of the cast. [/QUOTE]

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