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<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&amp;#039;Drama" data-source="post: 147905" data-attributes="member: 23">Series Twenty Nine is now over. It&#039;s sad to think there&#039;ll be no more Nora Batty.With every departure a little more of the series has died. More recent additions to the supporting cast, such as Nellie, Miss Davenport, Entwistle and even Alvin are reassuring presences due to the familiar actors playing them. But they lack a certain something that was present in earlier episodes. It&#039;s still not bad by any stretch. But there&#039;s a pall of fatigue that hovers over the series. Even Barry and Glenda -&nbsp; the series&#039; token &quot;young&quot; characters - are considerably older by now than the older demographic were when they first joined (it&#039;s mind-boggling to think that Sarah Thomas at this point is almost twenty years older than Jane Freeman was when we first met Ivy).Some of the edge has gone now. Characters like Pearl and Ivy have mellowed. Pearl in particular now elicits as much of the viewer&#039;s sympathy as Howard. It&#039;s happened organically, from seeing her interact with gentler characters (most of her screen-time these days is shared with June Whitfield&#039;s Nellie), but it makes it harder to sympathise with Howard, running round on the freezing Yorkshire hills with less just cause than he had when his harridan wife oozed venom. I find myself wondering why he doesn&#039;t just stay home in the warm.The locations continue to look beautiful and the cast very likeable.Another sign of the times is an increased role for supporting players. The policemen even have names now, which feels slightly wrong. Nora&#039;s final episode was a Cannon and Ball heavy episode which, perhaps unsurprisingly, is not a good thing. And the Eighties Saturday teatime spillage reaches a zenith (or perhaps nadir) with the addition to the main cast of Russ Abbot. I&#039;m not greatly looking forward to it, but I&#039;m curious all the same.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 147905, member: 23"] Series Twenty Nine is now over. It's sad to think there'll be no more Nora Batty. With every departure a little more of the series has died. More recent additions to the supporting cast, such as Nellie, Miss Davenport, Entwistle and even Alvin are reassuring presences due to the familiar actors playing them. But they lack a certain something that was present in earlier episodes. It's still not bad by any stretch. But there's a pall of fatigue that hovers over the series. Even Barry and Glenda - the series' token "young" characters - are considerably older by now than the older demographic were when they first joined (it's mind-boggling to think that Sarah Thomas at this point is almost twenty years older than Jane Freeman was when we first met Ivy). Some of the edge has gone now. Characters like Pearl and Ivy have mellowed. Pearl in particular now elicits as much of the viewer's sympathy as Howard. It's happened organically, from seeing her interact with gentler characters (most of her screen-time these days is shared with June Whitfield's Nellie), but it makes it harder to sympathise with Howard, running round on the freezing Yorkshire hills with less just cause than he had when his harridan wife oozed venom. I find myself wondering why he doesn't just stay home in the warm. The locations continue to look beautiful and the cast very likeable. Another sign of the times is an increased role for supporting players. The policemen even have names now, which feels slightly wrong. Nora's final episode was a Cannon and Ball heavy episode which, perhaps unsurprisingly, is not a good thing. And the Eighties Saturday teatime spillage reaches a zenith (or perhaps nadir) with the addition to the main cast of Russ Abbot. I'm not greatly looking forward to it, but I'm curious all the same. [/QUOTE]

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Who played JR Ewing?