History Series / LastOfTheSummerWine

* CastHerd- Have been used increasingly since Seymour introduced the extended Pegden family in the '80s. Currently the major ones are the main trio (which Clegg and Truly have split off from, to be replaced by others); Howard, his wife Pearl, his would-be girlfriend Marina, and Pearl's friend Nellie; Barry and Glenda; Auntie Wainwright, Tom, and (until recently) Smiler; and the two policemen. There was formerly a prominent herd of female characters, but with the deaths of Edie Pegden and Nora Batty, they've become a bit less organized.

* Asexual- Clegg is not classified as this outright, but he is quite open about his aversion to romance and sex, even during his marriage. As evidence, see his squicked reaction whenever Marina or any other woman shows an interest in him.

* Asexuality- Clegg is not classified as this outright, but he is quite open about his aversion to romance and sex, even during his marriage. As evidence, see his squicked reaction whenever Marina or any other woman shows an interest in him.

** Howard's many complicated plans for ensuring that his adultery with Marina wasn't discovered (despite it being TheNotSecret) - "I think we've really cracked it this time love!" It was sometimes implied that he was more interested in coming up with the [[ZanyScheme Zany Schemes]] than the adultery itself.

* British Brevity: ...Well. 295 episodes is hardly anything to sneeze at, but it's a pretty low number for a show that ran for 37 years. Most seasons, per the Anglo norm, are only 6 or 7 episodes long.

** Edie to Glenda: "Drink your coffee!"

* IconicOutfit- Compo's trousers and wellies.

* {{Flanderization}} - Clegg went from being the acerbic, logical one to being the lily-livered coward of the trio. It started with him pointing out flaws in Foggy's schemes and snowballed into him desperately seeking any excuse to "give up and go home". In fact, all of the characters have been reduced to their best-known personality trait, if only for expediency's sake...LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, and all that.

* GladIThoughtOfIt- Seymour and Foggy are prone to this.

* BrotherChuck-The show was usually good about providing some explanation if a character left the series, but a few slipped through the cracks. A noticeable one was the departure of Billy Hardcastle, who worked his way up to being one of the central trio, then vanished and was never spoken of again.

* ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch The show was regularly derided in the media, and criticized by people who constantly bring up the "Compo in a Bathtub" moment, and talk about the show as if it was a regular occurrence. As any actual fan will tell you, said moment is only a single scene from one episode- rolling bathtubs do not appear in the other 294 episodes (or indeed in around 95% of that episode) yet it's referred to as if it's all the show was ever about. The episode in question didn't even air until 20 years into the show's run either.

* Chuck Cunningham Syndrome- While most characters are given at least passing mention when they depart, there have been a few notable exceptions:

''Last of the Summer Wine'' first aired in 1973, in the United Kingdom. New seasons were broadcast most years since then (1973, 1975-79, 1982-83, 1985-86, 1988-2010), as well as multiple holiday specials, though it has now been cancelled. Should be noted that it is currently the longest-running sitcom in the world, although [[BritishBrevity not the one with the most episodes]] - that would be ''Series/TheSimpsons''.

Several older members of the British Royal Family once stated LOTSW was their favourite television programme. More bizarrely, so has President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.

In August 2010, the show finally concluded after 31 series, around the same time that {{ITV}}'s equivelant LongRunner, ''TheBill'' (which is actually about a decade younger than ''Last of the Summer Wine'') was also canceled, which brought about the end of an era to many British television viewers (and, if you count in the end of the American LongRunner ''LawAndOrder'', this gets global).

* ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch The show was reguarly derided in the media, and critisised by people who constantly bring up the "Compo in a Bathtub" moment, and talk about the show as if it was a regular occurance. As any actual fan will tell you, said moment is only a single scene from one episode- rolling bathtubs do not appear in the other 294 episodes (or indeed in around 95% of that episode) yet it's referred to as if it's all the show was ever about. The episode in question didn't even air until 20 years into the show's run either.

* {{Flanderization}} - Clegg went from being the acerbic, logical one to being the lilly-livered coward of the trio. It started with him pointing out flaws in Foggy's schemes and snowballed into him desperately seeking any excuse to "give up and go home". In fact, all of the characters have been reduced to their best-known personality trait, if only for expediency's sake...LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, and all that.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters- With the exception that all the characters usually appear in every episode. This seems to have been done so as to have plenty of characters to fall back on if one of the cast members dies, retires, or becomes too infirm to participate. Similarly, having such a large supporting cast reduces the strain on the principle actors, who by now are well into their 80s. Of course, this means an episode can only afford to have the tiniest shred of a plot so they can fit in enough scenes to accomodate all the players.

* MarsAndVenusGenderContrast: One of the main drivers of humour. Usually approached by the women, but occasionally the men would weigh in as well, such as Norman Clegg stating the reason why women scare him is that they don't like ''TheGoonShow''.

** The ladies over at Edie's house for tea and buns had two: always sipping their tea in an unconscious synchronised movement, and having a PolitenessJudo contest over the big cream eclair.

** In the Foggy years, this usually consisted of Foggy carrying a thread about his heroic war experiences/how the other two needed to get into shape, while Compo monologued about Nora Batty, and Clegg mused on something randomly philosophical, such as the implications of the fact that all men are equally purple on the inside.

* StrictlyFormula- The beginning of most of the '90s Foggy episodes followed a very set routine. Each show would start- not necessarily in this order- with a scene of Compo trying to romance Nora, a scene of Foggy boring/revolting a stranger with a made-up war story, and a scene of Howard bursting into Clegg's house to ask a favor. Once Foggy left, the openings became a little more varied, although there were still many scenes of Compo persuing Nora and Howard bothering Clegg.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute- Burly, dark-haired Crusher certainly appeared to be this, because of his resemblace to burly, dark-haired Sid (John Comer). Although oddly, Crusher was supposed to be related to Ivy's side of the family.
** All the characters referred to as the "third man" are physically similar, and have a bossy temperment, but are not without their own quirks.

* LongRunners- the [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8054225.stm if you believe the BBC]], the longest-running sitcom in the world, ever, in fact.

''Last of the Summer Wine'' first aired in 1973, in the United Kingdom. New seasons were broadcast most years since then (1973, 1975-79, 1982-83, 1985-86, 1988-2010), as well as multiple holiday specials, though it has now been cancelled. Should be noted that it is currently the longest-running sitcom in the world.