Last of the Summer Wine's third series originally aired on BBC1 between 27 October 1976 and 24 December 1976.[1] All episodes from this series were written by Roy Clarke and produced by Sydney Lotterby[2] Five episodes were directed by Sydney Lotterby but two: the two-parter, "The Great Boarding House Bathroom Caper" and "Cheering Up Gordon", were directed by Ray Butt.
Although none of the episodes from series 3 made it into the top ten programmes of the week on their initial screening, a repeat showing of the final episode, "Isometrics and After," attracted 15 million viewers during a repeat screening in spring 1977.[3] Also notable was the inclusion for the first time of a two-part episode consisting of "The Great Boarding House Bathroom Caper" and "Cheering Up Gordon,"[4] both featuring guest appearances by Philip Jackson as Compo's nephew, Gordon.[5]
Blake Butler reprises his role from the first series as the librarian, Mr. Wainwright, before departing the show again at the end of the year.[6] The most notable change this season, however, was the addition of Brian Wilde as the new third-man of the trio, Foggy Dewhurst, an ex-military sign painter. Wilde would play this role twice: between 1976 and 1985 and then again from 1990 until 1997, when he was forced to leave due to health problems.[7]
The third series was released on DVD in region 2 as a combined box set with series 4 on 26 July 2004. A box set featuring just series 3 was released for region 1 on 11 March 2008.
The trio in this series consisted of:
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Bill Owen | Compo |
| Peter Sallis | Clegg |
| Brian Wilde | Foggy |
| No. | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Original airdate | Prod. code | Disc |
The box set for series 3 and 4 was released by Universal Playback in July 2004.
| The Complete Series 3 & 4 | ||||
| Set Details[8] | ||||
| ||||
| Release Date | ||||
| Region 2 Region 1 S3 only | ||||
| 26 July 2004 11 March 2008 | ||||
Book: Bright , Morris . Robert Ross . Last of the Summer Wine: The Finest Vintage . BBC Worldwide Ltd . 2000 . London . 0-563-55151-8 . registration .