List of Last of the Summer Wine characters

The following is a list of characters in the BBC sitcom Last of the Summer Wine. The series focused primarily on a trio of old men and their interaction with other characters in the town. Due to the longevity of the series it was often necessary to replace key characters due to an actor's death, illness, or unavailability for other reasons. Many characters were first seen in "one-off" appearances and were popular enough or felt to have enough potential for them to be brought back as regulars, in some instances replacing previous members of the cast.

(1973–1975) The first "third man", and the most childishly argumentative and snobbish, Blamire was the contrast to Compo. Blamire was fired up by displays of youthful enthusiasm, energetic gusto, or any sign of the British spirit. He served as a corporal in the British Army in the Royal Signals regiment during "The Great Fight for Freedom" as a "supply wallah" (a storeman) in India and retains his military bearing. He was a Tory and a self-important know-it-all with upper-class aspirations, who often dissociated himself from the other two, especially Compo, as he considered himself superior to them. Because of his sophisticated interests and insistence on table manners, Compo liked to refer to him as a "poof". Cyril would often reprimand Compo whenever he addressed him by his given name, as he preferred the "more rounded tone of Mr. Blamire" and would say that Compo had to touch his "tatty cap" whenever he did so. Out of all of the third men, Blamire tolerated Compo's antics the least (though sometimes when he got caught up in them he would join in, such as backchatting Miss Probert on one occasion). In spite of this, Compo and Blamire were close, as shown by Compo's misery in the episodes immediately after he left. Despite his snobby nature Blamire had more commonsense than most of his successors. Bates left the cast in 1975 due to cancer that left him too ill to perform in any long-term projects aside from It Ain't Half Hot Mum. So Blamire was written out of the series; it was said that he had left to get married. The last we hear of him is a very organised letter, instructing Clegg and Compo to meet their old classmate, Foggy Dewhurst.

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