Last of The Summer Wine - Reception

Reception

"I've reached the stage now where I don't want it to end. I'm hoping that as one by one we drop dead that, provided Roy is still alive, it will just keep going."

During its first series, Last of the Summer Wine did not receive a high ratings share. The second series proved to be a success, however, and two episodes made it to the top ten programmes of the week. The programme has since consistently been a favourite in the ratings, peaking at 18.8 million viewers for an episode shown on 10 February 1985. The premiere of the 28th series in 2007 brought in an 18.6 percent share of viewers in the 6:20 time slot with an average of 3.2 million viewers. Last of the Summer Wine's audience grew from 2.7 million to 3.4 million over the 30 minutes. The show was beaten for the night only by Channel 4's Big Brother with 3.6 million viewers at 9:00 p.m., although the reality show had a smaller share of viewers for its time slot. The 29th series finale, which was broadcast on 31 August 2008, was watched by 4.2 million people, giving the network a 22.5% share for the night. The 31st series continued to bring in over four million viewers, with the series opener pulling in 4.77 million viewers for an overall 21.6% share of the ratings for the night.

Several members of the royal family are viewers of Last of the Summer Wine. While presenting an OBE to Roy Clarke in 2002, Prince Charles said that his grandmother, the Queen Mother, had introduced him to the show. The Queen told Dame Thora Hird during a 2001 meeting that Last of the Summer Wine was her favourite television programme. The show is also a favourite of Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan.

A 2003 survey by Radio Times found that Last of the Summer Wine was the programme readers most wanted to see cancelled. With nearly 12,000 votes in the survey, the show received one-third of the total vote, and twice as many votes as the runner up in the poll, Heartbeat. Alan J. W. Bell responded that Radio Times has always been anti-Last of the Summer Wine, and Roy Clarke remarked that people who dislike the show "shouldn't switch it on" unless they are "too idle to turn it off". A 2008 survey by County Life magazine, which named the show the worst thing about Yorkshire, was disputed by members of the Holme Valley Business Association, who said the show was good for business. However, many members of the Holme Valley Business Association are proprietors of tea rooms that cater primarily to coach parties of elderly fans of the show. The BBC wanted to cancel Last of the Summer Wine for years in favour of a new programme aimed at a younger audience, but the show remained too popular for cancellation; even repeats received ratings of as much as five million viewers per episode. The show came 14th in a high-profile 2004 BBC poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom, and was praised for portraying older people in a non-stereotypical, positive, and active manner. It was also praised for its clever and at times philosophical writing, and for being a family-friendly show.

Last of the Summer Wine was nominated numerous times for two British television industry awards. The show was proposed five times between 1973 and 1985 for the British Academy Film Awards, twice for the Best Situation Comedy Series award (in 1973 and 1979) and three times for the Best Comedy Series award (in 1982, 1983, and 1985). The show was also been considered for the National Television Awards four times since 1999 (in 1999, 2000, 2003, and 2004 ), each time in the Most Popular Comedy Programme category. In 1999 the show won the National Television Award for Most Popular Comedy Programme.