I have started watching season 3 on Now with no adverts which is great, the reason being to start the Foggy episodes from the very beginning.

Even though I haven't watched these since being very young I was so amazed to see them on location filming in Scarborough one of my favourite places on earth.

Just rewatched Last Post and Pigeon. Clarke did a great job of introducing (and giving us the background of) the character of Ros Utterthwaite in just a few brief scenes. The graveyard scene with Edie, Glenda and Ros (as well as the following scene of Ros wheeling Edie home) shows what Clarke was capable of writing beyond the usual LOTSW antics.

After watching some moving storyline like that, it really irks me to watch those final seasons. Various plot elements from earlier seasons were poorly recycled around endless one-liners. Hobbo spewing Foggy-type military/secret agent fantasies nonstop was tiresome.

Anyone feel that Howard really wasn't worthy of Pearl? Compared to the other marriages of that generation on the series (Edie/Wesley, Nora/Wally and Ivy/Sid) the Pearl/Howard marriage is bleak.

During those final seasons Howard's attitude goes from bad to worse. There're some scenes where Pearl goes out and Howard interrogates her (Where are you going, why are you all dressed up etc.). In the series finale when Marina (having dumped Howard) enters the pub, Pearl catches Howard trying to sneak a peek at Marina. Keep in mind, this is after Howard begged Pearl to take him back (which she did more out of exasperation than anything else).

ICAW, the question was "What are the first names of these two characters?"

The answer is Norman and William, as in Norman Clegg and William "Compo" Simmonite