Last of the Summer Wine the majority of the play was improvised, with Kitson and Emerick each deriving their cues of what to do from the audience. The play was successfully performed in Holmfirth, after which dates were announced in Emerick's hometown on the Wirral Peninsula. Coronet Books released a novelisation of "Last of the Summer Wine" in 1974. Written by Roy Clarke as an unbroadcast original story, the novel featured Compo, Clegg and Blamire helping their friend, Sam, enjoy one last night with a glam girl. The book became the basis for the "Last of the Summer Wine" film, "Getting Sam Home", with Blamire
Last of the Summer Wine The original cast of "Last of the Summer Wine" also included a handful of characters with whom the trio regularly interacted. Kathy Staff was chosen to play Compo's neighbour, Nora Batty. Gilbert was initially sceptical about casting Staff but changed his mind after she padded herself to look bigger and read from a scene between her character and Owen's. This group was rounded out by characters at two locations frequented by the trio: John Comer and Jane Freeman as Sid and Ivy, the quarrelling husband-and-wife owners of the local café; and Blake Butler and Rosemary Martin as Mr Wainwright and