Last of the Summer Wine enjoyed the show. The programme was nominated for numerous awards and won the National Television Award for Most Popular Comedy Programme in 1999. There were twenty-one Christmas specials, three television films and a documentary film about the series. "Last of the Summer Wine" inspired other adaptations, including a television prequel, several novelisations, and stage adaptations. In 1972, Duncan Wood, the BBC's Head of Comedy, watched a comedy on television called "The Misfit". Impressed by writer Roy Clarke's ability to inject both comedy and drama into the sitcom, Wood offered Clarke the opportunity to write a sitcom. Clarke nearly turned the
First of the Summer Wine Judy Flynn as Lena, and Linda Davidson as Anita Pillsworth. The adults around the young people act as supporting characters. Peter Sallis and Maggie Ollerenshaw play David and Violet Clegg, Norman's parents. Derek Benfield portrays Mr Scrimshaw, the manager of the shop where Ivy, Dilys, Sherbert, Norman and Seymour work. "First of the Summer Wine" takes place between May and September 1939, in the months leading up to World War II. The series revolves around the diary entries of the young Norman Clegg. Each episode begins with him resting on his bedroom windowsill and greeting the day; the words "the