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
Last of the Summer Wine (series 3) play this role twice: between 1976 and 1985 and then again from 1990 until 1997, when he was forced to leave due to health problems. The third series was released on DVD in region 2 as a combined box set with series 4 on 26 July 2004. A box set featuring just series 3 was released for region 1 on 11 March 2008. The trio in this series consisted of: Foggy (1976-1985, 1990-1997) Gordon Simmonite (1976) (Only made a few appearances in this series) Miss Moody (1976) (Only series this character appeared in) Big Malcolm Simmonite (Only series this character