Last of the Summer Wine being replaced by Foggy. In the late 1980s, Roy Clarke wrote novels featuring Compo, Clegg and Seymour. The books were published by Penguin Books under the series heading "Summer Wine Chronicles", and included such titles as "Gala Week" and "The Moonbather". Clarke later adapted "The Moonbather" into a stage play. In the early 1980s, a daily comic strip based on the show was drawn by Roger Mahoney and appeared in the "Daily Star". A compilation of these strips, published by Express Books, was released in 1983. In 1993, the Summer Wine Appreciation Society asked their members for their favourite musical
Last of the Summer Wine especially for Sallis, who liked the character and agreed to play him. He was soon joined by an actor he had previously worked with, Michael Bates as Cyril Blamire. James Gilbert wanted Bates as Blamire because of his reputation as a comedy actor, and Bates loved the role. Compo Simmonite was the last role to be cast in the original trio. Gilbert had seen film actor Bill Owen playing northern characters in the Royal Court Theatre and proposed to cast him as Compo. Clarke, who initially saw Owen as an archetypal cockney who could not play as solid a northern