First of the Summer Wine original series making an appearance in the prequel. With the success of "Last of the Summer Wine", the BBC approved a new series which Roy Clarke would carry over characters of the original show. With the new series, Clarke hoped to show the lives of his characters as they were in the "first summer" of their lives, as opposed to the last summer depicted in "Last of the Summer Wine". While there would still be the "shadow of the Grim Reaper" hanging over them, this time it would be because of World War II, not due to their old age.
Last of the Summer Wine spin-off show could not build on its early success and was cancelled after two series of thirteen episodes in 1989. Although the BBC has never rerun the show, it has been broadcast on Gold and internationally. In 2014, it was announced that long-time supporting actors Ken Kitson and Louis Emerick had returned to Holmfirth to reprise their roles as Police Constables Cooper and Walsh in the pilot for a new proposed spin-off, "Cooper and Walsh". Alan J.W. Bell as well as crew from "Last of the Summer Wine" were involved in the creation of two short films while Kitson and