Last of the Summer Wine Took saw Holmfirth's potential as the backdrop of a television show. Twenty years later, he returned to Holmfirth, where he filmed an episode of the BBC documentary series "Having a Lovely Time", which turned out to be the highest rated episode of the show. When Took heard that James Gilbert and Roy Clarke were looking for a place with a centre surrounded by hills for their new television programme, he suggested the idea to Duncan Wood, who was at that time filming "Comedy Playhouse". Gilbert and Clarke then travelled to Holmfirth and decided to use it as the setting for
Last of the Summer Wine (series 1) of episodes, premiering on 12 November 1973. The trio in this series consisted of: Compo (1973-2000) Clegg (1973-2010) Blamire (1973-1975) Sid (1973-1983) Ivy (1973-2010) Nora Batty (1973-2001, 2002-2008) Mr Wainwright (1973, 1976) Mrs Partridge (1973) (Only series the character is in) <onlyinclude><includeonly> </onlyinclude> The first and second series were released by Universal Playback as a combined box set in September 2002. The pilot episode is not included and some episodes have been altered from their original broadcast, prompting criticism from the show's fan base, however a re-release of the box set in 2011 had the altered episodes restored to original