Last of the Summer Wine of "Last of the Summer Wine". While presenting an OBE to Roy Clarke in 2002, Prince Charles said that his grandmother, the Queen Mother, had introduced him to the show. The Queen told Dame Thora Hird during a 2001 meeting that "Last of the Summer Wine" was her favourite television programme. A 2003 survey by "Radio Times" found that "Last of the Summer Wine" was the programme readers most wanted to see cancelled. With nearly 12,000 votes in the survey, the show received one-third of the total vote, and twice as many votes as the runner up in the poll,
Last of the Summer Wine (series 2) the top ten programs of the week, starting with the opening show, "Forked Lightning," which was watched by over 18 million people. Joining the cast this season was Joe Gladwin as Wally Batty, Nora Batty's henpecked husband. Series 2 would also mark the final appearance of Blamire, played by Michael Bates, who left at the end of the series due to health problems. The second series was released on DVD in region 2 as a combined box set with series 1 on 2 September 2002. The trio in this series consisted of: Wally Batty (1975, 1976-1987) Miss Probert and Miss