Last of the Summer Wine "Heartbeat". Alan J. W. Bell responded that Radio Times has always been anti-"Last of the Summer Wine", and Roy Clarke remarked that people who dislike the show "shouldn't switch it on" unless they are "too idle to turn it off". A 2008 survey by "County Life" magazine, which named the show the worst thing about Yorkshire, was disputed by members of the Holme Valley Business Association, who said the show was good for business. The BBC wanted to cancel "Last of the Summer Wine" for years in favour of a new programme aimed at a younger audience, but the show
Last of the Summer Wine share of viewers in the 6:20 time slot with an average of 3.2 million viewers. "Last of the Summer Wine's" audience grew from 2.7 million to 3.4 million over the 30 minutes. The show was beaten for the night only by Channel 4's "Big Brother" with 3.6 million viewers at 9:00 p.m., although the reality show had a smaller share of viewers for its time slot. The 29th series finale, which was broadcast on 31 August 2008, was watched by 4.2 million people, giving the network a 22.5% share for the night. Several members of the royal family were viewers