Last of the Summer Wine (series 1) episodes, however the pilot still was not included in the re-release. The pilot episode was released on the final boxset series 31 & 32 as an extra on disc four on 15 August 2016. Last of the Summer Wine (series 1) Last of the Summer Wine's first series originally aired on BBC1 between 4 January 1973 and 29 December 1973. All episodes from this series were written by Roy Clarke and produced and directed by James Gilbert. The pilot episode, alternately known as "The Last of the Summer Wine" and "Of Funerals and Fish," originally premiered on the BBC's "Comedy
British sitcom consciously avoids traditional situation comedy themes and storylines to branch out into more unusual topics or narrative methods. "Blackadder" (1983–1989) and "Yes Minister" (1980–1988, 2013) moved what is often a domestic or workplace genre into the corridors of power. A later development was the mockumentary in such series as "The Office" (2001–2003). The first British television sitcom was "Pinwright's Progress", broadcast by the BBC from 1946 to 1947, but the form did not take off until the transfer of "Hancock's Half Hour" from BBC radio in 1956. Hancock biographer John Fisher dates the first use of the term 'situation comedy'