Last of the Summer Wine (TV Series) Going to Gordon's Wedding (1976) User Reviews

too bad this was the last seen of Gordon

[bullersix · 7/10 · 1 June 2008]

Once I figured out that it was Philip Jackson playing Gordon - he plays Inspector Japp in Poirot with David Suchet - it made watching him in LOTSW so much more fun. I loved his mum, too. This episode showed the Trio at their best. Loved it, as I do the vast majority of what I've seen of this series so far. Saturday evenings are not complete without this easy-going, enjoyable show. The actors look like 'real' people, and the countryside shots are heavenly. I get a lot of 'laughter therapy' from the scrapes and adventures that Compo, Clegg, and Foggy find themselves in.

FYI: It was Paul Luty as Big Malcolm who appeared in 'The Man From Oswestry' in Foggy's first episode, not Big Eric.

Bye Gordon

[keysam-02610 · 9/10 · 18 July 2022]

If Philip Jackson had stuck around, I wonder if he & his wife would have replaced Barry & Glenda? It feels like this was an attempt to introduce a younger generation to the show, and unlike Glenda, Gordon has a familial connection to the main trio as he's Compo's nephew. Compo's family disappeared really, until the later (& IMO unfortunate) introduction of Tom and it's a shame as the ones we were introduced to were good fun.

This is a set piece all about Gordon's wedding. It has all the usual sort of jokes a wedding does have in a sitcom, but with a Summer Wine twist. Compo ends up as best man, which is nice really, and there's a big hint that Gordon's bride - currently quite a sweet young woman - will end up morphing into one of the wives that the town has in abundance. Poor Gordon.

A wedding always brings joy, and a few laughs.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 27 September 2023]

Compo's nephew Gordon is set to get married, and when the best man gets injured, it falls on the groom's uncle to step in, and ensure proceedings go as planned.

One thing this show loved was a good old fashioned wedding episode, this being the first of them, they'd get bigger and more elaborate as time went on.

It's a funny episode, with some fine moments, Compo's assistance at the service is perhaps the best of them, but Foggy getting the mop treatment from Nora Batty is also a fun moment.

There are some pretty bizarre family connections, and it's perhaps not straight forward to work out how Gordon is related to Compo, maybe he just called him Uncle? We wouldn't see the family beyond this series.

Always good to see Philip Jackson, and he's good as the hapless Gordon, I'm not sure he looks particularly enthusiastic about getting married.

7/10.

Wedding daze

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 6 July 2016]

In this episode of series 3 we draw on a theme present in this third series but never to be revisited. A focus on Compo's family. Gordon marries the lass (Josie) he met in Scarborough and Compo is Uncle Bill to Gordon. Does this mean Gordon's mother who appears in this episode is his sister or was Gordon's dad his brother?

Compo does not let his nephew down as he scrubs up and smartens up for the wedding. Again not for the first time we see Compo looking rather dapper in series 3.

When the accident prone Best Man comes a cropper at the church when he slips on a giant buttonhole, it is left to Compo to step into the breach.

There are some nice observational moments in this episode. The awkward silence and small talk when Compo meets distant relatives at the groom's house. Gordon's mother seems to have taken a shine to Foggy and he seems to be considerate about her making sure she is well turned out as he tries to take a photograph of her. We also see Big Malcolm again who also has taken a shine to Gordon's mother and tussles with another man over her.

What I did notice that there are elements here that Roy Clarke would reuse 10 years later in Uncle of the Bride. When Josie turns up to the church with her dad she has a moment with her father asking him to look happy for the wedding photograph and not pine for his overalls. The character Wesley, the bride's father in Uncle of the Bride was never happy than be in the garage with his blue overalls.

Also when Josie is getting ready, her mother thinks she is marrying beneath her and she should had married someone with prospects like a man working in a Building Society. In Uncle of the Bride, young Barry worked in a Building Society when he married Glenda and her mother Edie was also rather full of heirs and graces.

The episode had a good balance of comedy as well as juggling a larger cast of characters and including several poignant moments as well.