Last of the Summer Wine (TV Series) Forked Lightning (1975) User Reviews

Typical Summer Wine begins to emerge, slightly.

[keysam-02610 · 8/10 · 20 June 2022]

While the dialogue is still a bit on the coarse side and Clegg is still rather assertive compared to his later persona, this episode - first of the second series - is beginning to feel ever so slightly like the SW most will remember.

For a start there's some physical comedy - poor Clegg has a very unfortunate accident on his bike. Later all three men are riding the one bike and they fall off. Sid later also suffers from a bike injury!

There's a nice exchange with Ivy towards the end - in which the diffident Clegg appears for what might actually be the first time - when Compo admires her chest & she first gives him what-for, then admires herself in the mirror.

The scenes with the homage to Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, are also quite typical for SW, which over the years kept up quite nicely with "modern life" and will go on to make a fair number of topical references.

All in all, this is where the later, gentler Summer Wine first peeks out.

If legs weren't joined in the middle, we couldn't ride a bicycle.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 30 January 2023]

Norman is having a few problems with his bike, injuring himself more than once, he aims to take it back to the place he purchased it from, but that was back in 1946.

It's quite different to the episodes from the first series, it's still charming, funny and sweet, but there's a bit more in terms of physical humour, this is definitely something that would be further developed as time went on.

Forked Lightning is always going to be best known for that bicycle sequence, and it's a cracking, very funny moment. Fair play to the trio of actors for being on the bike together. Several funny moments throughout, Ivy posing in the mirror one of the highlights.

Look out for Gordon, Kenneth MacDonald of course better known for his roles in Only Fools and Horses and It ain't 'alf hot mum. Maybe John Comer steals the show as Sid? So good here.

Great start to the second series.

8/10.

Some old re-Cycled jokes

[professoritterrohl · 5/10 · 24 April 2019]

An episode that tips its hat to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid. It starts off with an old gag that Mrs. Brown's Boys would be proud of; in which Clegg falls off his bike and hurts his sensitive parts. More of interest is the reaction of a man at the bus stop saying "Nice one Cyril". This was a hugely popular catchphrase in the 70's and one that will be totally lost on younger viewers. This episode focuses on Clegg's unfathomable decision to return a faulty bicycle that he bought in 1946. The gang try to disguise it in an attempt to take it on a bus and it seems that the episode is going down the farce route: but it never does. Kenneth MacDonald (Mike from Only Fools and Horses) makes an appearance as a singing mechanic with his rendition of a whole medley of songs. The trio end up riding a single bike down a country lane; mimicking the Raindrops keep falling on my head scene from Butch Cassidy. The scene is well shot with no tacky backdrops that crop up all too often in future episodes. Instead the trio actually ride the bike except in the side shots. The scene culminates in them falling off and its quite surprising to see three elder actors actually falling to the ground. Although on closer inspection Bill Owen and Michael Bates merely lower themselves to the floor as they weren't actually on the bike. The show has a nice ending with Side enjoying himself on the bike. Listen out for Compo calling Blamire a poof. This was an acceptable light-hearted insult at the time but one that no sitcom today would dare use today.

Getting the bike mended

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 28 May 2016]

In the first episode of the second series we get a taste of the physical comedy that the series would soon become famous for.

Clegg suffers several mishaps with his bike resulting him in injury. He takes the bike where he bought it from sometime during the war much to the bemusement of the mechanic (Kenneth MacDonald of Only Fools and Horses fame.)

It is left to Sid from the cafe to fix the bike which leads to a parody from that famous bike scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

This episode certainly sees old men falling off bike and Roy Clarke knew he was on to a winner.