The Man from Oswestry (27 Oct. 1976)

The third season saw some changes and is the start of the golden age of the programme.

Sydney Lotterby took over as director and producer and Brian Wilde was introduced as Foggy Dewhurst after Micheal Bates left the programme because of ill health and his character was sent to Oswestry to court a widow. While there he met up with an old friend, retired from the army and coming back home to Yorkshire. He has written to Clegg requesting that he and Compo meet him at the bus station.

We have our first glimpse of Foggy getting into an argument with the bus conductor over the amount of luggage he has brought, talking up his army days and military prowess. He nearly gets beaten up in the pub by one of Compo's relatives and is prone to moments of going blank which he puts down to going into deep concentration.

The episode is topped off as the luggage that Foggy pushes up the hill rolls down taking him with it.

The series still has the gritty atmosphere of the early years, there is still talk about politics, lazy workers, equal opportunities legislation. The women are still painted as dragons but we are now there with the characters coming together as well as the comedy. The going down a hill and pratfalls are going to become more frequent but at the moment it is Foggy and not Compo who is suffering.