
Writing
Roy Clarke
Born 1930-01-28 · Austerfield, Doncaster, England, UK
Royston Clarke OBE, usually known as Roy Clarke, is an English comedy writer best known for creating the sitcoms Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances, Open All Hours and its sequel series, Still Open All Hours.
Acting credits
NRRetrospective celebrating the shop sitcom, including a new short scene starring David Jason. Also features Diane Morgan, Johnny Vegas, Tim Healy and Charlotte Barker.
Open All Hours: Inside Out
2026
7.3Keeping Up Appearances remains one of Britain's best loved series. Running for 5 years throughout the 90s, millions of viewers tuned in to watch the delightfully monstrous Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet) as she attempted to climb the social ladder, only to be endlessly let down by her family. In this 90-minute celebration we feature the very best and most hilarious moments from the series, and cast, crew and celebrity fans pay tribute to the show and share backstage secrets. Featuring an exclusive interview with Dame Patricia Routledge, who shares her memories of the show, we learn how she came to be cast, how she developed the character, and what happened when the cameras stop rolling.
Comedy Classic: Keeping Up Appearances
2023
NRThis new special reveals the secrets of the long-running sitcom's extraordinary success. Helped by former cast and crew members, families of the stars no longer with us, and celebrity fans, we learn the secrets of this comedy classic and get to see previously unseen interviews and rare behind-the-scenes archive footage.
Last Of The Summer Wine: 30 Years Of Laughs
2022
Behind the camera
NRVernon Duxley, a Yorkshire chemist, confesses the traumatic, intimate secrets of his marital life to his video camera.
The Chemist
1990
7.0Nostalgic comic drama in which Cyril and Amos, two veterans of the Normandy landings, return to France to visit the grave of their wartime buddy. They encounter Waldo, an American on a similar mission, and the meeting sparks memories of an old girlfriend from the past. With the mysterious American lady Lisa in their wake, Cyril and Waldo decide to try and track her down.
A Foreign Field
1993
6.0An American insurance executive, who sees his wife and children die when a plane crashes into their vacation cottage on the Irish coast, uncovers a series of suspicious clues indicating that it was no accident after a pretty financial reporter who resembles his dead wife turns up.
Cry of the Innocent
1980
NRSkits from: "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin"; "The Les Dawson Show"; "Yes Minister"; "Only Fools and Horses"; "Three of a Kind"; "Last of the Summer Wine"; "Sorry!"; "Butterflies"; "Smith and Jones"; and "Open All Hours".
The Funny Side of Christmas
1982
5.7Two terminally ill patients in a hospital yearn for relief from their predicament. With little or no friends, they form an uneasy alliance and plot an escape for one last wild time.
Hawks
1988
5.1Set in the 1950s, this prequel to Keeping Up Appearances looks at the life, relationships, and aspirations of 18-year-old Hyacinth. Long before she becomes Mrs. Bucket (pronounced Bouquet), young Hyacinth is already dreaming of matching china and a bedroom in pastel shades. If only her family were more like the upper-class Cooper-Smiths in whose home Hyacinth works as a maid.
Young Hyacinth
2016
Alex Conway is an actor who plays the part of 'Eddie Weary', a sympathetic, down-at-heel, shabby, Northern, working-class private detective, in a TV show. Except Conway is actually a complete idiot in real-life: stuck up, pretentious and selfish, the constant focus of tabloid interest for his bad, usually drunken behaviour. But then he discovers he gets truckloads of mail from fans who think he really is Eddie Weary, asking for his help, so he decides to help them - with the aid of his assistant, Birdie.
The World of Eddie Weary
1990
George Mangham is a former composer and bass player in a band struggling for money. Stuck in an engagement with Mrs Merino, a wealthy older woman, while on the run and owing money to gangsters who are after him for debts he owes them, life is not great for George. But it gets even more complicated when he literally bumps into Terry Weston, daughter of gangster Charlie Weston, who has run away from home with her marriage to the rich but nerdy Nigel only a few days away. Little do either realize just what trouble and turmoil lays ahead for both of them...
The Bass Player and the Blonde
1977
NRIn the second TV movie outing for Roy Clarke's beloved characters, Wesley and Edie's daughter Glenda is getting married to hapless Barry, and Clegg and Compo make a new friend in Edie's brother Seymour. They are soon roped in to wedding preparations, which go about as well as could be expected...
Last of the Summer Wine: Uncle of the Bride
1986
9.5Daisy and Onslow find the secret diary of Hyacinth and start reading in it. The rest of this TV-special are clips from prevous episodes.
The Memoirs of Hyacinth Bucket
1997
8.0Three old chums agree to take the ailing Sam on one last trip to see his flousy girl-friend, Lily Bless Her, in the middle of the night.
Last of the Summer Wine: Getting Sam Home
1983
8.0They write so many innocent words, but what are the authors of your children's stories really like?
Will Amelia Quint Continue Writing 'A Gnome Called Shorthouse'?
1971
At the gathering of a North Country wedding, the prospective husband starts to have doubts about going ahead as he observes what marriage has done to the guests.
That Sinking Feeling
1973
NRThere's a big fête approaching at Dream Acres. Compo, Clegg and Seymour happen upon a wiley transient, who persuades them to help him rescue his childhood donkey from a field. Soon, the tramp's plan of fixing the fête 'donkey derby' is revealed.
Last of the Summer Wine: Big Day at Dream Acres
1987
