Peter Sallis

Why I reach for Aardman in dark times

Full of visual wit and narrative ingenuity, the tactile warmth and joie de vivre of these Aardman animations is soul-invigorating.

Summer Wine stars Compo and Clegg buried side-by-side

Actors Peter Sallis and Bill Owen became best friends during the 26 years they spent filming the sitcom together before Compo star Bill passed away in 1999. The two close friends now lie next to each other in St John's Church graveyard in the iconic Yorkshire Dales town of Holmfirth where they filmed the sitcom.

Peter Sallis had a secret and surprising sex life

Peter, whose death at 96 was announced on Monday, had a murky past that was a far cry from his showbiz alter egos -- he was a serial adulterer who could not resist the lure of the opposite sex. He was so prolific as a love cheat that his long-suffering wife Elaine threw him out sixteen times because of his affairs.

Wallace and Gromit may retire

Nick Park said he was unsure whether to continue the much-loved British comedy without actor Peter Sallis, who has voiced Wallace since 1990 when he accepted the voiceover job for £25, yet is growing increasingly frail at 93. The voice of the veteran, who starred in Last of the Summer Wine, is inextricably linked with Wensleydale-loving Wallace, - but Sallis is said to be in poor health.

The holy trinity - Foggy, Compo and Nora - have long departed, sadly, but original cast member Peter Sallis remains to provide continuity down the full length of Last Of The Summer Wine's 37 years. Unsurprisingly for a show whose whole purpose was to illustrate the equanimity it might be possible to have with the later stages of a quiet life, tonight's very final episode is gentle stuff. As the gang assemble for a wedding, Howard is left in the cold by Pearl, who may not even let him have his best suit. You may want to be in that number as the last bathtub, so to speak, is precariously rolled down the hill.

Once more the BBC salutes itself. Honestly, if they had to pay for the airtime to promote themselves, as they do constantly, the bill would be enormous. Here's ubiquitous Ian McMillan with a tribute to the longest-running sitcom in TV history as it reaches its final episode. Who'd have thought a comedy about three old men in rural Yorkshire could last so long, win so many hearts (if not mine) and make its corner of the Dales a tourist destination? Perhaps not even writer Roy Clarke and producer/director Alan JW Bell although their casting of the three originals, especially that of wonderful Peter Sallis and the late Bill Owen, was a masterstroke.

Swansong line for 'Last Of The Summer Wine' revealed

Long-running TV hit Last Of The Summer Wine will bow out with a line from the show's longest serving star Peter Sallis, it was revealed today.