Our take
The show's first feature-length special and its blackest comedy: a farce about smuggling a dead man home, played with a straight face and a surprising tenderness. Ninety minutes gives the trio room for a proper adventure, and the guest cast is full of familiar faces. It is not set at Christmas, but it was made for Christmas week and has been repeated at Christmas since, most recently on BBC Four on Christmas Eve 2023.
What happens
Sam, who is bedridden, makes one last request, and Compo, Clegg and Foggy reluctantly agree to it: they sneak him out of his invalid bed for a final frolic with his old flame, Lily Bless Her, who is not as young as she used to be. Then, with an unthinking lack of gratitude and a smile on his face, Sam drops them right in it by dying on them, becoming far more trouble dead than alive. The three are left with the job of getting his body back home without his wife finding out.
Can the kids watch it?
Not rated by the BBFC as a separate episode; the plot turns on a death and an affair, so better for older children and adults.
Cast and crew
Starring
- Bill Owen as Compo
- Peter Sallis as Clegg
- Brian Wilde as Foggy
- Kathy Staff as Nora Batty
- Jane Freeman as Ivy
- Ken Kitson as PC Cooper
- Joe Gladwin as Wally Batty
- John Comer as Sid
Guest stars
- Lynda Baron as Lily Bless Her
- Johnny Leeze as Our Kid Colin
- Tony Melody as Sid (voice)
Writer
- Roy Clarke
Director
- Alan J. W. Bell