Favorite Intro of Third Man

me2

me2

Dedicated Member
We've had a lot of discussions on who you liked as the 'third' man in the series but this question is about the episodes introducing them. Which episode, introducing a new third man, did you like best and why? I've only included the third men grouped with Compo and Clegg as the dynamics completely changed after that. Remember, you're rating the episode, not the character. The choices would be:

Of Funerals and Fish: Michael Bates Blamire

The Man from Oswestry: Brian Wilde Foggy

Uncle of the Bride: Michael Aldridge Seymour

Return of the Warrior: Brian Wilde Foggy

There Goes the Groom: Frank Thorton Truly
 
I really enjoyed the Seymour year's so Uncle of the Bride for me.
 
The first return of Foggy was excellent and set the scene for his interfering for the rest of his time in the show ,his second return was well laid out from his return at the bus station and from then on it was great .
 
I still love the very first scenes in Of Funerals and Fish with
(Michael Bates) Blamire and the Little Dog.
 
Of Funerals and Fish, because it set the very funny tone for the entire Blamire era, and because most of the action takes place in Holmfirth, giving it a cozy, comfortable feel.
 
In order of preference;-

Uncle of the Bride because it was a very special Christmas Special. A feature length 'film' to introduce a new character, and very entertaining.

Return of the Warrior because it featured two third men, was quite emotionally written, and so carefully followed the pattern of Foggy's previous return whilst having fresh ideas.

The Man from Oswestry for the scene where Compo misses Blamire, and Clegg's excellent letter reading.

There Goes the Groom for Frank Thornton turning in a very different performance from Captain Peacock, which could have been too predictable and too similar to Foggy's background.

Of Funerals and Fish. Doesn't introduce a third man at all. Introduces the whole trio and the rest of the cast because it's the first one.
 
It's interesting that several of you chose, "Uncle of the Bride." That was the episode that got me thinking about this. If I had to put one at the top, it would probably be that one although I love "Of Funerals and Fish" and watch it frequently. It's really almost a tie for first.

I like "Return of the Warrior," but didn't care much for "The Man From Oswestry" except for the part where Clegg reads the letter from Blamire. Peter Sallis was brilliant in every episode where he read letters.

The part I like best in "There Goes the Groom" is the ending when they discover Foggy has inadvertently proposed to the post lady. It was of course very funny but left the way to bring Foggy back in the future or leave him gone from the show. I thought a very clever way to handle it.
 
Torn between Both Foggy intros as they both heralded the entrance of possibly the best third man of them all and uncle of the bride as it is widely known oh the forum that I am a big fan of the Seymour era of the show.
 
I nominate "Of Funerals and Fish" because if it had not been such a great episode, there would have been no LOTSW. They didn't keep the Vicar and the dog. I wish that they had kept the Vicar, but I don't miss the dog.
 
I'm disqualifying the pilot, but I'd go with "The Man from Oswestry" either way because it's such a good episode for what was a very important moment for the show as a whole. "Uncle of the Bride" is very good as well, but as it also introduces three other characters the focus on Seymour is a bit weakened. It also suffers from being an early version of Seymours relationship with Compo and Clegg that changed when they got to the regular series.
 
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