Wigan, a town wicked to a proverb (John Wesley).

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Remember watching lotsw late 70's/early 80's as a family, but not seen any more till a couple of years ago. Have since watched the whole series through twice, part way through a third time. Only episode I remember from a child was "Into the Wild Blue Yonder" with Compo in his birdsuit. Classic.
Foggy is my favourite 3rd man, and though I did not take to Truly at first (too many "the former Mrs Truelove"s at first for me), I did eventually take to him too. Fond of Billy Hardcastle, Wesley, Roz, and looking through the forums surprised that Miss Davenport does not get more love than she does.
Been over to the area half a dozen times in the last year, love the slopes above Digley Res, and the Scar Hole Lane area. Find the site map invaluable in finding filming locations. One question, the stream alongside Waters Road near Marsden that becomes River Colne, is it much wider/deeper than when filming 20+ year ago? Walking along it I could not believe that Billy Hardcastle etc would attempt to jump across something so wide.
Have been a guest on here the last couple of years, thanks for so much valuable information. Hope to not just disappear like many other newbies, but apologies in advance if I do not engage in inane discussions; even if that seems to be the premise of the lotsw gang :)
 
404 Not Found said:
One question, the stream alongside Waters Road near Marsden that becomes River Colne, is it much wider/deeper than when filming 20+ year ago? Walking along it I could not believe that Billy Hardcastle etc would attempt to jump across something so wide.
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Sadly like many of the locations the stream has been neglected and is quite overgrown in places, and - as streams do - it has slightly changed its course. Some of the scenes were shot in different locations and edited look like the same place! You'll notice in some of my "Summer Wine Decanted" videos it's very shallow and wide in places, although some of the shots were done in the 2022 drought period!
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Photo by petedk42
 
Referring to the thread title: Have you read Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier? I'm partway through it, reading it for insight into living and working conditions in the north of England between the wars. It's interesting enough so that I probably would have read it without that extra motivation.
 
Hi Marianna, I must confess to not having read that, but I should probably correct that omission, then in future I can affirm this. I have read (and would recommend) Robert Tressell's The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists along these same lines; and have just finished re-watching BBC's When The Boat Comes In, which if you can access would certainly recommend the first series of this (it gets progressively worse), dealing with the aftermath of WWI, origins of unions, and working class conditions in NE England.
 
I saw When the Boat Comes In on Masterpiece Theatre on my local PBS station years ago. Watched it through to the bitter end. It was very informative. Now the theme song is running through my head! Had to look up a performance of it to stop it from becoming an ear worm.

There's an electronic copy of The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists in Project Gutenberg. I just borrowed it through New York Public Library. Thanks for the recommendation. The Road to Wigan Pier was mentioned in passing in a post in the Undervalued British Women Novelists 1930-1960 Facebook group. That's my go-to source when I want something to read, followed by a search and borrowing from one of the four libraries whose electronic collections I have access to via Libby, or the local library's electronic collection via Hoopla.
 
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