TV Worth Blogging
by David Thiel, Program Director for WILL-TV
An insider's view of public television programming and the issues that help determine what and how you watch
Vintner of the "Summer Wine"
Next Tuesday, WILL's viewers and listeners will have the opportunity to visit with the producer and director of the long-running British comedy Last of the Summer Wine when Alan J.W. Bell visits our studios in Urbana. How he comes to be here is an unusual story that speaks to the connections that WILL's programming makes with members of our audience.
A few years ago, a couple of Friends of WILL chose to visit Holmfirth, the West Yorkshire village where Summer Wine has been filmed since its 1973 debut. Apparently they hit it off with the cast and crew, as one of them became good friends with producer Bell and has since returned to Holmfirth on several occasions. Along the way, Alan learned of WILL and was apparently intrigued by the Central Illinois TV station that was one of the early adopters of Summer Wine here in the U.S. (We've aired it since October, 1997.)
Once before we'd hoped to host Bell during a trip to the States in December 2007, but he unexpectedly had to cancel after the death of the series' music composer Ronnie Hazlehurst. It's taken us more than a year to reschedule, but he will at last be dropping by on Tuesday, March 10. And he'll be sharing a behind-the-scenes look of Summer Wine during several special events.
1:00 pm: Alan will be interviewed by WILL-AM's Celeste Quinn on The Afternoon Magazine. Listeners will be invited to call in with their comments and questions.
2:00 pm: Bell will be the guest at an "afternoon tea" event at Silvercreek Restaurant in Urbana. Tickets are $20 and seating is limited.
8:30 pm: I'll host a Summer Wine marathon featuring two of Alan's favorite episodes live on WILL-TV analog channel 12 and digital 12.1. He's bringing rare behind-the-scenes footage and exclusive performance clips from some of the cast. We'll even have a prize drawing for several items of memorabilia!
I'm looking forward to meeting him, and I hope that you will be as well!
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