TONY CAPSTICK
Keeping the Peace – and us in pieces!

A small tribute to a most memorable talent and an unforgettable partnership - by Pat Carline. 


See the Tony Capstick Tribute page - and emails from fans.

On Thursday 23^rd October 2003 Tony Capstick died at his home – and Last of the Summer Wine lost another fine comedy character actor.  Tony (right) was also well known here in South Yorkshire for his local radio show, which lasted 30 years, and for his many appearances as a comedian and musical entertainer.

Tony Capstick and Ken Kitson (both pictured at the foot of the page) have been the long arm of the law in Summer Wine for more than 10 years and they were a wonderful partnership – one that will be missed and will be hard to replace. Over the last few years we have lost other cast members who would, in any other sitcom be considered to be characters of more substance and importance – and it must be admitted that their loss has brought about changes to the cast of characters and in any other sitcom would have guaranteed it’s demise. It is a great tribute to Roy Clarke and the entire cast and crew that this hasn’t happened to Last of the Summer Wine – this is a perfect example of ‘the whole being stronger than the sum of it’s parts’ – and it is also a tribute to the fact that the series doesn’t depend on a couple of ‘big names’, it is built on the bricks and mortar of excellent writing, strong characters and superb acting – and the recognition that the ‘smaller’ characters are just as important.

It is obvious from the emails we have been receiving that PC’s Ken and Tony were a very popular combination and that their success was due to that indefinable something which only happens when two people are brought together who are the two halves of the chemical formula which creates magic. You have only to watch the briefest of scenes between Ken and Tony to see it at work, you can liken their partnership to a good marriage – they anticipated each others moves and expressions and completed each others thoughts – Roy’s excellent writing and Alan’s superb direction provided the words and actions but Ken and Tony made their conversations and actions seem like the most natural thing in the world.

In the general order of things our two policemen scenes together were smaller contributions than some others but Last of the Summer Wine would have been the poorer if they had never come together and poorer still if Roy hadn’t, particularly in recent years, recognised their magic and given them more ‘bits’ of their own. Everyone has their own favourite ‘bit’, but everyone also admits the difficulty of isolating that favourite from all the others! I know of no other sitcom where ‘lesser characters’ are given such memorable importance. I think perhaps my favourite ‘bit’ is from ‘In Search of Childlike Joy and the Farthest Reaches of the Lotus Position’, (what other sitcom would even TRY to get away with such a long title for a single episode!). The two PC’s have spotted Smiler’s clothing hanging out of a hedge and have come to the conclusion that someone has been abducted by aliens and that the aforesaid aliens are probably lurking behind the hedge – they also decide to ‘go home by the other road’ and leave the problem to someone else! Having left the scene they get an attack of conscience and decide they have a duty to go back and investigate. Ken reminds Tony that they are trained to deal with these circumstances and Tony tells Ken he will have to be careful. He then says that he’s not worried for himself – HE is going to stay in the car!  My 8 year old grandsons favourite is from the same episode, a little later and is purely visual – the part where the ‘boys in blue’ climb aboard the trolley and promptly run into the water – perfectly achieved visual humour!

Ken Kitson has been in Last of the Summer Wine as a representative of law and order for many more years than just those of his partnership with Tony Capstick and his contribution has always been memorable, (who can forget the beautifully natural look of astonishment on his face in ‘Three Men and a Mangle’ when he sees the hole where the roof of the police car used to be - absolute perfection!), but that partnership gave us that special something which cannot be artificially created. Last of the Summer Wine has lost something special and Tony can never be replaced, but we must keep the faith and hope that someone can be found to create a new and different magic with Ken – because if we were to lose PC Ken as well, then Last of the Summer Wine would lose not only another fine actor and well-defined character, it would lose a little of it’s heart as well.

I hope that Tony’s family, friends and colleagues will take some comfort that so may people across the world were brought together in their grief at his loss and that it was because of the joy and laughter he brought into their lives – and how do I know, how can I be so sure that his fans were worldwide? Well, not only has our mailbox been filled with emails from around the world but Tony’s passing was reported, within hours, in such diverse newspapers as ‘The Guardian’, ‘The Melbourne Herald’ in Australia and ‘The Houston Chronicle’, ‘The Amarillo Globe’ and ‘The Monterey County Herald’, all in the USA; yes, Tony will be missed, by more than a few and much further afield than South Yorkshire – and Ken, keep the faith, and keep representing law and order in our land of Summer Wine, we can’t lose you too! Roy and Alan – please don’t you let us down either – paraphrasing the words of Norman Clegg, ‘The world is not so rich in idiots that we can afford to lose them lightly!’

 Pat Carline

See the Tony Capstick Tribute page - and emails from fans.