Ray Of Sunshine # 4 - Wesley Pegden

The fourth in the series Ray Of Sunshine, dedicated to the comedy characters who contributed to the great British sit-com. The characters are listed in no particular order, just as I think of them ...............................but they all brightened our lives.


Ray Of Sunshine # 4 WESLEY PEGDEN


Last Of The Summer Wine is Britain's longest running sit-com, noted for its gentle observational humour. Centred as it is, around old people, the characters are very consistent in their ways and, generally speaking, a lovable lot. Over the years, there have been many regulars appearing in each episode, albeit quick appearances on occasions, as an aside to the main storyline. Cleggy has been an ever present. Compo was also in each episode until his death a few years ago. The third gang member has changed three times, from the original Blamire, through to Foggy, then Seymour Utterthwaite and the current Truelove. The antics of these main characters form the main storylines for the series. Despite their old age, they retain a youthful zest for life and there are few limits as to the things they will try. And when the adventure requires a motor or some other mechanical invention, for many years there was only one man for the job..............Wesley !

Wesley first appeared in LOTSW in the eighth series in 1982 in an episode entitled Car and Garter. He provided Compo with an old banger that he needed to race in order to impress Nora Batty. His domain was a green metal shed which was his workshop and in many of his appearances he didn't venture far from it. When he did it was because the others needed transport and Wesley provided it with his Land Rover. He nearly always wore the same clothes, orangey brown overalls, the front of which were largely covered with oil and grease, as were his face and hands. Though mild mannered, Wesley would often resent the disturbance of a visit from Compo and company, so obsessed was he by cars, engines and all things mechanical. He was always making something , repairing something, or blowing something up. He could always put his hand on the required spare part that the gang were looking for and to my knowledge he never charged them for anything. Instead he would often stop what he was doing and soon be totally involved in their latest ridiculous scheme.

Wesley Pegden appeared in 57 episodes in total up to 2002, many of these short cameo pieces. There were however a number of editions in which he played a more major role. The first of these was in 1984 in The Loxley Lozenge in which he discovered an old racing car. His other inventions throughout the years included a giant kite (in Getting Barry Higher In The World), a self - propelled salad strainer (a strange motorised vehicle in the episode of the same name), an all terrain vehicle ( in The Thing In Wesleys Shed), a go - cart (in In Search of Childlike Joy And The Farthest Reaches Of The Lotus Position) and a trolley (in The Only Diesel Saxophone In Captivity).

Wesley was married to the snobbish, houseproud, Edie Pegden, sister of Seymour Uttherthwaite (who fancied himself also as an inventor though he had little of Wesley's mechanical nous). She was of course a central figure in the other gang in the series..........the ladies ! Known for her posh voice that she put on when wanting to impress company, she clearly did not want Wesley in the house. You could imagine the man staying outside in his shed until bedtime, then getting back out there again well before breakfast. Edie's normal form of communication with him consisted of loudly shouting out his name. The running joke involving the Pegdens was played out when Wesley did manage to get indoors. Edie would be waiting with newspaper in hand, and would skillfully peel pages away and lay a trail of them onto the floor and work surfaces just before Wesley's greasy hands and feet touched them. On one occasion she slipped a paper up against the wall as Wesley leaned towards it ! After he leaves the house, Edie is there cleaning and polishing behind him. The only consolation Edie had for having a husband like Wesley was the fact he fixed her up with a lovely convertible car. She was a shocking driver and often accused Wesley of moving things on the car, especially the gear stick !!

Occasionally Wesley is seen clean, when he took Edie shopping and on the day of his daughter Glenda's wedding to Barry. He scrubbed up pretty well. He was also seen in his suit in Edie And The Automobile. His task was to teach his wife to drive but he was soon reduced to a trance, so bad was she behind the wheel of a car. Son in law Barry has a go but ends up a nervous wreck, then Wally Batty tries, but decides it would be safer going home to Nora. Seymour takes charge of the situation to the delight and relief of Wesley who shows rear respect towards his brother in law before spoiling things by telling Cleggy '.......and I always had him down as a pillock'' ! The character of Wesley disappeared from the series in 2002 without explanation though later he was referred to in past tense. The true reason was the death in real life of the actor who played the part. The job of inventing and providing transport has more recently been taken on by a new character, Entwistle, a fortune teller from the land of Eastern wisdom (Hull !). Wesley Pegden did not have many funny lines in Last Of The Summer Wine. What he contributed to the series was a whole more important. He provided the means for others to be funny. He offended nobody ever. He lived in his own little world and was very happy to do so. Maybe he had what many a man longs for !

The character of Wesley Pegden was created by Roy Clarke and played by Gordon Wharmby ( born 1933 in Salford, Lancs ), who also made one off appearances in All Creatures Great And Small, Heartbeat, and Hetty Wainthrop Investigates. Edie Pegden was played by Dame Thora Hird. Gordon Wharmby died in 2002 aged 68.

Ray Of Sunshine # 5 will be Bernard Woolley