Last of the Summer Wine: Compo costume fetches £6k at auction

An "endearing" tattered jacket, knitted waistcoat, rope belt and woollen hat from Last of the Summer Wine has sold for £6,000 at auction.

Compo, played by Bill Owen, was rarely seen out of the outfit in the hit BBC sitcom which ran for 37 years.

The distressed trousers contain the original costumers label, with 'Bill' written in ink.

Auctioneer Andrew Stowe called the outfit an "iconic piece of British comedy history".

The outfit sold to an online bidder during the auction held by the East Bristol Auction House on Friday 8 December.

Last Of The Summer Wine is thought to be the longest-running sitcom in the world, boasting almost 300 episodes over four decades.

Set and filmed in the West Yorkshire village of Holmfirth, it made its TV debut in 1973.

Compo's character in the series was a working-class pensioner, often exploited for odd jobs, stunts and escapades by characters played by Michael Bates, Brian Wilde, Michael Aldridge and Frank Thornton.

Bill Owen died in 1999 aged 85. Mr Stowe, said it was a "real honour" to handle items from the late actor's estate.

"There were several versions of Compo's costume over the show's run, and each time the costume wore out the production team would have to carefully source another," he said.

"The jackets ended up being purchased from a Savile Row tailor and were painstakingly 'weathered' by the production team in order to maintain continuity," he added.

This costume sold at auction is believed to have been worn by Owen around the mid-to-late 1990s, and is one of his final costumes for the character.

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