AS STAR PEARL IS TAKEN FROM US TOO SOON, THIS IS MORE EVIDENCE OF… CURSE OF THE SUMMER WINE

BILL OWEN (Compo)

NO! NO! NO! Not again!

THE sinister Curse of the Summer Wine struck again last week when yet ANOTHER actor from the much- loved comedy series was SNATCHED by the Grim Reaper.

Juliette Kaplan, who played battleaxe Pearl Sibshaw in BBC sitcom Last of the Summer Wine for 25 years, has died. She was just 80. She appeared in 226 episodes of the show, from 1985 to 2010, with the sharp- tongued Pearl trying to thwart husband Howard’s attempts to have an affair.

Her death comes hard on the heels of Peter “Clegg” Sallis’s demise in 2017 and the death of Frank Thornton, who played Herbert ‘ Truly’ Truelove in 2013.

Juliette joins an ever- growing list of former cast members carried away before their time, which includes: Bill Owen ( Compo) Brian Wilde ( Foggy) Joe Gladwyn ( Wally Batty) Kathy Staff ( Nora Batty) LONDON- born Bill made his first film appearance in 1945 but found fame as lovable scruff Compo.

His role in the sitcom involved being hurled down hills, often riding a tin bath on wheels.

Despite his daredevil reputation, Bill could not escape the cold embrace of the grave, which he succumbed to in 1999, aged a mere 85 years young. Thora Hird ( Edie Pegden) Michael Aldridge ( Seymour Utterthwaite)

Even the composer of the show’s iconic theme, Ronnie Hazlehurst, was not immune. He died in 2007, aged just 79. But the latest death has finally made the world sit up and take notice of fears a curse stalks Last of the Summer Wine.

Sunday Sport first reported the curse in 2008.

Last night a BBC source said: “The Summer Wine Curse is the BBC’s last hidden dirty secret. It’s bigger than Savile, in many ways.” LOSSES: Juliette as Pearl ( and ex co- star Frank Thornton