If you tuned into the BBC during the '70s and '80s, you might have seen Open All Hours live on air. If so, lucky you! Nowadays, it is easily accessible through DVD boxsets and streaming sites such as iPlayer if you missed its original run.
What was Open All Hours about?
First aired in 1976, Open All Hours featured David Jason (Granville), Lynda Baron (Gladys Emmanuel) and Ronnie Barker (Albert Arkwright). The episodes were filmed in Balby, Doncaster, where the premises was actually used as a hairdresser’s salon but closed for a summer break each year so that the series could be filmed by the BBC.
The well-known shop was named “Albert Arkwright's corner shop” in the series where Ronnie Barker's character Arkwright, a middle-aged pessimist, had a noticeable stammer but a flawless knack for selling things from fresh fruit to tinned soup. His nephew, Granville, on the other hand, was his go-to errand boy who has a terrible social life, which he blames on his work schedule.
Living across the road is Gladys and her elderly mother. Arkwright wishes to marry Gladys, but she rejects every effort he puts into his gestures, complaining that she has too many responsibilities to deal with. The premise stayed fairly consistent throughout its four seasons, with the addition of a few more backstories along the way.
David Jason and Ronnie Barker's friendship
A huge fan of Ronnie's work, David had wanted to work with the comedian for years before he got the role of Granville in Open All Hours. In fact, he described working with Ronnie on the series as his dream outcome, with the two becoming close friends. Similarly, Ronnie claimed that making Open All Hours was the happiest experience of his career. Their friendship and admiration for each other can clearly be seen on the screen.
David was actually 26 years older than his character, so the two actors were much closer in age in real life than the show made out. Despite a 39-year age gap between Granville and Arkwright, there were only 11 years between the actors.
After the series, Lynda Baron went on to say “Working with Ronnie Barker and David Jason was unbelievable - two great actors in a brilliantly scripted sitcom. There was never a day when we did not have a great laugh ourselves and that carried on when Still Open All Hours became a series."
Christmas connections
In 1982, Open All Hours was commissioned for an eight-minute episode to contribute to The Funny Side of Christmas - a BBC programme which aired short Christmas special sketches. Granville and Arkwright had a conversation about their Christmas plans and Gladys’s involvement in theirs, intermitted occasionally by Granville’s kazoo playing.
In the second half of its runtime, Gladys paid a visit to the shop where Arkwright brought up the conversation of her sick mother. It was a fun and lively shot and the only official Christmas tribute during the programme's original run, although Still Open All Hours spinoff episodes were released in 2013 and 2019.
The Housekeeper Caper
1985 saw the airing of an iconic episode of the show, The Housekeeper Caper. Arkwright decided that hiring a housekeeper will make Gladys, who has an eye for cleanliness, impressed with him out of pure jealousy. However, after placing an advert in the newspaper, he only succeeds in attracting the attention of Mrs Featherstone, who is referred to by the town as 'The Black Widow'. The plan does not go as he wanted; he is not happy, and Gladys is not jealous in the slightest!
What happened next?
Although the famous sitcom originally ended in 1985, Open All Hours still remains popular with the masses. For the interest of the fans, Arkwright’s grocers remains almost unchanged to this day. David Jason went on to play an even greater role in the BBC’s Only Fools and Horses.
In 2004, Open All Hours ranked 8th place in a poll for Britain’s Best Sitcom. At the Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2010, Roy Clarke received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Not bad going from 26 episodes!
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