The B.B.C. switchboard was jammed recently with complaints following the transmission of a sketch guying the Oscar winning film 'The King's Speech'. Bad taste, huffed an irate viewer. From the corporation's grovelling apology, I take it then that repeats of 'Open All Hours' are not likely to be scheduled in the foreseeable future. Next to 'Last Of The Summer Wine', it is probably Roy Clarke's best remembered sitcom. Yet it nearly did not turn out that way. The pilot - transmitted on 25/3/1973 - was the first in the anthology series 'Seven Of One'. Ronnie Barker played 'Arkwright', the stuttering, skinflint, lecherous Northern shopkeeper, with David Jason as his nephew 'Granville' whom he works like a carthorse whilst paying him peanuts. Granville dreams of a better life, hopefully in the company of some beautiful young woman. The situation here is slightly similar to that of the Ronnie Corbett show 'Sorry!', only with a domineering uncle instead of a tyrant mother. Granville is not short of lady friends - there's 'Jelly Tot Julie' ( Helen Cotterill ) and that red-hot milk-woman ( Barbara Flynn ) - but nothing ever seems to happen with either of them. Arkwright has his own object of desire - the buxom Nurse Gladys Emmanuel ( Sheila Brennan in the pilot, Lynda Baron in the series ) whom he tries to court but is unwilling to do anything serious to win her love - such as spending money.
A series followed three years later, but was screened - rather oddly - at 9 P.M. on Friday nights on B.B.C.-2, where it unsurprisingly flopped. That seemed to be the end of that. However, in 1980, it was repeated in the more comedy friendly slot of Sunday evenings on B.B.C.-1 at 7.15. It caught on, and a new series got on air a year later. Four seasons were made before the B.B.C. closed Arkwright's shop for good.
The combination of Clarke's richly comic scripts and wonderful acting from the regulars made the show a fondly remembered classic. Who can forget that cash register which used to turn aggressive whenever Arkwright tried to put money in it? Nurse Emmanuel playing a practical joke which involved her dressing as a man? Granville on his bike, a pair of fashion shop legs sticking out of the basket? Maggie Ollerenshaw's flustered 'Mavis'? Kathy Staff's perpetually gloomy 'Mrs.Blewitt'? Or Stephanie Cole's 'Mrs.Featherstone' a.k.a. 'The Black Widow'? Or those lovely endings with Arkwright wistfully musing on the days events before retreating indoors? It was Barker's idea to give Arkwright a stammer ( based on his tutor Glenn Melvin ). The show initially attracted complaints for 'mocking the afflicted', but thankfully was allowed to continue. Watching the comedy powerhouses of Barker and Jason at work is a real treat. 'Open All Hours' is still great value after all these years.
A series followed three years later, but was screened - rather oddly - at 9 P.M. on Friday nights on B.B.C.-2, where it unsurprisingly flopped. That seemed to be the end of that. However, in 1980, it was repeated in the more comedy friendly slot of Sunday evenings on B.B.C.-1 at 7.15. It caught on, and a new series got on air a year later. Four seasons were made before the B.B.C. closed Arkwright's shop for good.
The combination of Clarke's richly comic scripts and wonderful acting from the regulars made the show a fondly remembered classic. Who can forget that cash register which used to turn aggressive whenever Arkwright tried to put money in it? Nurse Emmanuel playing a practical joke which involved her dressing as a man? Granville on his bike, a pair of fashion shop legs sticking out of the basket? Maggie Ollerenshaw's flustered 'Mavis'? Kathy Staff's perpetually gloomy 'Mrs.Blewitt'? Or Stephanie Cole's 'Mrs.Featherstone' a.k.a. 'The Black Widow'? Or those lovely endings with Arkwright wistfully musing on the days events before retreating indoors? It was Barker's idea to give Arkwright a stammer ( based on his tutor Glenn Melvin ). The show initially attracted complaints for 'mocking the afflicted', but thankfully was allowed to continue. Watching the comedy powerhouses of Barker and Jason at work is a real treat. 'Open All Hours' is still great value after all these years.