"Open All Hours" (1976) TV series 1976-1985

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Release Date:

20 February 1976 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Arkwright is a tight-fisted shop owner in Doncaster, who will stop at nothing to keep his profits high and his overheads low...

Plot Keywords:

Nurse | Shopkeeper | Title Spoken By Character

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Ronnie Barker	...	Albert Arkwright (25 episodes, 1976-1985)
David Jason	...	Granville (25 episodes, 1976-1985)
Lynda Baron	...	Nurse Gladys Emmanuel (25 episodes, 1976-1985)

Runtime:

30 min (26 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

New Zealand:PG (seasons 1-4) | Australia:PG (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

32 Lister Avenue, Balby, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

When Ronnie Barker first saw the script, the character of Arkwright did not have a stutter. Barker always credits Glenn Melvyn as the inspiration for the stutter.

Quotes:

Mr Wilkinson: Next time you feel desperate for an egg, lad, pause, and remember where it's come from. The world's full of nasty places, Granville.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Comedy Connections: Porridge (#1.1)" (2003)

Gentle and often hilarious British sitcom

Ronnie Barker turns in another stunning performance as Albert Arkwright, the meanest man alive, in this under-rated sitcom about a no-nonsense Northern shopkeeper, his buxom fiancee and his dreamy, accident-prone nephew. The entire cast are good, the scripts mostly tight and inventive and the production design (especially the interior sets) is of a high standard, but the details really make it come alive - Wavy Mavis, the world's most indecisive consumer; Mrs Featherstone, the 'Black Widow'; humourless gossipmonger Mrs Blewitt; gullible loudmouth Cyril, conned into thinking Jamaican ginger cake is an aphrodisiac; names like Scrooby, Parsloe and Micklethwaite; the sympathetic milkwoman; the lethal cash register...I could go on. Despite the occasional duff episode, Open All Hours belongs in the top drawer of British sitcom, alongside Fawlty and Steptoe.