Description
The Complete Open All Hours 4-DVD Box Set
ALL FOUR COMPLETE SERIES WITH OPTIONAL SUBTITLES.
4 discs. 26 Episodes. Comedy. Colour. Years: 1976, 1981, 1982 and 1985. Running time approx: 12 hours 17 min.
Cast: Ronnie Barker, David Jason, Lynda Baron, Stephanie Cole, Barbara Flynn, Kathy Staff and Maggie Ollerenshaw.
Ronnie Barker stars as Arkwright, the stuttering grocer, in this cornershop comedy. Arkwright’s urge to take money from his customer by fair means or foul is second only to his desire to prevent his nephew, Granville, from discovering a world beyond the clang of the shop bell… and, of course, his passion for Nurse Gladys Emmanuel. Roy Clarke, the comedy writer who also created Last of the Summer Wine and Keeping Up Appearances, wrote all 26 episodes of Open All Hours. The show first aired in 1976, with a pilot episode in which Sheila Brennan played Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, and ended in 1985.
The setting for Open All Hours is a small grocer’s shop in a suburb of Doncaster in South Yorkshire. Arkwright, (Ronnie Barker), the owner, is a middle-aged miser with a stammer and a knack for selling. His nephew Granville, (David Jason), is his put-upon errand boy, who blames his work schedule for his lacklustre social life. Across the road lives Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, (Lynda Baron), largely occupied by her professional rounds, and her elderly mother. Arkwright longs to marry Gladys, but she resists his persistent pressure. The two have been engaged for many years but have been unable to marry due to the advanced age of her mother, for whom she cares at home, as well as the mutual loathing between her mother and Arkwright. Though short-tempered with her fiancé, she is concerned for both his and Granville’s welfare.
Ronnie Barker suggested that Arkwright should have a stammer, and also created the idea of the dangerous till which tends to snap shut suddenly. Arkwright refuses to replace the till due to the cost, and because he believes it discourages burglars. Exterior shots were filmed on Lister Avenue in Balby, a suburb of Doncaster; South Yorkshire. Actors who have appeared in the show include: Elizabeth Dawn, John Challis, Yootha Joyce, Frances Cox, Sandra Voe, Madge Hindle, Tom Mennard, Barbara Keogh and Helen Cotterill.
