Open All Hours

Open All Hours

1976
★★★★☆ 7.9/10
📺 4 Seasons
🎬 25 Episodes
📅 Ended
🌐 EN
⏱️ 30 min/episode
Comedy
Open All Hours is a BBC sitcom written by Roy Clarke and starring Ronnie Barker as a miserly shop keeper and David Jason as his put-upon nephew who works as his errand boy.

Where to Watch (US)

Stream

Britbox Apple TV Channel
BritBox
BritBox Amazon Channel

Seasons

Season 1
1976 • 6 Episodes
Arkwright buys a load of damaged goods. The snag with them is that they are tinned goods without labels! He then tries to foist them off onto his customers.
Season 2
1981 • 7 Episodes
Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, having seen Granville struggling with the washing, tells Arkwright that he must buy a new washing machine. Arkwright has to come up with a plan so that she thinks he has done as she requests. He gets Neville to drop off a new machine, sneak round the back of the shop and take it away again, leaving behind a second-hand machine instead!
Season 3
1982 • 6 Episodes
The customers are upset by Granville continually being dragged around by the ear by Arkwright.
Season 4
1985 • 6 Episodes
Granville advertises for female company and ends up with more than he can handle.

User Reviews

CinemaSerf
It took the BBC a couple of years after the end of "Porridge" to find another suitable sitcom for the considerable talents of Ronnie Barker, and so in 1976 they reunited him with producer Sydney Lotterby and "Last of the Summer Wine" creator Roy Clarke to portray "Arkwright", the stammering Yorkshire store keeper whose miserliness could give "Scrooge" a run for his money. He is enamoured of the well-endowed local nurse "Gladys" (Lynda Baron) whilst trying to keep his live-in nephew/dogsbody "Granville" (a wonderfully skilful series of performances from David Jason) from succumbing to the evil - and extravagant - ways of the world. With a few additional contributions from Barbara Flynn as the lady who delivers the milk - and sends "Granville" into spasms of sexual apoplexy at the same time; the equally frugal Stephanie Cole ("Mrs. Feathestone") and Kathy Staff ("Mrs. Blewett") the tightly cast team play well off each other, with strong, amiable, characterisations that thrive off the back of the Northern (English) stereotypes upon which the stories are based. Nowadays, the humour falls a little bit foul of changed attitudes, but Clarke never wrote from any perspective other than one that ridicules sexism, racism and agism in a thought-provoking fashion, whist still allowing both Barker and Jason to do what they do best - elicit a laugh. This was must watch television for almost ten years, and is still great today.
February 23, 2022

Crew

Producer
Sydney Lotterby, James Gilbert

Network

BBC One

Keywords

nurseworkaholicfiancébicyclenorthern englanduncleyorkshireworking classmisercustomer