Open All Hours - wikipedia Open All Hours For the album by The Hamsters, see Open All Hours ( album ). Open All Hours Genre Sitcom Created by Roy Clarke Directed by Sydney Lotterby Starring Ronnie Barker David Jason Lynda Baron Stephanie Cole Barbara Flynn Maggie Ollerenshaw Kathy Staff Theme music composer Joseph Ascher Opening theme `` Alice, Where Art Thou ? '' Ending theme `` Alice, Where Art Thou ? '' Composer ( s ) Max Harris Country of origin United Kingdom Original language ( s ) English No. of series No. of episodes 26 ( list of episodes ) Production Executive producer ( s ) James Gilbert ( pilot episode ) Producer ( s ) Sydney Lotterby ( 1973 -- 1985 ) Production location ( s ) England Running time 30 minutes Production company ( s ) BBC Distributor BBC Worldwide 2entertain ABC ( Australia, home video ) Warner Home Video ( US, home video ) Release Original network BBC2 ( 1973 - 1976 ) BBC1 ( 1981 - 1985 ) Picture format 576i ( 4 : 3 SDTV ) Audio format Mono Original release 23 March 1973 ( 1973 - 03 - 23 ) -- 6 October 1985 ( 1985 - 10 - 06 ) Chronology Followed by Still Open All Hours Related shows Seven of One External links Open All Hours at BBC Comedy Open All Hours is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. It ran for 26 episodes in four series, which premiered in 1976, 1981, 1982 and 1985. The programme developed from a television pilot broadcast in Ronnie Barker 's comedy anthology series, Seven of One ( 1973 ). Open All Hours ranked eighth in the 2004 Britain 's Best Sitcom poll. A sequel, entitled Still Open All Hours, was created in 2013. Contents 1 Premise 2 Characters 2.1 Arkwright 2.2 Granville 2.3 Recurring characters 3 Episodes 4 Production 4.1 Series development 4.2 Filming locations 4.3 Theme tune 5 Reception 6 Merchandise 6.1 Books 6.2 VHS releases 6.3 DVD releases 7 Sequel 8 See also 9 References 10 External links Premise The setting is a small grocer 's shop in Balby, a suburb of Doncaster in South Yorkshire. The owner, Arkwright ( Ronnie Barker ), 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 ), occupied by her professional rounds, and her elderly mother. Arkwright longs to marry her, but she resists his persistent pressures. In later episodes, it is explained that the two have actually been engaged for many years but have been unable to go through with a wedding due to the advanced age of Nurse Gladys 's mother, for whom she cares at home. Though short - tempered with Arkwright, she is concerned for his and Granville 's welfare. Characters Main article : List of Open All Hours characters Arkwright Main article : Arkwright Arkwright is a pragmatic, miserly man with old - fashioned values, whose world seems to stop at his shop door, except for his uncontrollable lust for Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, which may prompt him on occasion to wander across the road, usually with a ladder, to gain access to her bedroom window. Arkwright is a devious, and mildly dishonest character, who has many crafty tricks to try to persuade a customer to leave his shop having bought at least one thing, and will avoid spending his own money at all costs. He is also very conservative about his savings, keeping some in his pocket wrapped in a fine gold chain, and some in an old, battered Oxo tin that he hides under the kitchen sink. This includes, or so he claims, coins from before 1922, when they were `` solid silver ''. Although never confirmed on - screen, literature tying in to the programme gave Awkright 's first name as Albert, and at various points on - screen in the series, his first name initial is indeed seen as ' A '. Granville Main article : Granville Granville is the son of Arkwright 's sister. She died a single mother when Granville was very young, leaving Arkwright to bring up the boy. Arkwright 's jokes imply that his sister was promiscuous ; he speculates that Granville 's father is Hungarian, and was forbidden to marry Granville 's mother because she was English. He is often referred to as a `` youth '' or `` young lad '', even though Granville is well into his adult years. Granville is shy and awkward, but kind. His priorities differ from those of his uncle. He always feels that life is passing him by. Occasionally, people from Granville 's past come into the shop. To Granville, who is ever saddled with his shop duties and bearing his uncle 's belittling, their lives seem richer and more fulfilling. When Granville has a fling with the milk woman ( played by Barbara Flynn ), his uncle is unsupportive. Recurring characters Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, Arkwright and Granville Arkwright Character Pilot Series 1 Series 2 Series 3 Series 4 Arkwright Ronnie Barker Granville David Jason Nurse Gladys Emmanuel Sheila Brennan Lynda Baron The Milk Woman Barbara Flynn Mrs Delphine Featherstone Stephanie Cole Mrs Blewett Kathy Staff Mavis Maggie Ollerenshaw Mrs Doris Parslow Frances Cox Cyril Tom Mennard Mrs Ellis Barbara Keogh Sue Race Gordon Stackpool Teddy Turner Thorndyke Alan Starkey Julie Helen Cotterill Mrs Bickerdyke Sandra Voe Mrs Scully Yootha Joyce Mrs Tattersall Paula Tilbrook Bread Man David Valla John Challis Bert Gaunt Episodes Main article : List of Open All Hours episodes Twenty - six episodes of Open All Hours, all written by Roy Clarke, have been produced for the BBC. The show began airing in 1973 with the pilot episode and ended in 1985 after the fourth series. All episodes have a running time of 30 minutes. Between Open All Hours and Still Open All Hours, there has been a total of 53 episodes and eight series broadcast between 1973 and 2018. Production Lister Avenue in Balby, where exterior shots were set with ' Beautique ', the shop used as Arkwright 's, on the right. Series development The shop is based on a little store called LE Riddiford in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire. Roy Clarke visited this small town whilst travelling around the South West and was said to have fallen in love with the shop layout and its owner, Len Riddiford. This shop is referenced in numerous Open All Hours episodes by Arkwright. Ronnie Barker proposed that Arkwright should have a stammer, and this was written into the character. Barker also co-created the premise of the dangerous till. In the series, the shop 's antiquated till has a drawer that tends to snap shut suddenly. Even though this terrifies Granville and Arkwright, Arkwright leaves it to avoid the cost of buying a replacement, and because he believes it discourages burglars. Filming locations The exterior shots were recorded on Lister Avenue in Balby, a suburb of Doncaster ; the shop itself was a hairdresser 's salon, which closed for a Summer break each year in order to allow filming by the BBC. It remains a hairdresser 's salon. The same location was used for the sequel series Still Open All Hours. The pilot episode ( featured in the series Seven of One ) used a shop front on the western intersection of Drayton Avenue and Manor Road, Ealing, London for exterior filming. In the first series, Gladys Emmanuel 's street address is 34 Lister Avenue, Balby, Doncaster, South Yorkshire. The address changes to number 32 in the second series. The local council considered demolishing the shop used in Open All Hours. A fan created a web site to garner support for preserving it. The shop was to be auctioned in Leeds on 24 November 2008, and was expected to fetch between £ 120,000 and £ 130,000 ; however, all bids fell short of the reserve price. Three years earlier, a different sort of auction commemorated the programme. The BBC donated, to the British Stammering Association, two of the false moustaches worn by Ronnie Barker in the series. The BSA auctioned the moustaches at their London conference in September 2005 ( shortly before Barker 's death ). Theme tune The show 's theme tune is a song called `` Alice, Where Art Thou ? '', written by Joseph Ascher. It was arranged for brass band and performed by Max Harris, who also wrote the incidental music for the programme. Reception At the time of the programme 's airing, it was widely known that some viewers objected to the show 's reliance on a speech impediment for some of its laughs. Even so, Ronnie Barker 's character was so amiable and the humour good - natured enough that most deemed it an unmalicious portrayal. Barker also notes in his autobiography `` It 's Hello from Him '' that he received a letter which began `` We are a family of stutterers... '', that made his heart sink. However, the writer went on to praise his portrayal and added that the whole family found the character hilarious. Merchandise Books Two books related to the programme have been released in the UK. One was written by Graham McCann and published by BBC Books in October 2014 and the other one, a ' novelisation ' based on scripts for the first series, was written by Christine Sparks and was published by BBC Books. Open All Hours This was published in February 1981 which is based on the original programme. Sparks, Christine ( February 1981 ). Open All Hours : ( Papercover ). BBC Books. ISBN 0563179244. Still Open All Hours : The Story of a Classic Comedy This was published on October 30, 2014. McCann, Graham ( 30 October 2014 ). Still Open All Hours : The Story of a Classic Comedy ( Hardcover ). BBC Books. ISBN 1849908869. VHS releases 15 various selected episodes of the series were released on five VHS cassettes by BBC Video on 28 February 1995, 12 June 1995, 3 June 1996, 2 June 1997 and 2 March 1998. Universal Playback under licence by BBC Worldwide released Series 1 and 2 as a three tape boxset on 19 August 2002 and Series 3 and 4 as a three tape set boxset on 2 June 2003. Dvd releases All four series have been released in Regions 2 and 4, both individually and in box sets. Region 1 has released the box set but the series have not been released individually. In Australia, the BBC with Roadshow released `` Series One : Episodes 1 -- 3 Comedy Bites '' in 2010. DVD Title Discs Year Ep. No, DVD releases Notes Region 1 Region 2 Region 4 Complete Series 1 1973 and 1976 7 30 September 2002 1 April 2003 Includes the 1973 pilot Complete Series 2 1981 7 29 September 2003 3 December 2003 Complete Series 3 1982 6 4 October 2004 2 March 2005 Complete Series 4 1985 6 31 October 2005 8 August 2006 Complete Series 1 -- 4 1973 -- 1985 26 9 June 2009 13 November 2006 1 August 2007 Includes the 1973 pilot Sequel In 1984, at which time no new episodes of the series had been produced for two years, a spin - off was proposed based around Lynda Baron 's character, Nurse Gladys Emmanuel. Given the working title Call the Nurse, this spin - off series would have followed Nurse Gladys as she visited various eccentric and demanding patients. The characters of Arkwright and Granville were not written to appear, and Roy Clarke was keen to develop a new set of supporting characters rather than rely on those already built up for Open All Hours. A thirty minute pilot was written but did not enter production as the BBC turned down the series ; instead, Open All Hours returned for it 's fourth and what would be final series the following year. Main article : Still Open All Hours A sequel, entitled Still Open All Hours, was created in 2013 by original writer Roy Clarke and featuring several original cast members, including David Jason, Lynda Baron, Stephanie Cole and Maggie Ollerenshaw. On 30 January 2014, the BBC commissioned Still Open All Hours for six new episodes beginning on 26 December 2014. The show later returned for a second series, beginning on 26 December 2015. In January 2016, David Jason revealed that a third series would be produced in 2016. The series began airing on 26 December 2016. The series returned for a fourth series, beginning on 28 December 2017. See also List of Open All Hours episodes Porridge References Jump up ^ Britain 's Best Sitcom : Top Ten, URL accessed 2 December 2006. Jump up ^ Famous TV shop faces demolition BBC News Online. Retrieved 4 April 2007. Jump up ^ `` ' Open All Hours ' shop to be auctioned ''. Digital Spy. Jump up ^ `` Open All Hours shop fails to sell ''. BBC. 25 November 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2008. Jump up ^ `` Alice, Where Art Thou ?, by J. Ascher ( 1829 -- 1869 ) ''. mutopiaproject.org. Jump up ^ Credits at the Internet Movie Database. Jump up ^ `` Open All Hours ''. Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 07. Jump up ^ `` Still Open All Hours : The Story of a Classic Comedy ''. Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 07. Jump up ^ `` Still Open All Hours commissioned for full series ''. BBC News. 30 January 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2014. Jump up ^ `` The Chuckle Brothers : To me, to you... to Swansea ! ''. South Wales Evening Post. 19 June 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2015. Jump up ^ `` David Jason confirms Still Open All Hours will return and reveals his Hollywood dream ''. The Mirror. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016. Jump up ^ http://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2017-12-28/what-time-is-the-still-open-all-hours-christmas-special-2017-on-tv/ External links Wikiquote has quotations related to : Open All Hours Open All Hours at BBC Online Guide to Comedy. Open All Hours at BBC Programmes Open All Hours at the British Film Institute. Open All Hours at the BFI 's Screenonline. Open All Hours on IMDb. Open All Hours at British Comedy Guide. Image of Arkwright 's shop in April 2007 Open All Hours Open All Hours episodes Still Open All Hours ( episodes ) Characters Arkwright Granville Seven of One ( 1973 ) The Funny Side of Christmas ( 1982 ) Roy Clarke Situation comedies The Misfit ( 1970 -- 71 ) Last of the Summer Wine ( 1973 -- 2010 ) Oh No, It 's Selwyn Froggitt ! ( pilot, 1974 ) Open All Hours ( 1973, 1976 -- 85 ) The Growing Pains of PC Penrose ( 1975 ) Rosie ( 1977 -- 81 ) Potter ( 1979 -- 83 ) The Magnificent Evans ( 1984 ) The Clairvoyant ( 1984 - 1986 ) First of the Summer Wine ( 1988 -- 89 ) Keeping Up Appearances ( 1990 -- 95 ) Ai n't Misbehavin ' ( 1994 -- 95 ) Still Open All Hours ( 2013 -- ) Young Hyacinth ( 2016 ) Other The Bass Player and the Blonde ( 1977 ) Hawks ( 1988 ) The Sharp End ( 1991 ) A Foreign Field ( 1993 ) The Wanderer ( 1994 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open_All_Hours&oldid=853953700 '' Categories : 1976 British television programme debuts 1985 British television programme endings 1970s British sitcoms 1980s British sitcoms BBC television sitcoms Doncaster English - language television programs Television series set in shops Television shows set in South Yorkshire Workplace comedy television series Hidden categories : Use dmy dates from November 2012 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from August 2018 Articles with specifically marked weasel - worded phrases from October 2015 Articles with unsourced statements from October 2015 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Simple English Suomi Edit links This page was last edited on 8 August 2018, at 00 : 49 ( UTC ). 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Question: who did ronnie barker play in open all hours
Answer: Arkwright