Hi-De-Hi!
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Template:Infobox television Hi-De-Hi! was a popular situation comedy which, after a 1980 pilot, ran on BBC1 between 1981 and 1988.
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Introduction
Hi-De-Hi! was set in a holiday camp during the 1950s and 1960s and was drawn from the real-life experiences of writers Jimmy Perry and David Croft. The series featured the staff employed to entertain the campers. The fictional chain of Maplin's camps was loosely based on Butlin's, the real-life holiday camp empire of Billy Butlin, with his Redcoats replaced with Yellowcoats.
The title was the phrase used to greet the campers at events, and was one of a number of memorable catch phrases from the series. The series also had a rock and roll style theme tune "Holiday Rock". (The title "Holiday Rock" may be a pun on a number of levels: rock and roll, a seaside holiday location, or Rock (confectionery) traditionally sold at UK holiday venues.)
In common with a number of other British sitcoms such as Dad's Army and Goodnight Sweetheart, the sitcom was a nostalgia vehicle, although no less successful because of this; the programme came 40th in the BBC's 2004 poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom.
Plot
In the pilot episode, a Cambridge University professor, Jeffrey Fairbrother (Simon Cadell) is tired of his life in academia, and applies to become the manager of a holiday camp, a position that he duly achieves. This annoys the portly camp entertainer, Ted Bovis (Paul Shane), who wanted the job. During the pilot, it becomes clear that Fairbrother is not really suited to his new job, but after an elderly couple, who have not had a happy life, approach him at the end to thank him for a lovely time, he decides to stay on.
Most episodes involved Ted Bovis and his dimwitted sidekick Spike Dixon (Jeffrey Holland) attempting to scam the well-meaning Fairbrother, who also has to avoid the romantic approaches of sharp-tongued senior Yellowcoat, Gladys Pugh (Ruth Madoc) from Wales, as he is currently divorcing his wife.
Other characters included wannabe Yellowcoat cleaning lady Peggy Ollerenshaw (Su Pollard); Barry and Yvonne Stuart-Hargreaves, a pair of snobbish dance instructors; Fred Quilly, a jockey (played by Felix Bowness); dipsomaniacal, alcoholic, child-hating Punch and Judy man, Mr Partridge, and various leggy Yellowcoat girls.
Cast Changes
The cast changed over the years, most significantly with Simon Cadell leaving and being replaced by David Griffin, playing Squadron Leader Clive Dempster DFC. Leslie Dwyer's Punch and Judy man Mr. Partridge, who was in his seventies when the series started in 1980, retired in 1984 and was replaced by veteran comic actor Kenneth Connor as Uncle Sammy.
Several principal members of the cast were reunited in another period piece by the same writers called You Rang, M'Lord? in the early 1990s, and again in Oh, Doctor Beeching! by David Croft and Richard Spendlove.
Trivia
- The show was actually filmed at a real holiday camp, "Warners" in the town of Dovercourt near Harwich in Essex. Sadly, after the series ended the camp closed and the site was demolished, to be replaced by a housing estate.
- Former Goon Harry Secombe was originally considered for the part of Ted Bovis.