The inspiration for the series was drawn from the real-life experiences
of writers Perry and Croft. After being demobilised from the Army, Perry had spent
his holidays as a Redcoat at Butlins. During its nine-year run, the series gained
large audience figures and won a BAFTA as Best Comedy Series in 1984. In 2004,
it came 40th in Britain's Best Sitcom and in a 2008 poll on Channel 4, "Hi-de-Hi!"
was voted the 35th most popular comedy catchphrase.
Plot
Hi-de-Hi! is set in Maplins, a holiday camp owned by entrepreneur, Joe Maplin, in the fictional seaside town of Crimpton-on-Sea, Essex, which is loosely based on Butlins, the real-life holiday camp empire of Billy Butlin, with his Redcoats replaced with Yellowcoats.
At the end of the 1958 season, the camp entertainments manager Mr Baverstock, a conman and womaniser, had been sacked for stealing charity money from the camp wishing well. At the same time, the camp comic Teddy Drinkwater had ‘burned out’ and resigned from the staff leaving the two posts vacant. The following year, a Cambridge University archaeology professor, Jeffrey Fairbrother, tires of his life in academia and applies for the role of entertainment manager, a position that he duly achieves. This annoys the portly camp entertainer, Ted Bovis, who wants the job. The job of camp comic is then given to naive but kind-hearted Spike Dixon.
Most episodes involve Ted Bovis and Spike attempting to scam the well-meaning Fairbrother, who also has to avoid the romantic approaches of senior Yellowcoat and sports organiser, Gladys Pugh, as he is currently divorcing his wife. Most of the characters in the show were out-of-work actors and entertainers either at the tail-end of their careers or awaiting the elusive "big break".
Characters
Management
* Prof. Jeffrey Fairbrother (Simon Cadell)
Jeffrey was born in 1929 to a respectable upper class family. He was sent away to a boarding school at the age of 7 and later studied archaeology at Kings College, Cambridge, where was then employed in the faculty. He later married Daphne (Claire Oberman). By the late 1950’s he had separated from his wife and had become disillusioned with university life. He resigned from the University and joined the holiday camp as Entertainments Manager. Throughout the year he felt out of place and at the end of the 1959 season he decided to return to academia and took the chair in archaeology at Wisconsin University.
* Sqdn-Ldr. The Honourable Clive Dempster DFC (David Griffin)
Clive was born on the 23rd April 1924, the only son of Lord William Dempster and Helen Mary Waverston, he grew up in Cambridgeshire at the family estate of Dempster Hall. In 1940 he joined the RAF and became a Squadron Leader and won the DFC, he found life difficult upon demobilization and spent several years drifting. He became manager of a County Club but was robbed by his business partner, he then joined Maplins as Entertainments Manager. He married Gladys Pugh at the end of the 1960 season and they emigrated to Australia, where he planned to join the Air Force.
* Gladys Pugh (Ruth Madoc)
Gladys was born in 1922 in Pontypridd, but she spent her youth living in the Rhondda Valley, she grew up with her half-brother Gareth Davies (Talfryn Thomas). She joined the holiday camp in 1955 and rose through the ranks to become sports organizer and chief yellowcoat. She won the competition for being the most popular girl yellowcoat every year since she joined. She eventually married Clive Dempster and they emigrated together.
* Alec Foster (Ewan Hooper)
The camp controller who was appointed by Joe Maplin to take charge, mid-way through the 1960 season.
* Harold Fox (Gavin Richards)
The General Manager of the Maplins Holiday Camps, usually referred to as ‘The Smiling Viper’ or ‘Joe Maplin’s Hatchet-man’. He drives a Jaguar and is feared by most of the staff.
* Joe Maplin
The greedy and philandering owner of the Maplin’s Holiday empire, he is only ever seen in statue form. He communicated with the entertainments staff through frequent semi-literate letters.
Main Entertainment Staff
* Ted Bovis (Paul Shane)
Ted was the camp host and was very popular with the campers. He was born in November 1916 and grew up in an orphanage. Little is known about his early life except that he was one of the four Mississippi Minstrels performing at ‘The Palace’ at Attercliffe and had served in the army during the war. He joined Maplins upon demobilization in 1946. He spent the winter months performing at the Ideal Home Exhibition and The Motor Show. He married Hillary (Rikki Lee) in 1951 but they separated soon after.
* Spike Dixon (Jeffrey Holland)
Spike was the camp comic. Spike was born and bought up in Edgbaston with his childhood sweetheart Brenda, the daughter of the local butcher. He joined the entertainment staff in 1959, it is not known how long he had known Ted, but they were already well acquainted by the time they travelled on the train to the camp and it was suggested that it was Ted had got Spike the job. In 1960 he became involved with yellowcoat April and at the end of the season he went to work in the tax office.
* Fred Quilly (Felix Bowness)
Fred was the camp riding instructor. Fred was an illegitimate child and grew up in an orphanage until he was adopted at the age of fourteen and went to live in Brighton, he began working at the Brighton Race Course and eventually qualified as a jockey. He became involved with the daughter of the local undertaker but they split up when he refused to join the family business. In 1940 he was conscripted into the RAF, where he was trained as an instrument mechanic, but spent the entire war stationed at Catterick. After being demobilized in 1946, he returned to the Brighton Race Course and married the owner of a wet-fish shop but the relationship was short-lived and they soon separated. He then fell into the employ of a small time gangster known as ‘Big Mac’ who began paying him to fix the races, either by pulling his horse or drugging it prior to the race. However on one occasion the Race Officials caught him pulling the favourite and gave him an official warning, the following week he took £300 from Big Mac to lose a race, but accidentally won causing Big Mac to lose £5000 in bets, shortly afterwards Fred was caught in a horsebox with a syringe and his Jockey’s licence was revoked, there is also a suggestion that the Police were involved at this point. He was forced to leave Brighton for fear of further reprisals from the underworld and began drifting, eventually in 1951 he joined the staff of Maplins.
* Yvonne Stuart-Hargreaves (Diane Holland)
Yvonne Stuart-Hargreaves was born in Southport in 1914, the daughter of a floor-walker at The Waring & Gillow Department Store, it would seem that led a somewhat promiscuous youth, she met Barry when they were staying in digs together in Sunderland, but after a brief affair she became involved with a Hungarian Acrobat from the Magya Trio and became pregnant, when he found out he left her and joined ENSA. She then returned to Barry and he agreed to marry her, taking her home to be looked after by his family. It is not known what happened to the child. Barry and Yvonne became professional ballroom dancers. During the war Yvonne worked as an Auxiliary Nurse in a military hospital. During this time Yvonne met Julian Dalrymple-Sykes and there is a suggestion that they had an affair. Their careers took a downturn after the war and in 1956 they were forced to join Maplins. Barry left Yvonne midway through the 1960 season and she rekindled her relationship with Julian.
* Barry Stuart-Hargreaves (Barry Howard)
Barry Stuart-Hargreaves (birth name: Bert Pratt) was born in Nottingham in 1921, the son of a bus conductor. By the late 1930’s he was living in Sunderland where he met Yvonne and they began a brief affair, but she left him. She later returned to him when she was pregnant and he proposed. He took Yvonne's last name for the sake of their career. In 1940 he was conscripted into the Royal Navy and served as a Stoker. After demobilisation in 1946, they continued dancing but their careers were drawing to an end and in 1956 they joined Maplins. Barry left Yvonne midway through the 1960 season.
* Mr William Partridge (Leslie Dwyer)
Mr Partridge is the camp Children’s Entertainer; at the age of 74 he was the most senior of the entertainment staff and the only one to be called by his last name out of respect to his Edwardian values. Mr Partridge was born in 1885. After leaving school he began a successful Music Hall career under the stage name of ‘Whimsical Willie the Juggling Joker’. At the height of his career he topped the bill at ‘The Holborn Empire’ and performed for King George V in The Royal Command Performance at Windsor Castle. In 1914 Mr Partridge joined the British army and fought in France until 1916, when he was badly wounded. He was shipped home to England but found that due to the nature of his injuries he was unable to return to his Music Hall career and tried a brief period as a comic, travelling the American circuit in New Orleans. He then returned to England and started up a children’s entertainment business, performing Punch and Judy and magic tricks as Willie the Wizard. The business was a success and Mr Partridge found himself highly in demand performing for wealthy and respectable families. In 1940, Mr Partridge left his business and joined ENSA, performing as a comic entertaining the troops in North Africa. After demobilization in 1946, Mr Partridge found the demand for his services had dwindled and he was forced to take a job as Children’s Entertainer at the newly re-opened Crimpton on Sea, Maplins Holiday Camp. As the years wore on, Mr Partridge became dispirited by the lack of respect he received from the increasingly bad mannered children who stayed at the camp. By the early 1950’s he was drinking heavily and slipping into seasonal alcoholic benders and regularly taking it upon himself to discipline the unruly children. Sometime during the late 1950’s he became involved with a pub landlady and in 1960 he faked his own death and left the camp to live with her in Cornwall.
* Julian Dalrymple-Sykes (Ben Aris)
Julian was a former lover of Yvonne's who stood in for Barry when he was incapicated with a bad back, he then joined Yvonne full-time at the camp following Barry's departure.
* Uncle Sammy Morris (Kenneth Connor)
Uncle Sammy was a children's entertainer who had fallen on hard times and was 'discovered' by Ted on the beach at Grapethorpe, he came to the camp to replace Mr Partridge.
Yellowcoats
* Sylvia Garnsey (Nikki Kelly)
Sylvia was born in 1934 in Littlehampton, by 1959 she was the second longest serving yellowcoat at the camp. Known for her long legs and attractive appearance, she regularly clashed with Gladys and was often seen with her hands in her pockets. Sylvia was a qualified swimming instructor.
* Stanley & Bruce Matthews (The Webb Twins)
Little is known about the twins except that they had done their National Service in the army and had joined Maplins in 1955.
* Gary Bolton (Chris Andrews)
Gary is the third boy yellowcoat, joining the camp part-way into the 1959 season, he is often portrayed as a very vain man.
1959 Season
* Betty Whistler (Rikki Howard)
Betty was born in 1938 in Harrow on the Hill, she spent one season at Maplins in 1959. She previously attended drama school and was a qualified swimming instructor.
* Mary (Penny Irving)
Mary only worked at the camp for a couple of months at the start of the 1959 season.
* Val (Gail Harrison)
Val replaced Mary for a couple of months during the 1959 season.
* Tracey Bentward (Susan Beagley)
Tracey replaced Val for the remainder of the 1959 season. A doctor's daughter, she was a former club champion in tennis and was also a league basketball player.
1960 Season
* April (Linda Regan)
April worked as a hairdresser prior to joining Maplins in 1960, she began a relationship with Spike.
* Dawn (Laura Jackson)
Dawn was born in Watford. She often clashed with Gladys over her habit of pouting rather than smiling.
* Babs (Julie-Christian Young)
Babs had come 2nd in the Holiday Princess Competition at the Camber Sands Camp in 1959.
Others
* Peggy Ollerenshaw (Su Pollard)
Peggy was the chalet maid who looked after the staff lines under the supervision of the fearsome Miss Cathcart. She always aspired to be a yellowcoat. Born in Lancashire in 1931, her father worked for the coal and gaslight company and had a passion for motorbike racing and Peggy was an experienced rider had a licence by the time she was 16. Her father had died by the time she joined Maplins and Peggy was financially supporting her widowed mother from her wages. In addition to her regular duties she often helped out the entertainments staff, and could frequently be seen in the evenings in the Hawaiian ballroom, enjoying (and often joining in with) the evening entertainments. Peggy is in the possession of a rather vivid imagination and is often easily taken in by others' lies, particularly Ted's tall tales.
* Ramona (Jean Lear)
Ramona was the camp pianist, who was usually seen playing the piano at the side of the pool
* Fred Larkin
The cook at Maplins, referred to as Cordon Blue, his dubious meals are often the cause of illness at the camp. Assisted by Rupert the Pudding Chef, a close friend of Peggy.
* Bert Swanley and the Debonaires
The resident band at Maplins who are often seen in the background.
Themes
Several underlying themes were apparent throughout the show's run. Working at the camp was a step up (or down) the ladder of success in showbusiness, with the younger staff (Spike Dixon, the Yellowcoats) keen and enthusiastic about what they saw as a lucky break at the start of their careers, while for older members of the staff (Barry and Yvonne, Mr Partridge) the camp was a step down from past glories. Caught in the middle were staff members close to middle age (Ted Bovis, Fred Quilley) who still dreamed of fame and fortune, reluctant to accept that working at a holiday camp was the best they would ever do.
The changing nature of British society is reflected in the series. The erosion of class boundaries that occurred in the post-war years - and attitudes to these changes - is illustrated in the character mix. Jeffrey Fairbrother's determination to leave a promising career in academia for something "real" is met with horror by his family and incomprehension by the Dean of his college who visits the camp to persuade him to return to Cambridge. The decidedly middle-class Barry and Yvonne Stuart Hargreaves look down on almost everyone at the camp, save for Fairbrother - although they are disappointed in his insistence that they take part in "vulgar" games as part of the entertainment, believing he should stand up for people of "his own class". Conversely, the societal changes are welcomed by other staff, particularly Ted and Spike, who believe that Peggy's attempts at becoming a Yellowcoat are thwarted by prejudice against her working-class background.
The series is set at a time of change in the fashion of the so-called traditional British holiday. Despite the feeling amongst many staff that their brand of fun and entertainment for the whole family is a tradition that will endure, the emerging popularity at the time (late 1950s-early 1960s) for self-catering and holidaying abroad mean the camp is unlikely to survive in its original format.
Episodes
Main article: List of Hi-de-Hi! episodes
After a pilot broadcast on 1 January 1980, the programme ran for nine series totalling 58 episodes between 26 February 1981 and 30 January 1988. Due to the programme's popularity, the BBC decided to air series 3 and 4 back-to-back, the first and only time the BBC has ever done this with one of their own (first run) shows, which means some sources refer to both series as Series 3.
The Stage Show
Hi-de-Hi was made into a musical, called Hi-de-Hi - The Holiday Musical, in the early years of the show. Labelled as a "summer pantomime" by its critics, the production featured most of the TV cast plus several new characters. It did not follow the television storylines, but it was a success nonetheless. It did a summer season in Bournemouth in 1983, a Christmas season in London in 1983 and a summer season in Blackpool in 1984. It was short lived, however, when some of the cast complained that filming the TV series and doing the summer show limited their offers of acting jobs elsewhere.
At the height of its popularity, the BBC had plans to make it into a feature film, but this did not come to fruition.
Theme music and merchandise
Hi-de-Hi! had a rock and roll style theme tune called "Holiday Rock". It became a chart hit in 1981, sung by Paul Shane, and featuring several members of the cast on backing vocals, it was performed on Top of the Pops. The title "Holiday Rock" may be a pun on a number of levels, rock and roll, a seaside holiday location or rock (traditionally sold at UK holiday venues).
Hi-de-Hi! was one of the first BBC shows to capitalise on the merchandise market, with products such as board games, albums, books, toys and t-shirts available to buy.
Filming
The location scenes of Hi-de-Hi! were filmed at a real holiday camp, "Warners" in the town of Dovercourt near Harwich in Essex. The pilot episode and first two series were filmed during early spring (1979–81) before the holiday camp was opened to the public for the summer. This is noticeable during outdoor scenes, because most of the trees on the camp site are bare. Since it was so cold during filming a lot of the outdoor scenes, the cast were continuously complaining about having to appear in summer clothing, and Jeffrey Holland was treated for hypothermia during the first series because his character spent most of the time in the swimming pool. As a result, the BBC moved filming to during the summer and during September, although some scenes at the camp were filmed elsewhere. After the series ended the camp closed and the site was demolished, to be replaced by a housing estate.
After Hi-de-Hi!
Several principal cast members were reunited in another period piece by the same writers called You Rang, M'Lord?, which piloted in 1988, and ran for four series to 1993, and again in Oh, Doctor Beeching! by David Croft and Richard Spendlove from 1995 to 1997.
DVD releases
The first two series, including the pilot, were released in a boxset by Universal Playback in 2003, followed by a boxset of series three and four in 2004. The fifth and sixth series was released in a box set on 23 October 2006. Universal Playback encountered problems when releasing the first four series on DVD because they did not hold the rights to the soundtrack. As a result, some of the episodes were edited. Series Seven was released on 5 May 2008. Series Eight and Nine were released in a double pack 22 September 2008.
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