Hi-de-Hi!


Hi-de-Hi! is a British sitcom created by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and produced by the BBC. The programme initially began with a pilot on 1 January 1980 and aired for nine series between 26 February 1981 and 30 January 1988, and starred Paul Shane, Su Pollard, Jeffrey Holland, Ruth Madoc and Simon Cadell.
Inspired by Perry's time serving as a Redcoat at Butlin's, the series takes place within the fictional Maplins holiday camp in Essex towards the end of the traditional British holiday period of the 1950s. The episodes themselves focus on the lives of the camp's entertainers and staff, who frequently greet campers with the titular phrase "Hi-de-Hi!", and consist mostly of struggling actors, comedians, wannabe stars, and has-been entertainers.
The programme proved popular from its launch, gaining large audiences during its broadcast; its popularity helped it to win a BAFTA as Best Comedy Series in 1984. In a 2008 poll on Channel 4, Hi-de-Hi! was voted the 35th most popular comedy catchphrase. By 2015, the series began receiving repeats, initially with the BBC alongside other sitcom classics by Croft and Perry, and subsequently moved onto being repeated on Gold.

Synopsis

Hi-de-Hi! is set within a holiday camp situated in the fictional seaside town of Crimpton-on-Sea, Essex, covering the summer holiday seasons of 1959 and 1960. Owned by Maplins, run by the staff for the owner Joe Maplin, the camp operates in a similar manner to real-life holiday camps, including providing entertainment and activities through its staff of Yellowcoats – a parody of the real-life Redcoats, Bluecoats, and Greencoats. The Yellowcoats are led by Ted Bovis, the camp host, and consist of three different groups of entertainers: the young, who see the job as a lucky break into showbusiness; the middle-aged, who are realistic about their prospects but still cling to the hope that they can still achieve fame; and the veterans, the oldest members of staff who see their job as a step down from former stardom glories.
Many of the stories focus on the relationships between the characters, the constant issues that arise from Ted's attempts to scam the camp's holidaymakers, and other issues sometimes brought on by Maplin himself. The sitcom notably focused on a common theme in stories surrounding the erosion of class boundaries during the post-war period and attitudes of staff towards each other – a recurring element in stories is chalet maid Peggy Ollerenshaw's desire to be a Yellowcoat and the dislike Yellowcoat Sports Organiser Gladys Pugh has towards this idea.

Cast

  • Paul Shane as Ted Bovis – The Camp's Entertainment Host, and a former entertainer. Tasked with greeting and entertaining campers, but also secretly runs scams and rackets to make money on the side. After the show concluded in 1988, Shane would be one of several cast members to work on later sitcoms by Croft.
  • Ruth Madoc as Gladys Pugh – The Camp's radio announcer and sports organiser. The writers devised her to be the romantic foil for the entertainment manager, while being snobbish around the Yellowcoats and Peggy.
  • Jeffrey Holland as Spike Dixon – The camp's chief comic for the 1959 and 1960 season, acting as Ted's conscience during times when his scheming could lead to trouble. Holland would join with Shane on working on further sitcoms made by Croft.
  • Su Pollard as Peggy Ollerenshaw – A chalet maid at Maplins, with dreams of becoming a Yellowcoat and achieving stardom. This dream became a recurring element in some of the stories for Hi-de-Hi. Peggy achieves her dream in the series finale, only for it to be taken away when the camp closes for good at the end of the 1960 season. Like Shane, she would work on further sitcoms by Croft.
  • Simon Cadell as Professor Jeffrey Fairbrother – The camp's entertainment manager for the 1959 season. A former archaeology professor from Cambridge University who takes the job to escape academia and meet "real people". However, he struggles to adapt and is wooden when making speeches or presenting to campers. Cadell left the sitcom after the fifth series to focus on other projects.
  • Felix Bowness as Fred Quilley – The camp's riding instructor for horse rides, and a former race jockey. Bowness would join in with Croft's later sitcoms, but would have less prominence as a recurring guest star.
  • Diane Holland as Yvonne Stuart-Hargreaves – An upper-class dance instructor, part of a husband-and-wife pair of former ballroom champions. Yvonne sees herself as a cut above the rest of the campers and even her husband, Barry.
  • Barry Howard as Barry Stuart-Hargreaves – Yvonne's husband and dance partner. Like Yvonne, he presents an upper-class demeanour but she is quick to remind him of his lowlier roots and his real name, "Bert Pratt". Howard was forced to leave the production after unruly drunken conduct. Barry was then written out in Series 8.
  • Leslie Dwyer as Mr William Partridge – A children's entertainer, working as "Whimsical Willie" the Punch and Judy man at Maplins, who has a drinking problem and a dislike of children. The oldest member of staff. Formerly a music hall performer at the Holborn Empire who even entertained King George V, his career was cut short by World War I and he has remained bitter ever since. Dwyer was forced to drop out midway through the production of the sixth series due to his declining health. The writers wrote his character out of the sitcom in response, having him fake his own death to run away with a barmaid.
  • Nikki Kelly as Sylvia Garnsey – A female Yellowcoat staff member, with a flirtatious behaviour with the camp's entertainment managers. The writers devised Kelly's character to be a constant foil towards that of Madoc's character, with the sitcom exploring their relationship over the two holiday seasons.
  • David Griffin as Clive Dempster – The camp's entertainment manager for the 1960 season; an upper-class former wartime hero. Although sharing a similar background to his predecessor, Dempster had a slightly shifty nature with money and was not above getting involved with Ted's schemes. Griffin was brought in to replace Cadell following his departure.
  • Ben Aris as Julian Dalrymple-Sykes – A dance instructor and a former lover of Yvonne, brought in to replace Barry after his departure. Aris initially made a guest appearance in the fifth series as a warning to Howard to get his drinking under control, he was later brought in to replace Howard after his departure.
  • Kenneth Connor as Sammy Morris – A shady children's entertainer, brought into replace Partridge during the 1960 season. Connor had a guest appearance in the seventh series then joined the cast for the final two series.
  • David Webb as Stanley Mathews, and Tony Webb as Bruce Mathews – Identical twin brother Yellowcoats. Both David and Tony maintained minor roles to begin with, but with given more involvement by the third series. In the credits, both brothers are referred to as "The Webb Twins".
  • Chris Andrews as Gary Bolton – A male Yellowcoat staff member. Originally portrayed by Terence Creasy in the pilot, the character was unnamed to begin with and played a minor role. The writers gave Andrews more prominence by the start of the third series.
  • Penny Irving as Mary – A female Yellowcoat staff member for the 1959 holiday season. Irving left the show after the first series, claiming it wasn’t very funny.
  • Rikki Howard as Betty Whistler – A female Yellowcoat staff member for the 1959 holiday season, with a strong dislike of Gladys' overbearing nature towards herself and other female staff. Howard left the sitcom after the fifth series.
  • Gail Harrison as Val – A female Yellowcoat staff member for the 1959 holiday season.
  • Susan Beagley as Tracey Bentwood – A female Yellowcoat staff member for the 1959 holiday season, who, like Betty, clashes with Gladys' personality on the camp. Like Rikki Howard, Beagley left the sitcom after the fifth series.
  • Gavin Richards as Harold Fox – The General Manager of Maplin's, known as the "Smiling Viper."
  • Linda Regan as April Wingate – A female Yellowcoat staff member for the 1960 holiday season, with a somewhat childish personality. Writers devised the character to be a love interest for Spike, with a number of stories looking in to the development of their relationship with each other.
  • Laura Jackson as Dawn Freshwater – A female Yellowcoat staff member for the 1960 holiday season. Jackson's character was devised by the writers to be similar to that of previous Yellowcoat women, but with a secret attraction to Dempster during the final holiday season for the camp.
  • Ewan Hooper as Alec Foster – Maplin's Camp Controller, abusing his power at every turn until Sammy Morris gets him recalled to Head Office.

    Production

Filming

Hi-de-Hi! relied on BBC studios for interior scenes for the entertainment staff building and interior chalet rooms, but much of the exterior scenes for Maplins were shot at Warners' former holiday camp that operated within the town of Dovercourt near Harwich, Essex; the site is now a housing estate after the camp was closed in 1990. During the pilot episode and the first two series, filming at the camp was done in early spring before the main holiday period for the public during the summer months – the temperature at the time led to complaints by cast members; Jeffrey Holland in particular had to be treated for hypothermia owing to scenes that saw him thrown into the camp's pool. Other locations around Essex were used during the show's filming, including around the town of Manningtree; and a couple of episodes were filmed at Weybourne railway station on the North Norfolk Railway.