Still Open All Hours is a British sitcom, starring David Jason, a sequel to the series Open All Hours, written by original writer Roy Clarke.
Open All Hours ran for 26 episodes in four series from 1973 to 1985. The BBC announced on 7 October 2013, that the show would air for a 40th Anniversary Special in December 2013. The 40th Anniversary special aired on 26 December at 7:45pm on BBC One. Ronnie Barker, who played the main character of Arkwright, in Open All Hours, died in 2005: the special featured David Jason's Granville, Arkwright's assistant and nephew in the original series, having inherited the grocery store from Arkwright. Other returning cast members included 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. David Jason has suggested that a fourth series will be filmed in 2017. Filming began in September 2017 with David Jason seen on location in Doncaster with co-star Tim Healy .
Video Still Open All Hours
Series development and production
Still Open All Hours was broadcast on 26 December 2013, with Jason reprising his role of Granville from Open All Hours. The new one-off episode written by Clarke showed Granville now running the shop with his son Leroy (played by James Baxter), after inheriting it from Arkwright. Clarke wrote the script in two weeks, and production began in October 2013. The exterior scenes were filmed at the original location at Lister Avenue in Doncaster from 18 to 20 November 2013. The interior scenes were recorded on 3 December 2013 at MediaCityUK in Salford in front of a studio audience. A 30-minute documentary accompanying the show's return, entitled Open All Hours: A Celebration, aired on 27 December 2013, the day after the new episode was broadcast, on BBC One.
On 30 January 2014 the BBC commissioned a full six-part-series of Still Open All Hours to be transmitted later in the year. The controller of BBC comedy commissioning, Shane Allen, said: "The resounding success of the Christmas revival showed the huge and enduring audience affection for this much-loved classic. Roy has done a terrific job of updating the characters whilst keeping what was warm-hearted and enjoyable about the world of the original series."
Production for series one started in August 2014, exterior filming started on 15 September and location recording was completed on 26 September 2014. Interior scenes were recorded in front of a studio audience from 10 October until 21 November 2014 at Teddington Studios in Studio 1.
The announcement of the commissioned six-part-second series was announced on 12 September 2015 with production starting in September 2015. Exterior scenes were filmed on location from 14-24 September 2015. Interior scenes were recorded in front of a studio audience at Pinewood Studios from 9 October until 20 November 2015. A seven-part-third series including Christmas special was commissioned In January 2016. Production started in September 2016 with on location for exterior scenes being shot in Balby Doncaster from 12 September 2016. Lynda Baron could not reprise her role as Nurse Gladys Emmanuel as the filming dates clashed with Baron's current contract with EastEnders. Baron was listed along with her other co-stars as returning for the fourth series by the Doncaster Free Press . Interior scenes were recorded at Pinewood Studios in front of a live-studio-audience on 7, 14 and 21 October and on the 4, 11, 18 and 24 November 2016. In early 2017 a fourth series was commissioned production started in August 2017. On location exterior scenes for the fourth series commenced on 11 September 2017 in Doncaster. This series marks the return of Lynda Baron reprising her role as Nurse Gladys..
Maps Still Open All Hours
Filming locations
The exterior shots reused the original shop from the series, on Lister Avenue in Balby, a suburb of Doncaster. The shop has been a hair salon since 1962, so it had to be extensively redressed to resemble a traditional corner shop. This process took two days, before filming on location for three consecutive days.
For the 2013 special, the studio shots were recorded at Dock10 studios at MediaCityUK, Salford Quays. For the first series, Teddington Studios were used and the second series was recorded at Pinewood Studios.
Characters
- Episode count is as of 5 February 2017 (Series 3, Episode 7)
     â€" Main character in Series 3. Christmas Special (2013) is considered as Episode 1.1.
Guest cast
Still Open All Hours has used several actors from various past hit sitcoms as customers and one-off characters.
Episodes
Twenty episodes of Still Open All Hours, all written by Roy Clarke, have been produced for the BBC. The show began airing on 26 December 2013 with an anniversary special of original series, Open All Hours. All episodes have a running time of 30 minutes.
Broadcast and reception
The special was broadcast on BBC One on 26 December 2013 and received 9.43m (39.9% of the audience) viewers according to overnight figures and was the most watched programme on that day. Final viewing figures showed that it was watched by 12.23m and was the most watched programme for that week. It received poor reviews from critics. Will Dean of The Independent called it a "w-w-worthy [sic] effort" but criticised the attempt to revive the show without the late Ronnie Barker. Ben Lawrence of The Telegraph said it "felt like a relic of another era" criticising the jokes and Jason's performance. Jacob Mason, writing on the Radio Times website, described the show as "warmly nostalgic", whilst others noted it as "a fitting tribute to Ronnie Barker". On 21 November 2014, the BBC confirmed that Still Open All Hours would return for a full series in 2014. This began airing on 26 December 2014 and finished on 25 January 2015. Series 2 began on the 26th December 2015 with a run of 6 episodes and finished on 26 January 2016, Followed by Season 3 which began airing on 26 December 2016 with 7 episodes
DVD releases
Although filmed and broadcast in High-definition, no Blu-ray releases have been announced to date. Series One and the 2013 Christmas Special was released on DVD on 2 February 2015 by 2 entertain. Series 2 was released on 1 February 2016. Series 3 was released on 13 February 2017.
References
External links
- "Still Open All Hours". BBC Programmes.Â
- Still Open All Hours on IMDb
- Still Open All Hours at British Comedy Guide.
- Image of Arkwright's shop in April 2007
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