Open All Hours - Plot

Plot

The series features a small grocer's shop in Balby, a suburb of Doncaster in South Yorkshire. The owner, Albert Arkwright (Ronnie Barker), is a middle-aged miser with a stammer and a knack for being able to sell anything to any buyer, no matter how unwilling. His nephew Granville Arkwright (David Jason), is his put-upon errand boy, whose attempts at a love-life or even just a meaningful social life fall flat. He blames his uncle, in particular, that, he has to be up early to open the shop, stay up late to close it with only an odd hour of free time and deliver large numbers of goods on a battered bicycle. Almost every mistake Arkwright makes is followed by a cry of "Gr-Granville! F-fetch yer clorth!". Granville was orphaned at an early age when Arkwright's sister died, leaving Arkwright to raise the boy. Arkwright often describes his sister as being extremely promiscuous, even a prostitute. However these remarks are made humorously and light-heartedly rather than maliciously. A recurring joke revolves around Arkwright's speculation that Granville's father, his identity and whereabouts unknown, was Hungarian an issue never resolved. Granville's intellectual and emotional nature frustrates Arkwright, who wants his sole heir to develop an avaricious nature akin to his own.

The shop is crowded and most goods can only be reached from behind the counter allowing Arkwright a chance to hawk more goods. The till is old, and an overtightened spring on its drawer terrifies Granville and Arkwright, as it results in many a close call as the till snaps shut, almost trapping the pair's fingers. Arkwright does not replace it partly because replacements are too expensive, and partly because it prevents people from taking his precious money.

Across the road lives Nurse Gladys Emmanuel (Lynda Baron), Arkwright's long-standing fiancée; much of the skinflint's time is dedicated to trying to persuade her to marry him, or at least sleep with him. Nurse Gladys has her rounds and her elderly mother to occupy her. The only one with any influence over Arkwright, she forces him to give Granville more freedoms and spend money to modernise his archaic lifestyle. In the pilot episode, Nurse Gladys was played by Sheila Brennan with an Irish accent, and the character was slimmer than the buxom creature she became.

Other regulars included the milkwoman (Barbara Flynn) with whom Granville had a romantic fling; Mavis (Maggie Ollerenshaw) a young woman who can never make up her mind what to buy; Mrs Blewett (Kathy Staff), with a critical word for everyone; and Mrs Featherstone (Stephanie Cole), nicknamed "The Black Widow", a sour-faced, miserly hag who admires Arkwright for being likewise and shows a degree of romantic interest in him.

A few complaints were registered over humorous use of a speech impediment, but Arkwright was so amiable and the humour so good-natured that most deemed it a portrayal without malice. The part was originally written without the stammer Barker suggested it and it became part of Arkwright's character. Similarly, the dangerous cash-register was created mostly by Barker.

Two of Ronnie Barker's fake moustaches (donated by the BBC) used in the show were auctioned at the British Stammering Association conference in London, September 2005 (shortly before Barker's death).

The show's theme tune is a song called Alice, where art thou? music written by Joseph Ascher. It was played in an arrangement for brass band by Max Harris, who also wrote the incidental music for the series.

The programme can be quite reflective and at times has moments of pathos. Whilst everyone else in the programme is practical and shows no emotion or sentimentality, Granville is quite the opposite and throughout the series often reflects on life passing him by. Occasionally, characters he would have known as a teenager are brought in and whilst they have all gone on in life and had some success, Granville has remained his uncle's errand boy the ageing Granville is still treated like a child, in particular by Arkwright, but also by customers in the shop, even those sympathetic towards his predicament.

Most episodes end with Arkwright standing at night outside the shop prior to closing while reflecting on the events of the day (via a Barker voiceover) and often ending with a half-hearted, comedic request to God. The closing theme and titles play as Arkwright then begins to take the shop's outdoor displays indoors and close up.