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Hi-De-Hi!
''Hi-de-Hi!'' is a BBC television sitcom shown on BBC1 from 1 January 1980 to 30 January 1988. Set in 1959 and 1960 in Maplins, a fictional holiday camp, the show was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who also wrote '' Dad's Army'' and '' It Ain't Half Hot Mum'' amongst other programmes. The title was the greeting the campers heard and in early episodes was written ''Hi de Hi''. The series revolved around the lives of the camp's entertainers, most of whom were struggling actors and has-beens. Inspiration for the series were the experiences of Jimmy Perry, one of the programme's writers. After being demobilised from the Army, he was a Redcoat at Butlins in Filey and Pwllheli during the holiday season. The series gained large audiences and won 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. In 2014, Jimmy Perry confirmed that ''Hi-de-Hi!'' would be repeated, and it began a rerun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Su Pollard
Susan Georgina Pollard (born 7 November 1949) is an English actress and singer. Her career has spanned over 45 years; she is most famous for her role in the sitcom ''Hi-de-Hi!''. She also appeared in '' You Rang, M'Lord?'' and ''Oh, Doctor Beeching!''. Pollard has appeared in over 35 stage plays and musicals, as well as over 40 pantomimes. As a singer, she scored a UK number-two hit with the song "Starting Together" in 1986 and also released an album. Early life and education Pollard was born in Nottingham, the eldest daughter of Don and Hilda Pollard. Her interest in acting began at the age of six when she played an angel in a school nativity play. She attended Berridge Road School, Hyson Green and Peveril Bilateral School, Robin's Wood Road (now Nottingham Girls' Academy). After leaving school at the age of 16, she got a job at the Tennant Rubber Company in Carlton as a shorthand typist [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeffrey Holland (actor)
Jeffrey Holland (born Jeffrey Michael Parkes, 17 July 1946) is a British actor who is well known for roles in television sitcoms, playing comic Spike Dixon at the Maplin's holiday camp in '' Hi-de-Hi!'', as well as BBC Radio comedy, including '' Week Ending''. He also played leading roles in the sitcoms ''You Rang, M'Lord?'' and ''Oh, Doctor Beeching!''. Early life Born in Walsall, Staffordshire, he was educated at Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall. Holland joined an amateur theatre company and soon found that he had a talent for comedy, but despite this he could not pursue a career in comedy until after he left home. He has said that "my father died when I was 14, so right after leaving school at 16 I secured a job to earn money to help my mother. I worked at a wine merchant's and an office in Walsall, where I was brought up". After leaving home Holland trained at Birmingham School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art and became a professional actor. His first stage appe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Shane
Paul Shane (born George Frederick Speight; 19 June 1940 – 16 May 2013) was a British actor and comedian. He was known for his television work, in particular playing Ted Bovis in ''Hi-de-Hi!'', a 1980s BBC sitcom. Early life Shane was born on 19 June 1940 in Thrybergh, near Rotherham, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. After leaving school in 1955, he was a miner at Silverwood Colliery until he suffered double herniated discs after slipping on soap in the pithead baths in 1967, being pensioned from the coal mines as a result. Two years later he became a professional entertainer. He already had ten years' experience as a part-time entertainer in pubs and clubs in south Yorkshire. Career Shane's first appearance, as a singer, was at the Grafton pub — now demolished — in St Ann's Road, Rotherham. His first club booking was at St Ann's Club in Rotherham, for 30 shillings. His transformation from singer to comedian was gradual, starting with his version of "Green, Green Grass of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Sitcom
A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television. Most British sitcoms are recorded on studio sets, while some have an element of location filming. A handful are made almost exclusively on location (for example, '' Last of the Summer Wine'') and shown to a studio audience prior to final post-production. A subset of British comedy consciously avoids traditional situation comedy themes, storylines, and home settings to focus on more unusual topics or narrative methods. ''Blackadder'' (1983–1989) and ''Yes Minister'' (1980–1988, 2013) moved what is often a domestic or workplace genre into the corridors of power. A later development was the mockumentary genre exemplified by series such as '' The Office'' (2001–2003). Early years ;''Pinwright's Progress'' Written by Rodney Hobson, '' Pinwright's Progress'' (1946–1947) was the world's first regular half-hour televised sitcom. Broadcast live by the BBC from Alexandra Palace, it was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Croft (TV Producer)
Major David John Croft, (born David John Andrew Sharland; 7 September 1922 – 27 September 2011) was an English television comedy screenwriter, producer and director. He produced and wrote a string of BBC sitcoms with partners Jimmy Perry and Jeremy Lloyd, including ''Dad's Army'', ''Are You Being Served?'', ''It Ain't Half Hot Mum'', ''Hi-de-Hi!'' and '''Allo 'Allo!'' Early life Croft was born into a show business family: his father, Reginald Sharland (1886–1944), had a successful career as a radio actor in Hollywood, and his mother, Annie Croft (1896–1959), was a famous stage actress who had starred in the 1927 silent film ''On With The Dance,'' she was also the first woman to own a West End theatre company. His first public appearance was at the age of seven, when he was seen in a commercial which aired in cinemas. After that, his acting career in films "began and ended" with his uncredited appearance as Perkins in the film '' Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' (1939). Crof ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Perry
James Perry, (20 September 1923 – 23 October 2016)Simon Morgan-Russell, "Perry, James (Jimmy) (1923–2016)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Jan 202available online Retrieved 25 August 2020. was an English script writer and actor. He devised and co-wrote the BBC sitcoms ''Dad's Army'' (1968–77), ''It Ain't Half Hot Mum'' (1974–81), '' Hi-De-Hi'' (1980–88) and '' You Rang, M'Lord?'' (1988–93), all with David Croft. Perry co-wrote the theme tune of ''Dad's Army'', "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr. Hitler?" along with Derek Taverner, for which Perry received an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in 1971. Early life Perry was born in Barnes, Surrey. His father, Arthur, was an antiques dealer, whose shop was in South Kensington, London. He was a founder of the British Antique Dealers' Association. His son was educated at two independent schools, Colet Court and St Paul's Sch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruth Madoc
Ruth Madoc (born Margaret Ruth Llewellyn Baker; 16 April 1943 – 9 December 2022) was a British actress who had a career on stage and screen spanning over 60 years. She was best known for her role as Gladys Pugh in the BBC television comedy '' Hi-de-Hi!'' (1980–1988), for which she received a BAFTA TV award nomination for Best Light Entertainment Performance. Early life Madoc was born Margaret Ruth Llewellyn Baker on 16 April 1943 in Norwich, daughter of George Baker and Iris (née Williams), who worked in healthcare, her father as an administrator and her mother as a nurse. They ran a "poor law" institution for people with severe learning difficulties. On her father's side she was a distant cousin of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George; having starred in '' The Life and Times of David Lloyd George'' in 1981, she learned of this connection in 2010 on the BBC Wales programme '' Coming Home''. Her parents travelled around Britain for much of her childhood, and she was br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Cadell
Simon John Cadell (19 July 1950 – 6 March 1996) was an English actor, best known for his portrayal of Jeffrey Fairbrother in the first five series of the BBC situation comedy '' Hi-de-Hi!''. Early life Born in London, he was the son of theatrical agent John Cadell, grandson of the Scottish character actress Jean Cadell, great nephew of Francis Cadell RSA, the brother of the actress Selina Cadell and commercials director Patrick Cadell, the cousin of the actor Guy Siner and son-in-law of the television producer David Croft. He was educated at The Hall School in Hampstead and Bedales School at Petersfield where his close friends included Gyles Brandreth, who remained a friend until Cadell's death. Career Cadell was a member of the National Youth Theatre and appeared with them in the 1967 production of '' Zigger Zagger''. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. His first successes were found in the theatre in the mid to late 1970s. An early television ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Griffin (actor)
David Griffin (born 19 July 1943) is an English actor best known for both his roles as Squadron Leader Clive Dempster DFC in ''Hi-de-Hi!'' between 1984 and 1988 and Emmet Hawksworth in '' Keeping Up Appearances'' between 1991 and 1995. Career His first screen role was in 1960 in the film ''A French Mistress,'' and roles like Ricketts in ''The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's'' in 1961, David Ashton in ''Outbreak of Murder'' in 1962 and Mark Dennison in ''Quick Before They Catch Us'' in 1966 followed soon after and became both popular and familiar with viewers. Griffin would appear in the smash hit film ''Battle of Britain'' in 1969 as Sergeant Pilot Chris and in popular television series including ''Dixon of Dock Green'' in 1968 and then again in 1974, ''Z-Cars'' in 1970. Other television appearances include a guest role in an episode of '' Doctor Who'' (" The Sea Devils"), '''Allo 'Allo!'', ''Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' was a BBC police procedural television ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Butlin's
Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families. Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and one in the Bahamas. In the 1970s and 1980s, Butlin's also operated numerous large hotels, including one in Spain, a number of smaller holiday parks in England and France, and a revolving restaurant in the Post Office Tower in London.Summary of Butlins history on Butlin's website Butlins (15 April 2011). Retrieved 13 July 2011. Tough competition from overseas package holiday operators, rising operational costs, and rapidly changing demand, forced many of the Butlin's operations to close in the 1980s and 1990s. Three of the original camp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Butlins Redcoats
''Redcoat'' is the name given to frontline staff at Butlins holiday camps in the UK. A Redcoat has duties ranging from adult entertainer or children's entertainer to stewarding. History The first Redcoat was Norman Bradford. When Sir Billy Butlin opened his first Butlin's in Skegness he realised that his guests were not engaging with activities in the way he had envisioned: most kept to themselves, and others looked bored. He asked Bradford – who was engaged as an engineer, constructing the camp – to take on the duty of entertaining the guests which he did with a series of icebreakers and jokes. By the end of the night the camp was buzzing and the Butlins atmosphere was born. The same night Butlin decided that for his camp to work he would require an army of people to carry out the same job as Norman, and the role of Redcoat was formed. Uniform To make his new army stand out, Butlin asked Norman to purchase a uniform. Norman later returned with a jacket in the camp colo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holiday Camp
A holiday camp is a type of holiday accommodation that encourages holidaymakers to stay within the site boundary, and provides entertainment and facilities for them throughout the day. Since the 1970s, the term has fallen out of favour with terms such as holiday park, resort, holiday village and holiday centre replacing it. As distinct from camping, accommodation typically consisted of chalets, accommodation buildings arranged individually or in blocks. From the 1960s onward, many camps also added static caravan accommodation, and today, many static caravans are also termed holiday camps. History Cunningham's Young Men's Holiday Camp at Douglas on the Isle of Man is sometimes regarded as the first holiday camp, but it differed from the definition (above), especially as accommodation was still in tents. Cunningham's was still open by the time Billy Butlin opened his first camp in 1936 (and still averaged 60,000 campers on a good year). Ward, Hardy 1987, p. 22. Opened in 1906 b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
