Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
Cast: David Jason, Lynda Baron, James Baxter, Stephanie Cole, Maggie Ollerenshaw, Johnny Vegas, Brigit Forsyth, Tim Healy, Kulvinder Ghir, Sally Lindsay, Nina Wadia, Barry Elliott, Mark Williams, Paula Wilcox, Vicki Pepperdine, Emily Fleeshman.
Over 40 years have passed since the immortal Ronnie Barker stuttered onto the screens of the nation as the tight fisted, corner shop owning Albert Arkwright. It was the days when Ronnie Barker was the B.B.C.’s comedy giant, when he was the lord of all he surveyed, from the Two Ronnies, to the phenomenal Porridge and of course the might of the Roy Clarke written Open All Hours, all he touched turned to gold.
With the passing of the Governor, as his then co-star in the hit series, David Jason, still calls him, it seems natural to perhaps consign such comedy to the bin of history, however some comedies don’t age, even if their stars do. Following on from the 2013 Christmas special, which celebrated the 40th Anniversary of corner shop, the over-laden delivery bike and the greatest prop till in the world, Still Open All Hours is a timely reminder that a television audience can have the sophistication of a modern comedy wrapped up in the ideals of a thousand script-writers and 18 episode seasons but there is nothing at times like the everyday, the true sense of the real life with its humour based in the accuracy of the legitimate persona, rather than some grotesque caricature dealing out mean, barbed insights.
Still Open All Hours will not suit all, there will be some who hold a candle to Ronnie Barker and exclaim that the series should have died with him or even that it’s a relic of by-gone age which no longer exists in 21st Century Britain. Yet look around, the modern supermarket is being looked at in a different light, the spacious, clean interior holds a nightmare of issues with staff who in some cases don’t care about the people that walk through the door, that couldn’t give a fig roll for the time of day or service and whilst there will always be the baying mob that suggests that such provinciality is a throwback to an age in which didn’t help financially to the system, its contribution to the local community was immeasurable.
With David Jason returning as Granville, although these days less of the Romeo who lusted after the milk woman and with only his heart beating for Maggie Ollerenshaw’s Mavis, the invaluable Stephanie Cole and Lynda Baron reprising their respective roles and with new blood such as Johnny Vegas, the delightful Tim Healy, Kulvinder Ghir and sensational Nina Wadia all making their mark on the floor and counters of Arkwright’s, this gentle comedy has more than deserved its place on screen and warming up the cold January night air.
There are not many things you can rely on in life but David Jason to give the viewer a smile is certainly one of them, then again he learned from the best, The Governor.
Ian D. Hall