Hi de Hi sent up a popular British institution from the fifties and sixties, the holiday camp ,a relatively cheap seaside holiday where campers stayed in chalets, ate in canteens and enjoyed entertainment of varying quality. Written by the former Redcoat Jimmy Perry, Hi de Hi sent up these regimented holidays that were popular before foreign holidays and caravan camps became more affordable. ( I stayed in a later version of a holiday camp in 1985, based around a caravan park, and it had distinctly Hi de Hi attractions, beauty contests, kids singing, entertainment provided by an elderly comic whose routine was stuck in the fifties).
Also this was the era when Hi de Hi was at the peak of its popularity, when 16 million viewers would tune in to watch the goings on at a fictitious holiday camp in 1959. OK it does look a bit cheap and dated now, mostly being filmed in a studio and the jokes could get a bit repetitive, but on the whole Hi de Hi was good fun, particularly the ones with Simon Cadell as the entertainments manager, Geoffrey Fairbrother, an upper class academic who was seriously out of his depth. In one episode he introduces classical music recitals, which go down like a lead balloon, and is constantly being thwarted by the camp comedian, the devious and scheming, Ted Bovis, played brilliantly by the late Paul Shane. Also Fairbrother is lusted after by the sex starved chief Yellowcoat, Gladys Pugh, a Welsh woman who speaks with an exaggerated accent and whose attempts to seduce Fairbrother fail with hilarious results.
Indeed watching the re runs on BBC Two recently, after years of being absent from the television, made me appreciate the earthy charms of Hi de Hi, a sitcom hated by the trendies at the time, but very popular with millions of viewers who loved the innuendo, memories of holiday camps and simple humour. Also what made it more watchable were the misfits and has beens who worked at the camp such as Barry and Yvonne, the ballroom dancing champions no one had heard of, the disqualified jockey Fred Quilley, Peggy the cleaner who dreams of being a Yellowcoat, and an alcoholic Punch and Judy man who hates children. As ever from Perry and Croft, a strong ensemble sitcom that is still well remembered today and with a cracking rock and roll theme tune.
Also this was the era when Hi de Hi was at the peak of its popularity, when 16 million viewers would tune in to watch the goings on at a fictitious holiday camp in 1959. OK it does look a bit cheap and dated now, mostly being filmed in a studio and the jokes could get a bit repetitive, but on the whole Hi de Hi was good fun, particularly the ones with Simon Cadell as the entertainments manager, Geoffrey Fairbrother, an upper class academic who was seriously out of his depth. In one episode he introduces classical music recitals, which go down like a lead balloon, and is constantly being thwarted by the camp comedian, the devious and scheming, Ted Bovis, played brilliantly by the late Paul Shane. Also Fairbrother is lusted after by the sex starved chief Yellowcoat, Gladys Pugh, a Welsh woman who speaks with an exaggerated accent and whose attempts to seduce Fairbrother fail with hilarious results.
Indeed watching the re runs on BBC Two recently, after years of being absent from the television, made me appreciate the earthy charms of Hi de Hi, a sitcom hated by the trendies at the time, but very popular with millions of viewers who loved the innuendo, memories of holiday camps and simple humour. Also what made it more watchable were the misfits and has beens who worked at the camp such as Barry and Yvonne, the ballroom dancing champions no one had heard of, the disqualified jockey Fred Quilley, Peggy the cleaner who dreams of being a Yellowcoat, and an alcoholic Punch and Judy man who hates children. As ever from Perry and Croft, a strong ensemble sitcom that is still well remembered today and with a cracking rock and roll theme tune.