Hi De Hi back on TV

[Gulftastic]

According to the provisional schedules Hi De Hi is back on BBC Two on

December 20th, 2:50pm on BBC 2 HD
December 26th, 5:15pm on BBC 2 HD

That's all the info I've got. Hopefully, it'll be from the start, so we get loads of Simon Cadell as Jeffrey Fairbrother.

[Glebe]

"No Gladys, I do not "fancy a good fa-ckin'?" because I am a repressed homosexual."

[Rolf Lundgren]

In HD at last.

[biggytitbo]

Hi de Hi wasn't filmed in HD.


Thanks,


Biggy

[Phoenix Lazarus]

First rule of comedy, Spike, you must be funny, lad!

[Absorb the anus burn]

I hope they don't edit it this time and cut out all the bits with Miss Cathcart. She was the funniest character by a long stretch.

[mook]

^ played by the same actress that did elizabeth mainwaring and bob sacamano.

[Alternative Carpark]

In HD at last.

If the original film rolls and negatives for the location material still existed, then in theory you could get those in HD, though not the videotaped studio stuff.  However, given the vintage of the series, they're almost certainly long gone and the copies on the episodes, on a video source only, are probably all there is of those.

[Barry Hercules]

According to the provisional schedules Hi De Hi is back on BBC Two on

December 20th, 2:50pm on BBC 2 HD
December 26th, 5:15pm on BBC 2 HD

That's all the info I've got. Hopefully, it'll be from the start, so we get loads of Simon Cadell as Jeffrey Fairbrother.

Sadly, not listed in the Xmas Radio Times (or online), so no Hi-de-Hi! repeats just yet...

[Pinball]

Even with no film source material, they can still upscale. I've been watching some HD ('1K') BluRays and Sky HD on a 4K Sony videoprojector, and it is way better than HD. By the same logic, 'semi-HD' will hopefully be better than SD.

Evening, campers :-)

[Gulftastic]

Right, this time it's really happening.

Starts Monday afternoon (2nd Feb) at 4.35. It's on the EPG and everything.

[Norton Canes]

Shame, saw the thread title and hoped it would be a new series.

I reckon there are enough survivors from all the Perry/Croft sitcoms to get them together playing the same characters and make 'Dad's It Ain't Half Hi De Hi M'lord'.

[Black_Bart]

About 5 years ago, Tesco had the complete boxset of Hi de Hi for £40, so I snapped it up (one of the first series I loved when I first moved here). It's great, both line ups.

Do you think this is due to Su and Ruth turning up on Pointless, a couple of times?

If anybody wants to watch repeats, get a ladder and I'll let you watch it through my window.

"What shall we do with him, campers...?"

[Jake Thingray]

It is a favourite of TCR, whom Black_Bart has certain similarities to. Hmmm.

[Black_Bart]

Seeing as HDH got viewing figures of over 9mil and was shown in the 80s when a lot of Morris fans were nippers, that's a bit of a reach, isn't it?

Are all the Beatles fans here the same person....?

[Quincey]

Never watched Hi De Hi, always had the impression it was naff and the jokes were rubbish like Are You Being Served. Is this the case, or is the sitcom worth watching on TV?

[Black_Bart]

I watched it from near the begining, it's loved in the way Carry On is. If you've never watched it, I doubt you'd get into it.

[the science eel]

Never watched Hi De Hi, always had the impression it was naff and the jokes were rubbish like Are You Being Served. Is this the case, or is the sitcom worth watching on TV?

It's worth it if you're an Erasure fan. But there can't many of those around, can there....?

[daf]

Never watched Hi De Hi, always had the impression it was naff and the jokes were rubbish like Are You Being Served. Is this the case, or is the sitcom worth watching on TV?

Yes, do give it a go!

I think 'Are You Being Served?' is a bit broader/cartoonier compared with 'Hi-de-Hi'. Both have classic comic characters, but 'Hi-de-Hi' seems a bit more grounded in the real world - possibly Jimmy Perry's contribution (A.Y.B.S was written by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd).

You can see the (subtle) difference if you compare each team's work :

Croft & Perry : Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Hi-de-Hi.

Croft & Lloyd : Are You Being Served?, 'Allo 'Allo.

[bomb_dog]

I think pretty much the whole series is available on Youtube. Had a look a few weeks ago - there were playlists by series.

[daf]

For those who missed it last year, BBC 2 are re-showing the 4 part Croft & Perry 'Made in Britain' documentary over the next 4 days :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04pw01p

On at 3:45pm - except for thursday's episode, which is at 2:45pm.

[Norton Canes]

That was a great series. If nothing else it opened my eyes to the fact that there's some decent material in You Rang, M'lord.

[Gulftastic]

That was a great series. If nothing else it opened my eyes to the fact that there's some decent material in You Rang, M'lord.

I agree. Never understand how it's always talked of as being total rubbish.

[Glebe]

I'm actually up to series 7 of Hi-de-Hi! at the moment (posted a bit about it here. Clive isn't terrible or anything, but it's a real pity the wonderful Simon Cadell left. In any case, there's a real sense of camaraderie among the cast. Bit shocked by 1985 Christmas special 'The Great Cat Robbery', where

Spoiler alert

Ted convinces the whole staff (except Gladys and Spike) to DRUG THE ENTIRE HOLIDAY CAMP SO THEY CAN FIND HIDDEN JEWELRY IN THE CHALETS, FOR FUCK'S SAKE

[close]

.

[Ignatius_S]

I agree. Never understand how it's always talked of as being total rubbish.

I suspect that there was an element of snobbery against Croft and Perry, partly born out of familiarity breeding contempt. Also, my gut feeling that use of certain actors went against them – whereas it could be argued that the writers were using actors that they worked well with, and it was almost repertory casting, they largely brought baggage with them.

Shane, Holland and Pollard were primarily identified with a single character from a long-running sitcom – it can obviously be hard for actors to break away from that kind of public perception and here, I think, it was made worse because Hi-de-Hi arguably went on for too long and in the case of Pollard, she played a character that I feel a fair few people didn't care for.

Hewlett and Knowles were best known in a similar way with It Ain't 'Alf Hot Mum and by then, there was a tendency to regard that sitcom in a negative fashion. 

I'm actually up to series 7 of Hi-de-Hi! at the moment (posted a bit about it here. Clive isn't terrible or anything, but it's a real pity the wonderful Simon Cadell left. In any case, there's a real sense of camaraderie among the cast...

Although his departure left a big gap, I think the pity was that the series went on so long, rather than him leaving. Eeven if Cadell had stayed, the show was going to go off the boil at some point and all good things come to an end.

Cadell was the sort of actor who didn't do long runs and enjoyed taking the roles that interested him – that shaped him as an artist and if he was the type to think 'actually, the money is good, I'll just milk this this' then we might have had a very different performance.

He was in the programme for a good run – a show lasting five series has had a terrific go but at some point there has got to be concerns the standard and about the same beats being repeated too many times.

Although losing someone of that calibre was going to be a huge blow, the biggest problem with how that changed the nature of the show. Although it was an ensemble sitcom, Cadel, Shane and Madoc were the trio that it was largely built around – the former's character was the basically the conscience and when that was lost, there was a massive impact on the show's dynamic. Something very similar happened when James Beck departed from Dad's Army – although the show went on and remained incredibly popular, it changed inherently.  Although dramatic elements (which I feel were crucial to making the show so good) they were increasingly eclipsed by physical slapstick and Clive Dunn mugging away – something very similar happened with Hi-de-Hi, I feel.

David Griffin was very good as Clive and he was well cast (although he found it an unhappy experience) but the character changed the whole dynamic and not for the better. Also, that was compounded by Partridge and Barry being written out (and didn't the Yellowcoats change slightly?) - although their replacements had already been seen in the series, it left a feeling that they might be milking the show as much as they could.

[Black_Bart]

Will start a bit of a pagger between the HDH camp here, by saying, (deep breath) I prefer the Sqdn-Ldr Clive Dempster DFC years. There I've said it.

[Ignatius_S]

Will start a bit of a pagger between the HDH camp here, by saying, (deep breath) I prefer the Sqdn-Ldr Clive Dempster DFC years. There I've said it.

In the link that Glebe links to, Serge mentions that he prefers the Dempster character (something that he's said before) to Fairbrother and IIRC, in previous discussions here, others expressed have similar views.

Although I would say it's a minority view, it's far from a controversial one and personally, always found it interesting to hear why people's opinions.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

I remember that one with the drawings of a big-nosed man looking over a wall with 'Wot no...?' written on it.  Next day at school, they were all over the place.

I think that's about the last episode of Hi De Hi I saw, if memory serves.

[Black_Bart]

Why people's opinion what? Of course I'm kidding.

Probably because I wasn't in country for the start of the origional line up, and the Clive line up has got Kenneth Conner, a stalwart of the Carry on series.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Cadell mentioned in an interview bollocking students heckling him in a theatre with 'Hi De Hi', getting off the stage to do so.  Not a squeak thereafter.