Still Open All Hours

As a lifelong fan of the original series I was delighted when they announced this was being made. I can't lie and say I find it scream out loud humour, but it is funny enough, it's the kind of show that fills the void left by Last of the Summer Wine. A nice floaty light, humorous show to have chicken sandwiches and cheesecake while watching. It has glimpses of the original magic, there are times when it's quite funny, the true laughs come from the original cast members, Lynda Baron and Stephanie Cole are still great. Maggie Ollerenshaw still manages to inject a bit of magic as Mavis.

I think the first episode remains the funniest, since then we've had a few duffs, and a few good ones, it's one of those shows I'm glad is still on.

It's watchable enough, but it's massively missing Ronnie Barker. 6/10

The final series of Open all Hours was broadcast in 1985 when it also got its largest audience. Two years later Ronnie Barker retired from show business.

After the failure of The Royal Bodyguard, David Jason has gone back to one of his past comedy vehicles while writer Roy Clarke is hoping to recapture his past magic. That seemed to have been frittered away in endless recycling of plots in the latter years of The Last of the Summer Wine.

Here we have an older Granville never having flown the nest with his youthful dreams. He has taken over his uncle's shop and also inherited his uncle's miserly traits.

Assisting him is his more wayward son who was abandoned by his mother. So in a bit of role reversal, Granville has become Arkwright. Fans of the late Ronnie Barker will have to make do with a large picture of Arkwright who David Jason talks to.

This one off was largely a series of sketches with a host of guest stars popping in and some of the older cast members as well. So you have one of the Chuckle brothers, Nina Wadia, Johnny Vegas and old stalwarts such as Maggie Ollerenshaw, Stephanie Cole and Lynda Baron.

The episode was one of the highest rated shows at Christmas 2013 and a regular series followed.

Unfortunately writer Roy Clarke who is in his 80s set his word processor in Auto Recycle mode when the new episodes followed!

Why did the writers make Granville exactly like Arkwright, Granville wouldnt be like that he was carefree, he was the complete oppersite to his uncle, they even made him look like him just without a stutter, it might as well just have been called Open all hours again, just a shame they didnt write for Granville instead of Arkwright

Open All Hours still stands as one of my favourite TV comedy shows. I had never really been interested in even checking out the rerun series. And I can't believe that its actually run now for 5 series. Curiosity however finally got the better of me, and I have now seen a couple of episodes. I can't believe that David Jason is trying to emulate Ronnie Barker, in his portrayal of the mature Granville. But it's like a rerun of their original dynamic, with Granville acting towards the young assistant, as Arkwright had towards him. I hope this is not the case, as with the best will in the world, David Jason is no Ronnie Barker. In the rerun we have some of the same characters from the original series. Granville of course, with Wavy Mavis, as uncertain as ever. And the Black Widow as predatory as ever, now with a glint in her eye for Granville. I can't really speak that much of the rerun as I have not watched that many episodes. But here goes anyway, it seems to have become something of a Mecca for comedy actors. With a range from the older through to the younger, that I can't help but recognise. It always makes for an entertaining view for someone my age, in remembering actors, and what they have appeared in. But this hardly compensates for what should be there anyway, and its not to my mind as funny as the original. Even the peerless Roy Clark has his work cut out, to hope to emulate his previous success.

Roy Clarke had a chance here to write another winner, unfortunately he chose to simply re-hash the original. What was needed was a completely new approach. How about Granville inheriting a fortune from his mysterious father who actually was a Hungarian count, and starting a string of supermarkets and finding himself up against Arkwrights son by Nurse Gladys , who has inherited the corner shop. This series is a very pale copy of the brilliant original.