Hi! Summer

The good news about HI SUMMER was that it was shown during the Summer and only lasted one series . The bad news was that it was broadcast in 1977 one of the worst Summers on record and in those days we only had three stations and no videos or computer games . If it was pouring of rain outside watching television was pretty much your only source of entertainment as a child

The title sequence starts with the performers dressed as camp fireman riding around on a fire engine waving to passerbys along with an unforgettably bad theme song that goes " Hi-i-i-i-i- Summer oh oh oh " . Possibly the producers thought this sequence would sum up the show with its feel good air and inadvertently it probably has since Crowther and co come across as imbeciles on laughing gas .

The format is variety show with singing and dancing and comedy sketches with the sketches being the major failure . One example is a man played by Leslie Crowther in a restaurant sitting at a table . The waiter approaches with a platter , lifts the lid and the head of a child singing is on the platter blinking away at Crowther who exclaims :

" I asked for a plate of macaroni - Not Lena Zavaroni "

Some professional TV critics like Gary Bushall lament the death of variety shows on television but I reckon he'd be the first to complain if we got something this bad . Comical Ali would have a hard time trying to spin this

I confess that I have not been able to see all the chapters, also the quality of the broadcast is sometimes poor. I think it was a great effort to carry out a summer program with great deployment. A clear example is that of Anne Dawson singing on an airstrip with a small plane taking off behind her! Thought today. They tried to surprise and do something different but we cannot judge with today's vision. For me it represents a time when innocence had not won over cynicism. There are excellent musical paintings, perhaps the humor segment is the weakest. I recommend it.

I was 8 years old when this ITV take on Seaside Special aired. At the time all I could remember was the theme tune which ITV used the following year for advertising their summer season and the TV times, needless to say a second series wasn't commissioned. After catching some episodes on you tube it seems obvious that for it's time when there was only 3 channels on UK TV, people were easily entertained and the producers knew they could away with making shows like Hi! Summer. It's all singing, dancing and general enforced jollity came across as cringe worthy and a waste of the cast's talents, especially veterans Leslie Crowther and Anna Dawson who was much better employed on the sketch comedy What's On Next and the late Lena Zavaroni.

I remember this programme so well. It also starred ANNA DAWSON, MARIE GORDON SAINT, DEREK GRIFFITH, PEARLY GATES, CARL WAYNE and the dance troupe (The Blondes and The Fellas) included the late STEPHANIE LAWRENCE and ex coronation street star CHRIS QUINTEN and David HAMPSHIRE. Songs of the day and years gone bye with Leslie Crowther taking the lead and I believe each week the cast were taken to various locations which set the theme for each programme. Some of the places they took the show was at Crystal Palace, Weybourne Air park and Stratford Upon Avon. Lena Zavouroni was a great talent and this show helped her to shine. Leslie played a mean piano and was hilarious in comedy sketches with Anna Dawson and Derek Griffith - pure enjoyment for all the family. Carl Wayne sang the theme tune!