David Croft Sitcoms - Are You Being Served?, Hi-de-Hi!, You Rang, M'Lord?, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Grace & Favour, Oh, Doctor Beeching! (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 26. Chapters: Are You Being Served?, Hi-de-Hi , You Rang, M'Lord?, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Grace & Favour, Oh, Doctor Beeching , David Croft, Hugh and I, Come Back Mrs. Noah, Birds in the Bush, Oh Happy Band , Which Way to the War, Hugh and I Spy. Excerpt: Hi-de-Hi is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1980 to 1988. It was set in a holiday camp during the 1950s and 1960s and was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who had written Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum. The title was the phrase used to greet the campers and in early episodes was written Hi de Hi. The series surrounded the lives of the camp's management and entertainers, most of them struggling actors or has-beens. The inspiration was the experience of writers Perry and Croft. After being demobilised from the Army, Perry was a Redcoat at Butlins Pwllheli during the holiday season. The series gained large audiences and won a BAFTA as Best Comedy Series in 1984. In 2004, it came 40th in Britain's Best Sitcom and in a 2008 poll on Channel 4, Hi-de-Hi was voted the 35th most popular comedy catchphrase. Hi-de-Hi was set at Maplins, a holiday camp owned by entrepreneur Joe Maplin in the fictional seaside town of Crimpton-on-Sea, Essex. It is loosely based on Butlins, the holiday camp empire of Billy Butlin, his Redcoats replaced with 'Yellowcoats'. At the end of the 1958 season, the camp Entertainment Manager Mr Baverstock, a conman and womaniser, had been sacked for stealing charity money from the camp wishing well. At the same time, the camp comic Teddy Drinkwater had burned out and resigned, leaving the two posts vacant. The following year, a Cambridge University Professor of Archaeology, Jeffrey Fairbrother, tired of academia and applied for the role of Entertainment Manager. This annoyed the portly Camp Host, Ted Bovis, who wanted the job. The job of Camp ...