Open All Hours: The Complete Series

You're in store for complete laughs! Enter Arkwright's Emporium, where the customer is always wrong. Albert Arkwright, portrayed by the British treasure Ronnie Barker (The Two Ronnies), is a stuttering shop-keeper who still finds time for his passions-pinching pennies, keeping his daydreaming nephew Granville (Sir David Jason, A Touch of Frost, Only Fools and Horses) in line, and, of course, tirelessly pursuing nurse Gladys. This set contains all four seasons of the original UK show from hit writer Roy Clarke (Keeping Up Appearances, Last of the Summer Wine). Extras include the pilot episode.

In the age of the supermarket, Arkwright's Emporium is a truly unique shopping experience. . .
Arkwright, the brown-coated, stuttering, Northern shop-keeper is forced to open his corner-shop for as long as the law will permit. But, he still finds time for his passions - parting unsuspecting customers from their hard earned cash, keeping his daydreaming nephew Granville in line , and of course his tireless pursuit of nurse Gladys Emmanuel. In Roy Clarke's successor to the award-winning comedy Last Of the Summer Wine, Ronnie Barker plays Arkwright, the penny pinching proprietor, and David Jason is Granville, his much put upon assistant.
Open All Hours takes an absurd, affectionate and hilarious look at the ‘cut and thrust' of life in the traditional British corner-shop. Arkwright has not yet emerged from the dark ages of commerce. He is rude and mercenary in equal measure, buying food from his shop is a kind of gastronomic lottery and dietician's nightmare. He is obsessed by his twin business objectives; grooming the hapless Granville for business success, and exploiting an infinitely gullible public. He constantly fights a losing battle to transform his lackadaisical nephew Granville into a worthy heir to his commercial empire. This involves thwarting Granville's amorous prospects and daydreams of wild adventure by ensuring that he is never allowed to wander much beyond the boundaries of his delivery round. This leaves Arkwright with just enough time to conjure up his ever more ludicrous schemes for enticing unwar y passers-by into his shop. Of course, once inside Arkwright's Emporium it's impossible to leave empty handed. In those few hours that Arkwright can bear to close the shop, his lecherous attentions turn to neighbour, customer and objet d'amour, the voluptuous nurse Gladys Emmanuel. Despite his persistence and some hilariously cunning ruses, Nurse Gladys manages, quite expertly, to keep her shopkeeper fiancee from getting his hands on her comestibles . . . most of the time that is!

Series 1
Episode 1 - Arkwright's fire-damaged bargain provides a kind of gastronomic lottery and a dietitian's nightmare.

Episode 2 - When Granville points out that a can could take two people in the back, his uncle's thoughts turn at once to Nurse Gladys Emmanuel.

Episode 3 - Carefully Arkwright plots the latest stage of the campaign to win Gladys Emmanuel, but it is Granville who reaps the benefit.

Episode 4 - After a raid by a burglar, Arkwright takes action, but the large and unruly guard dog frightens away all the customers.

Episode 5 - Arkwright attends a former customer's funeral and raises the price of the dead man's wreath to settle the deceased's debt.

Episode 6 - A central sales island is Arkwright's latest move to lure the money from his customers; then he views each wandering buyer as a potential shoplifter.

Series 2
Episode 1 - When Nurse Gladys' washing machine breaks down, Arkwright tries to lure her into his home with the offer of his vintage machine. She insists he buys himself the latest expensive model. Caught between passion and injury to his wallet, it's an awkward dilemma for the stingy shopkeeper.

Episode 2 - Young Granville catches the amorous eye of the local milkwoman and is determined to seize his chance for romance. But getting Arkwright to spend a night away from the shop with the help of Nurse Gladys isn't as easy as they imagined.

Episode 3 - Once again Arkwright attempts to entice Nurse Gladys into his amorous clutches. He almost succeeds when he falls through a trapdoor into the cellar and ends up needing her professional services, but not the kind he had hoped for.

Episode 4 - It has been years since Arkwright bought a new suit, and Nurse Gladys insists he get one. He agrees, but only if I can be made in the same style as his old one. But fashions have changed, an alarming prospect Arkwright.

Episode 5 - Nurse Gladys accuses Arkwrigh of exploiting Granville and calls his shop a ratty old business, so Arkwright decides to expand and reorganize. But his inability to part with money makes it really impossible.

Episode 6 - A wedding invitation arrives, but Arkwright's old suit reeks of mothballs. Going to the church with Nurse Gladys by car, he is forced to hang his jacket and then his trousers out of the windows to get rid of the smell with inevitable disastrous results.

Episode 7 - Who is the mysterious Hungarian who calls the shop asking someone he knew 30 years ago? Arkwright is afraid he could be the long-lost father of his nephew whose mother had been a lady of easy virtue.

Series 3
Episode 1 - Arkwright is despairing at Granville's ineptitude with cistomers and decides his nephew needs toughening up! So Granville is subjected to a crash course in sales technique. But he gains the sympathy of the lady customers who gang up on Arkwright for bullying.

Episode 2 - The delivery of a surplus consignment of ginger cake poses a literally unmovable problem for Arkwright. But a discreet word in the right direction about the miraculous properties of the cake bring customers flooding in.

Episode 3 - Granville is in a philosophical and amorous frame of mind, but the rickety old shop bike cramps his style as the local Romeo -- particularly when it develops a nasty squeek! Arkwright administers repairs to the bike and sustains some unpleasant injuries in the process.

Episode 4 - Unhappy at the amount of profit lost to middlemen, Arkwright decides to makert his own product. "Arkwright's Treacle Toffee" is dismissed as a nice idea, but with little sales potential. The hapless Granville is instructed to come up with a product which is in daily demand, yet cheap and simple to manufacture.

Episode 5 - Despite being kept at arms length by Nurse Gladys, the amorous Arkwright has never lost hope that love will finally triumph. But his optimism is dealt a body-blow when an old flame of hers arrives and is met with open arms.

Episode 6 - Granville is undergoing an identity crisis and discards his apron for a more hip image -- much to the delight of the lady customers, but to his uncle's horror. Meanwhile, Arkwright decides to lash out on a modest advertising campaign in the hope of improving business.

Series 4
Episode 1 - Granville longs for true love and places an ad in a lonely hearts magazine. He decides to stretch the truth, and describes himself as a successful young executive with an apartment and a sportscar. Arkwright's plan to put an end to this sort of behavior backfires when Granville actually meets the girl of his dreams. Of course, with Arkwright in picture, this romance ends before it evens begins.

Episode 2 - Albert Gupta, an Asian Yorkshireman who also runs a general store, has plans for expansion. Arkwright decides to sabotage his competition by giving some "helpful advice" to his fellow shopkeeper. Granville protests this as unethical, but Arkwright maintains that Gupta has just as much right to be conned as everyone else...

Episode 3 - Arkwright wants to speed up wedding plans with
the reluctant Nurse Gladys, and decides hiring a live-in housekeeper might provoke enough jealousy to get Gladys to the altar. Arkwright believes this ingenious plan will bring his years of frustration to an end. Of course, I doesn't; Nurse Gladys sees through his scheme, and Arkwright is in trouble when Mrs. Featherstone applies for the position.

Episode 4 - When Granville learns his uncle considers him "under management", he is delighted and decides to use his newly acquired executive status to woo Stephanie from the local boutique. She is not particularly impressed, so Granville decides he needs a fashion "make-over." Things are looking good until Arkwright enters the scene and exposes Granville's plot.

Episode 5 - Arkwrigh is generally despised by customers for his rudeness and meanness, with the exception of Ms. Featherstone, who worships him for his directness. Nurse Gladys and Granville, however, are totally fed-up with his behavior, and tell Arkwright that an undercover reporter is spying on shopkeepers prior to the publication of The Good Shopkeeper's Guide. For a while, Arkwright is forced to behave himself.

Episode 6 - Arkwright must find a way to gain access to Nurse Gladys' bedroom. He forces the reluctant Granville to masquerade as a burglar in her room, so Arkwright can come to the rescue. This plan ends in disaster as Nurse Gladys proves she is very able to protect herself against intruders.

Written by Roy Clarke
Directed by Sydney Lotterby
Produced by Sydney Lotterby
Original Music by Max Harris
Film Editing by Jon Gregory, Alistair McKay, Mike Jackson, John Harvis