Customer Reviews
C-C-C-Classic Comedy - By: Vicky Welsby, 05 Sep 2008 
This is a wonderful comedy series. Well written & superbly acted. I remember watching it as a child & it's as funny now as it was then. Set in a northern corner shop, it reminds me so much of a shop my mother used to work when I was about 6 or 7 years old. Ronnie Barker is faultless as the the stuttering Arkwright & David Jason is brilliant as his down trodden nephew/errand boy, Granville. The two of them are so good, you don't iven think about the northern characters actuallly being played by two southerners. It has some classic one liners & catchprases (f-f-f-f-fetch a cloth Granville). Arkwrights constant lusting after Nurse G-G-Gladys Emmanuel is also hilarious.
Superb comedy for all generations - By: Gooner, 25 Apr 2008 Some of the new comedy writers should watch this & learn. It deals with Sex, Drugs, Alcohol & human emotions - without a single swear word & whilst bringing the viewers to tears of laughter.
Englands two greatest Sitcom comedians together in one show - t...t..t..t.....t..t.timeless c......c..c..c.comedy!
This is a Great show. - By: Catherine S. Bates, 26 Jul 2005 This is a great show alot of FUN! When are they going to bring it back on DVD in North Amarica or at least make it? (regin 0). Thanks But it rilly is alot of fun,FUN!!!! 7/25/2005.
Ronnie Barker at his at his best - By: Censuwine, 25 Feb 2005 This might not be the best ever British sitcom. Only Fools & Horses & Blackadder are better. But this comedy contains the best ever interpretation of a sitcom character in the history of British comedy. Barker has no paralllels & performs the part to perfection. Just to give you an idea of how highly I value Barker/Arkwright, I consider him better than John Cleese's Basil Fawlty, & that takes some beating! It never ceases to amaze me how he makes his stutter sound so natural
Cracking Comedy! - By: , 12 Dec 2003 "Open All Hours" is a sometimes overlooked Ronnie Barker / David Jason masterclass in well written & wonderfully observed comedy. Similar in some ways to Porridge, with the two main characters tucked away in the shop, but good enough to stand on it's own two feet as a genuine British classic.
Set in a smalll corner shop in Doncaster (the exterior shots were actuallly of a hairdressers salon, expertly disguised, with the exterior filming being mainly done during the owners summer holidays!) & scripted by Roy Clark, the series is a hark back to a time that had practicallly passed when it debuted. This is part of the charm though.
Barker plays the tight-fisted but loveable Arkwright, owner of alll he surveys from behind his grocers counter. He constantly pursues the affections of Nurse Gladys Emmanuel who lives opposite his shop, but with little success!
David Jason plays Granville, the down trodden shop boy. Although Barker is clearly the star, Jason often steals the scene with wonderfully scripted one-liners.
The extras include the original pilot (complete with a totallly different Nurse Gladys!) which is worth the price alone. the quality is good too, considering that the pilot episode is now 30 years old.
I would recommend this comedy to anyone - great comedy doesn't age & the humour is real & warm. Ronnie Barker is a national treasure & every comdey fan should won at least one of his DVDs.
