I cannot believe how anyone can in any way be critical of OAH. The writing, the acting, the gentle humour, Ronnie Barker, David Jason and Linda Baron...just fantastic. To try and overanalyse it is a mistake. An immensely enjoyable, yarn about genuinely homely character. To me, superior to Porridge.
RIP Ronnie
brilliant show!
although it has been underplayed on TV. Porridge gets shown all the time espcially here in the UK
Any thing with Ronnie Barker and David Jason in it is good comedy for all ages
Ronnie Barker just like Arthur Lowe could say more with one look on his face.
ther is no body in comedy to day comes even close to the class of the late Arthur Lowe and Ronnie Barker.
I noticed when I was reading through the comments page that some people are almost offended by Arkwright's slightly sexist nature towards Nurse Gladys, but that certainly is over-analysing it. As ian-bruce just said, Arkwright's facial expressions are wonderful.
The eyes are open, the mouth moves, but Mr. Brain has long since departed, hasn't he, Perce?
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Why do people think the program is sexist, Barker's character of Arkwright is not sexist (granted he's lecherous towards Gladys Emmanuel), but Gladys and him are engaged in the program!
Often Arkwright's shown to be petrified of women, well one in particular. Notably the black widow (Stephanie Cole)!
From 'The Navy Lark' to 'Our House in Umbria' everything Ronnie Barker touched was entertainment gold.
Thank you Ronnie Barker for many happy memories and more laughs in the future as I catch up on epsisdoes of 'The Navy Lark' I'm yet to hear.
Rest in Peace 'The Guvnor'.
OAH was my grandads favourite comedy and it is now 1 of my favourites despite it being shown a good 10-15 years before i was born. i was born in 1987
Three Lions On Our Shirt
40 Years Of Hurt!!
COME ON ENGLAND!!
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That's very true. If someone's seeing sexism in Open All Hours, I can only hope they never see a Carry On film. And it's easy to forget that at the time when this was made, women had only just got the right to demand equal pay if they did the same work as men (although, as my history teacher said, it was very hard to prove that the work was the same), and only a few years earlier women had to be over twenty-one to vote in Britain.
It would be sexist if Nurse Gladys agreed with his thoughts and feelings, possibly, but she's a very modern woman in some ways. Although she's looking after her elderly mum, she could have still got married but I don't think she wants to. My parents got married at that time, and almost immediately afterwards, people were saying, "So when are you going to have a family?" as if it's the automatic thing a woman will do after marriage.
Maybe Nurse Gladys didn't want to be tied down to a husband and a young family. She would probably have had to give up work after marriage, it being the seventies, and maybe she liked her job too much. There are a few mentions that she's a midwife so I can imagine her going to people's houses to deliver babies and finding that dad's gone to the pub and left the kids with grandma while mum gives birth, because he thought looking after kids was for women. I think she'd be too wise to let that happen to her.
"If we go on like this, you're going to turn into an Alsatian again."
Its not superior to Porridge but I think its aged more quicker.
Its that man again!!
If anything, I'd say that the Nurse Gladys/Arkwright relationship could be seen as empowering. Arkwright flirts, pushes, etc. But Gladys not only puts him down, but eggs him on and gets a rise out of him as he bumbles. (Admittedly, this is probably more the actress having a small giggle and the "retake" restrictions meaning they couldn't redo the take, but I'd rather implement these into the character since they're part of what we see).
~pbbblt~
Men had to be over 21 to vote as well. And women certainly did not have to give up work when they married, there were plenty of working married women in the 70, several of my schoolteachers were married for instance.. And Nurse Gladys would probably prefer the father out of the way if she was delivering a baby. but I can't imagine being married to Arkwright would be much fun.
shareVote at 18 in 1970.
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It's quite funny, but I never could understand why Granville put up with being treated like that - why didn't he go and get a job somewhere else? Likewise, what on earth did Nurse Gladys see in him? Both these things stretch credibility a bit too far for me.
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