Well done! And you certainly have been, thank you Arkwright
he Comedy Gold channel has been mined again – this time the gem polished to perfection is
– the sitcom about miserly shopkeeper Arkwright and his hapless nephew Granville.
It is by Roy Clarke – who also wrote
Both are lugubrious, mardy – of low mood – earthy, slow-paced and go nowhere slowly but with a quick wit and a fast word-play.
The brilliant late Ronnie Barker plays the tight-fisted, lusty Arkwright – who keeps both hands on his wallet, one eye on the till and one on his neighbour Nurse Gladys Emmanuel.
David Jason, who starred, almost unrecognisably as Blanco, with Barker in plays his nephew, the hapless Granville.
They are one of the best double acts in TV history.
There were 26 episodes of
and the show began airing in 1976 with the pilot episode and ended in 1985 after the fourth series.
The set-up is a small grocer's shop in Balby, a suburb of Doncaster in South Yorkshire.
The owner, Albert Arkwright is a middle-aged miser with a stammer and a knack for selling. His nephew Granville is his beleaguered put-upon errand boy who blames his work schedule for his lacklustre social life.
That’s it – the action seldom wanders from the shop and the back street of Balby it is located in. It is a cosy, comfortable world buffeted from outside events by solid brick walls and the characters’ stoicism.
The threat of burglary, a customer leaving without buying anything, losing a 5p piece and giving too much change are the only dangers faced by Arkwright.
Granville’s agonies are worse – when will he fall in love, when will he be able to snap the apron strings or graduate from his
Tbicycle to a van?
From the minor keys, Clarke builds a symphony. The sitcom is rich in gags, often of a seasidepostcard nature, slapstick, observation, warmth and character.
There are running gags – the till which has a vicious snap, Arkwright’s failed attempts to impediment which is the butt of jokes. Clarke and Barker would not get away with it today.
It is intrinsic to the character and the interplay between uncle and nephew – Arkwright is the butt of the joke not the impediment. If you are going to be offended by it then do no t watch.
We all find something offensive or unsavoury. I don’t like simulated birth scenes – that’s off my viewing list.
Breaking the monotony of shop life are its customers and suppliers – a great wealth of acting talent on show with Lynda Baron at the forefront as the well-endowed Nurse Gladys.
Stephanie Cole plays the ‘black widow’ Mrs Featherstone who has the wonderful first name of Delphine.
Barbara Flynn plays the milkwoman and the object of Granville’s affections and Maggie Ollerenshaw is Mavis and Kathy Staff is the indomitable Mrs Blewett.
Each episode ends with Arkwright solemnly and poetically reviewing the day’s events while shutting up the shop for the day.