Hi-de-Hi!
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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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.
Plot
Hi-de-Hi! is set in 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 entertainments 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 archaeology professor, Jeffrey Fairbrother, tires of academia and applies for the role of entertainment manager. This annoys the portly camp host, Ted Bovis, who wants the job. The job of camp comic is then given to naive but kind-hearted Spike Dixon.
Most episodes involve Ted Bovis attempting to scam the well-meaning Fairbrother, who also has to avoid the romantic approaches of senior Yellowcoat and sports organiser, Gladys Pugh, as he is currently estranged from his wife but is initially reluctant to divorce her because of the social stigma attached. Most of the characters in the show were out-of-work actors and entertainers either at the tail-end of their careers or awaiting the elusive "big break".
