Hi-De-Hi! campers! Award winning comedy at The Grove
1980s television favourite revived for the stage.
ACTOR Peter Amory was one of the first through the door when The Grove opened in 2007 when he appeared in the thriller Dangerous Corner.
Now the Emmerdale bad guy is back in a far more lightweight role starring in the TV favourite Hi-De-Hi!
It's more than two-decades since it first appeared on British television screensand it has been revived as a newly devised stage adaptation, in collaboration with the original series creators Jimmy Perry & David Croft.
Set in the fictional seaside town of Crimpton-on-Sea, Essex, in a 50's holiday-camp called 'Maplins', the BAFTA award-winning HI-DE-HI! is based, in-part, on Perry's time as a Butlins Redcoat.
The part carry-on-style farce, part comedy and part nostalgic romp, became the regular diet to sitcom viewers in the '80s, commanding 13-million viewers; its title becoming a catchphrase echoed throughout the land.
58-episodes and a West-End musical later, HI-DE-HI! closed its doors to holiday campers with the final episode being broadcast in January 1988.
The brand-new show stars original TV-cast members, Barry Howard and Nikki Kelly as the professional ballroom dancing couple, Barry & Yvonne Stuart-Hargreaves and Peter Amory in the role of Jeffrey Fairbrother
The story begins as former university lecturer Prof. Jeffrey Fairbrother joins the holiday camp as the new entertainments manager.
He immediately arouses the amorous attentions of Gladys Pugh, the funny Welsh chief Yellowcoat and sports organizer, who tries all she can to tempt the new man with persistently comical romantic approaches.
While Jeffrey has no real idea of how to be the entertainments manager, the camp host Ted Bovis, who thought he was going to be promoted to Jeffrey's position himself, and his protg, the nave but warm-hearted camp comic Spike Dixon, try to keep all the campers amused with their antics, jokes, sketches, song, dance, choruses of "Throw him in the Pool" and, of course, the famous cry of "Hi-de-Hi".
The cast also features the slightly dubious ex-jockey and holiday camp riding instructor, Fred Quilly; the children's entertainer, who can't bear children, Mr William Partridge; the condescending ballroom partners Yvonne and Barry Stuart-Hargreaves, plus the chalet maid Peggy Ollerenshaw, who dreams of becoming one of the famous 'Maplins' Yellow-coats.
Hi-De-Hi! runs from June 3-5. For tickets call the box office 01582 602080 or go online www.grovetheatre.co.uk
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