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<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&amp;#039;Drama" data-source="post: 308245" data-attributes="member: 23">With Fletch and co. now behind me, I&#039;ve been able to go back to the first episode of 7 of 1 to watch the pilot of what would become my next series.<img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn-3.cinemaparadiso.co.uk%2Fclp%2Fopen-all-hours-large-poster-950.jpg&amp;f=1&amp;nofb=1" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />I&#039;ve changed the experience by watching this way. Because 7 of 1 feels so far away, I&#039;m comparing this more with the episodes to come in the series rather than on its own merits alongside the likes of I&#039;ll Fly You For A Quid and My Old Man. And on this level it can&#039;t help feeling a little off, because of it coming three years before the first proper series, necessitating some significant tweaks for the series proper.Firstly, the shop itself is different from the one we&#039;ll come to know. It&#039;s on a completely different street in a completely different part of the country. Which means Nurse Gladys Emmanuel&#039;s house is also very different. As is Nurse Gladys herself. She&#039;s played here by Sheila Brennan, rather than Lynda Barron. And she comes with an Irish accent (at least I think it&#039;s Irish. At times it sounds Scottish. It&#039;s so patchy and peculiar it almost sounds like a poor attempt at an Irish accent, though it seems Brennan herself is from Dublin).There are a couple of familar faces. Customers in this first episode include a pre-Mildred Yootha Joyce (returning her empties in her pram) and young Cheggers himself, enquiring if Arkwright has a frozen Zoom (a double entendre it might be, but it has yet another meaning in 2021).The characters of Arkwright and Granville are well and truly established here, just as we&#039;ll experience them week after week in the regular series. And Roy Clarke&#039;s writing is absolutely knockout. There are many wonderfully wry and pithy lines in this first episode, as established in the very first scene:Arkwright: &quot;I hope you&#039;re not abusing your health, are ya? You look to me as if you could do with a good night&#039;s sleep.&quot;Granville: &quot;Aye, I could. But we always &#039;ave to get up in the middle of it.&quot;Arkwright: &quot;Listen. You ca-can&#039;t be lyin&#039; in bed with customers passin&#039; the door. &#039;Ave you no sense of avarice, lad?&quot;Granville: &quot;I&#039;m not a lad anymore...I&#039;m twenty five, you know.&quot;Arkwright: &quot;Oh. That bang we &#039;eard was you goin&#039; through puberty, was it? I thought we &#039;ad a slate off.&quot;Arkwright: &quot;Nobody liked Wesley Cosgrave even at school. He &#039;ad that brand of Christianity that was worse than B.O. &quot;Mrs Scully: &quot;Would ya give me &#039;alf a bottle of sherry for our Claudine.&quot;Arkwright: &quot;Well, it sounds a fair exchange, yes.&quot;Mrs Scully &quot;She&#039;s very upset. &#039;Er young man&#039;s just broke it off. &quot;[Arkwright stands bolt upright and looks shocked]There are also some very Seventies references that serve as a nice little time capsule to a different age:Mrs Scully: &quot;I think he misses work sometimes.&quot;Arkwright: &quot;Sometimes? He misses it every ruddy time.&quot;Mrs Scully: &quot;Oh, come on. &#039;E can be thoughtful. I&#039;ve seen him with tears in his eyes while I&#039;ve been lyin&#039; there in pain. He&#039;s sobbed, Mr Arkwright.&quot;Arkwright: &quot;Well, you wanna hit him back.&quot;Arkwright: &quot;Watch out for &#039;er at number ten. She&#039;s liable to be &#039;er at number eight. They&#039;re still swapping.&quot;From a 2021 perspective it seems a bold move for the main character to have a stammer. And a risky one, too. But it&#039;s perfect for Ronnie B, tying in nicely with the material he&#039;d write for himself in The Two Ronnies such as the president of the Loyal Society for the Relief of Suffers from Pismronunciation, and other characters and sketches. Clarke&#039;s writing around it works in tandem with Ronnie&#039;s skills, with Arkwright stammering at the points guaranteed to make the audience chuckle. For example:Arkwright: &quot;Hey, G-G-Granville. &#039;Ave you been courtin&#039; again? Mrs Scully said it c-could&#039;ve been you she saw comin&#039; out of their Margaret...&quot; [pause]Granville: &quot;You what?&quot;Arkwright: &quot;....&#039;s place on Frith Street. Let me finish willya?&quot;Granville: &quot;There&#039;s more to life than possessions.&quot;Arkwright: &quot;Ohh. Been watching B-B-B-B-BBC2, have we?&quot;Arkwright: &quot;If they make this bread any whiter I&#039;ll &#039;ave to wear dark glasses... That&#039;s how they third degree you now, you know. Oh yes, they lock you in a tiny cell, an&#039; then they flash a slice of this bread in front of your naked eye...&quot; [pause]Granville: &quot;People like it white.&quot;Arkwright: &quot;...Balls. [Granville and the Bread Man look shocked] Naked eyeballs. I wish you&#039;d let me finish, sometimes.&quot;Again, I can&#039;t imagine this would fly today, but it&#039;s done in such an endearing way that it never feels cruel or mocking. At least not so far.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 308245, member: 23"] With Fletch and co. now behind me, I've been able to go back to the first episode of 7 of 1 to watch the pilot of what would become my next series. [CENTER][IMG]https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn-3.cinemaparadiso.co.uk%2Fclp%2Fopen-all-hours-large-poster-950.jpg&f=1&nofb=1[/IMG][/CENTER] I've changed the experience by watching this way. Because [I]7 of 1[/I] feels so far away, I'm comparing this more with the episodes to come in the series rather than on its own merits alongside the likes of [I]I'll Fly You For A Quid [/I]and[I] My Old Man[/I]. And on this level it can't help feeling a little off, because of it coming three years before the first proper series, necessitating some significant tweaks for the series proper. Firstly, the shop itself is different from the one we'll come to know. It's on a completely different street in a completely different part of the country. Which means Nurse Gladys Emmanuel's house is also very different. As is Nurse Gladys herself. She's played here by Sheila Brennan, rather than Lynda Barron. And she comes with an Irish accent (at least I think it's Irish. At times it sounds Scottish. It's so patchy and peculiar it almost sounds like a poor attempt at an Irish accent, though it seems Brennan herself is from Dublin). There are a couple of familar faces. Customers in this first episode include a pre-Mildred Yootha Joyce (returning her empties in her pram) and young Cheggers himself, enquiring if Arkwright has a frozen Zoom (a double entendre it might be, but it has yet another meaning in 2021). The characters of Arkwright and Granville are well and truly established here, just as we'll experience them week after week in the regular series. And Roy Clarke's writing is absolutely knockout. There are many wonderfully wry and pithy lines in this first episode, as established in the very first scene: Arkwright: "I hope you're not abusing your health, are ya? You look to me as if you could do with a good night's sleep." Granville: "Aye, I could. But we always 'ave to get up in the middle of it." Arkwright: "Listen. You ca-can't be lyin' in bed with customers passin' the door. 'Ave you no sense of avarice, lad?" Granville: "I'm not a lad anymore...I'm twenty five, you know." Arkwright: "Oh. That bang we 'eard was you goin' through puberty, was it? I thought we 'ad a slate off." Arkwright: "Nobody liked Wesley Cosgrave even at school. He 'ad that brand of Christianity that was worse than B.O. " Mrs Scully: "Would ya give me 'alf a bottle of sherry for our Claudine." Arkwright: "Well, it sounds a fair exchange, yes." Mrs Scully "She's very upset. 'Er young man's just broke it off. " [Arkwright stands bolt upright and looks shocked] There are also some very Seventies references that serve as a nice little time capsule to a different age: Mrs Scully: "I think he misses work sometimes." Arkwright: "Sometimes? He misses it every ruddy time." Mrs Scully: "Oh, come on. 'E can be thoughtful. I've seen him with tears in his eyes while I've been lyin' there in pain. He's sobbed, Mr Arkwright." Arkwright: "Well, you wanna hit him back." Arkwright: "Watch out for 'er at number ten. She's liable to be 'er at number eight. They're still swapping." From a 2021 perspective it seems a bold move for the main character to have a stammer. And a risky one, too. But it's perfect for Ronnie B, tying in nicely with the material he'd write for himself in [I]The Two Ronnies[/I] such as the president of the Loyal Society for the Relief of Suffers from Pismronunciation, and other characters and sketches. Clarke's writing around it works in tandem with Ronnie's skills, with Arkwright stammering at the points guaranteed to make the audience chuckle. For example: Arkwright: "Hey, G-G-Granville. 'Ave you been courtin' again? Mrs Scully said it c-could've been you she saw comin' out of their Margaret..." [pause] Granville: "You what?" Arkwright: "....'s place on Frith Street. Let me finish willya?" Granville: "There's more to life than possessions." Arkwright: "Ohh. Been watching B-B-B-B-BBC2, have we?" Arkwright: "If they make this bread any whiter I'll 'ave to wear dark glasses... That's how they third degree you now, you know. Oh yes, they lock you in a tiny cell, an' then they flash a slice of this bread in front of your naked eye..." [pause] Granville: "People like it white." Arkwright: "...Balls. [Granville and the Bread Man look shocked] Naked eyeballs. I wish you'd let me finish, sometimes." Again, I can't imagine this would fly today, but it's done in such an endearing way that it never feels cruel or mocking. At least not so far. [/QUOTE]

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