Hi De Hi

Running throughout the 1980s Hi-De-Hi was one of a number of the David Croft and Jimmy Perry comedy sitcoms which had huge success. Others included Dads Army, It Aint Half Hot Mum and You Rang M'Lord. Hi-De-Hi was set in a holiday camp in the 1950s. Although called Maplins and set in the fictional town of Crimpton-on-Sea this was hardly a disguise for its take on the Butlins holiday camps. The programme revolved around a limited number of main characters which like all Perry/Croft creations were larger than life, usually aspiring but never reaching new heights and often on the make with little scams and schemes. The casting as ever was superb and the programme made ...  Read the complete review

Carrying on from one perfectly personal recollection to the next, the next natural surge of Perry and Croft overload came in the form of another, smooth riding venture. From Army anecdotes to hapless, hey day enlightening of Perry’s Summer Holidays as a Butlins Redcoat, the next instalment could only be Eighties miracle, ‘Hi-De-Hi!’ Filmed out of season at ‘Warner’s’ holiday camp at Dovercourt, Essex, the set seemed credible enough to pass as a 1959 fictional ‘Maplins,’ at the even more fiction postcard town of Crimpton-on-Sea. Due to the desertion of such a camp out of season (a phrase now as long gone as the show,) the camp, in itself, needed no finery and ...  Read the complete review

I used to watch Hi-De-Hi on TV with my Dad, who was a big fan of the programme. We used to regularly go on holiday to Butlins and Pontins, so we could see some similarities with what we were used to and the fictional Maplins camp. My Dad had been on holidays like that in the time it was set too (the 1950s), so could often provide interesting anecdotes. It was another comedy series from the same team as It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Dad's Army, 'Allo 'Allo and many other great sitcoms - Perry and Croft. Hi-De-Hi starred Paul Shane (now to be seen in Holby City !)as Ted Bovis the comedian, Jeffrey Holland as his sidekick Spike, Su Pollard as ...  Read the complete review

Good morning campers, di -de - hi was hear on millions of tv across Britain during the 1980's. It was set in the Maplins holiday camp during the 1950's, people used to actually pay to go on this type of holiday, unbelievable ! The trials of Peggy the chambermaid to reach the dizzy heights of yellowcoat always used to feature heavily in the storylines. The mix of characters was superb, Ted was the head funnyman both on stage and off, Gladys was chief yellowcoat, the childrens entertainer who hated kids, dance teachers the Stuart - Hargreaves who I always suspected of having a guilty secret, to name but a few. The storylines were good, as was the ...  Read the complete review