i very nearly do not see hi de hi . i think it must have be the title that put me off . in those day and the welsh language edition of the radio time only use to print title of certain show without impart a scrap of information a to what they be actually about . hi de hi . suggest to me a bad quiz show host by leslie crowther or bad an inane u. s. import . but i manage to catch a late episode and and be surprise to find it write by jimmy perry and david croft . a be the case with dad army and it ain not half hot mum and perry base it on personal experience and in this case his time at a butlins holiday camp . before cheap air travel come along in the 60 and these camp spring up along british coastline and provide entertainment for work class family and earn million for their owner . ( a a matter of interest and i work in one such camp in the 80 a a chef barry island and south wale know to all and sundry a shag land for reason i would not go into . ) set in the late 50 and it begin with university academic jeffrey fairbrother ( simon cadell ) take over a the entertainment manager of maplin and a job he be ill equip to handle . his staff include resident comic ted bovis ( paul shane ) and his sidekick spike ( jeffrey holland ) and miserable punch and judy man mr. partridge ( leslie dwyer ) and snobby ballroom dancer barry ( barry howard ) and yvonne stuart hargreaves ) diane holland ) and and the unforgettable gladys pugh ( ruth madoc ) and who lust after fairbrother at every opportunity . bubbly su pollard steal the show though a cleaner peggy ollerenshaw and whose drive ambition be to be a yellowcoat ( all the important staff member wear them ) . a number of sexy girl occupy these coat too and most notably nikki kelly sylvia and statuesque rikki howard betty . we never saw joe maplin and the owner . he communicate to his staff in the form of ungrammatical missive and which poor jeffrey be force to read aloud . hi de hi . be the camper greet and usually meet with the equally inane ho de ho . one fan be the late sir fred pontin and who tell perry and croft that he recognise most of the character from real life . i always find bovis the most convincing of these as well a the most tragic and like archie rice he be the comedian whose big break never come and reduce to crack corny gag for the amusement of drunken late night audience . he take advantage of his position to indulge in a few perk and and in one memorable episode fairbrother patience snap and he sound him out represent lie and ted . all lie . a with every other perry or croft series and the cast be excellent and particularly cadell and shane . ruth madoc prissy gladys get on my nerve ( no wonder anne robinson hat the welsh . ) and but leslie dwyer misanthropic mr. partridge and felix bowness jockey fred qulley more than compensate . the visual gag everyone remembers be drunken mr. partridge spot a pantomime horse rid a real one along the beach . look at the bottle of whiskey in his hand and he decide to stick with it and instead throw away the banana he have be eat . with it frothy blend of 50 nostalgia and saucy gag and hi dehi be a big hit for b. b. c. 1 in the 80 and result in a massive increase in booking for butlins and pontins . it go downhill when cadell leave to return to the theatre though . i never take to his replacement and squadron leader clive dempster ( david griffin ) . bad and leslie dwyer death rob the show of one of it best character . kenneth connor be bring in to replace him a uncle sammy . the period set occasionally cause problem while in one episode and sylvia and betty have to dive into the pool to rescue peggy who for some reason be dress a a shark . the reveal costume they wear be wrong for that era . still they look great in them so who complain . in another and ted sang the tom jones hit delilah to camper . it be not compose ( by le reed and barry mason and incidentally ) until 1968. maplins close it door in 1988 and and the last shot be that of peggy ( now a yellowcoat ) all alone in the camp and jumping into the air and shouting ( what else . ) hi de hi . i do not rate it as highly a perry and croft other show but it popularity be undeniable . it be probably one of the last british sitcom to generate tremendous public affection and mainly because it feature likable character in a recognisable setting . goodnight camper .