Arkwright (Open All Hours) into a joke, for example asking: "Granville, how do you spell P-p-p-pepper? Is it 6 Ps or 7?" Granville occasionally mocks his uncle's speech pattern (such as calling the "weather fore-fore-forecast" the "weather twelvecast", and referring to the "B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-BC" as morse code), although never in a malicious or hurtful manner. Arkwright was shocked on one occasion to find that he also appears to stutter even when thinking to himself. By the time of the 2013 episode "Still Open All Hours" and the sequel series of the same name, Arkwright has long since died (Barker died in 2005), but almost all
Ronnie Barker gave him his break, casting him as the Chantyman and Joe Silva in his production of "Mourning Becomes Electra" at the Arts Theatre in London's West End in 1955. By the time he had made it to the West End, Barker had appeared in an estimated 350 plays. Barker remained a West End actor for several years, appearing in numerous plays between 1955 and 1968. These included, in 1955, two performances each night as he played a gypsy in "Listen to the Wind" at the Arts Theatre and then a peasant in "Summertime" later in the evening. Other roles included