Arkwright (Open All Hours) to be too small for the act. Arkwright and Gladys apparently never got married before Arkwright's death; Gladys claims he died to save the cost of the church. Arkwright (Open All Hours) Albert E. Arkwright, usually referred to simply as Arkwright, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the British sitcom, "Open All Hours", played by Ronnie Barker. Arkwright is the uncle of Granville and the proprietor of an old fashioned Yorkshire corner shop, which in the era of the programme (1970s and 1980s) was a product of a bygone age. Arkwright's signature characteristic is his stutter, which
Ronnie Barker character; Barker wrote for the show under the name Jonathan Cobbald. As Wiley he wrote the 1971 series "Six Dates with Barker". Despite Barker's success on ITV, LWT's programme controller Stella Richman opted to fire Frost's company Paradine (Frost was sacked from the LWT board) and as Barker was contracted to the company rather than the network, he lost his job, as did Corbett. Soon after, Barker, Corbett and Josephine Tewson performed a sketch about Henry VIII at the 1971 BAFTAs, with Barker playing Henry. The three also had to keep the audience entertained for eight or so minutes as