Ronnie Barker same year, determined not to be remembered only as Fletcher, Barker opted to end "Porridge" after three series and instead focused on the second pilot "Open All Hours", alongside David Jason. Barker starred as Arkwright, a money-grabbing, stuttering shopkeeper. Arkwright's stutter was not in the script; Barker was inspired to use it by Melvyn's performance and use of a stutter in a 1955 play the two performed at the Palace Theatre called "Hot Water". "Open All Hours" aired one series in 1976 on BBC Two but was not renewed due to low ratings. As a result, Barker backtracked on his
Open All Hours Clarke, have been produced for the BBC. The show began airing in 1973 with the pilot episode and ended in 1985 after the fourth series. All episodes have a running time of 30 minutes. Between "Open All Hours" and "Still Open All Hours", there has been a total of 53 episodes and eight series broadcast between 1973 and 2018. The shop is based on a little store called L E Riddiford in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire. Roy Clarke visited this small town whilst travelling around the South West and was said to have fallen in love with the shop layout and