Open All Hours with Roadshow released "Series One: Episodes 1–3 Comedy Bites" in 2010. In 1984, at which time no new episodes of the series had been produced for two years, a spin-off was proposed based around Lynda Baron's character, Nurse Gladys Emmanuel. Given the working title "Call the Nurse", this spin-off series would have followed Nurse Gladys as she visited various eccentric and demanding patients. The characters of Arkwright and Granville were not written to appear, and Roy Clarke was keen to develop a new set of supporting characters rather than rely on those already built up for "Open All Hours". A
Ronnie Barker male nurse often entertained the patients with comedy routines. He found work at the Mime Theatre Company, performing mimed folk music and dance, which soon folded in Penzance. He made his way back to Oxford and then worked in Bramhall for the Famous Players. There he met actor Glenn Melvyn; the two became firm friends and Barker stated Melvyn taught him everything he "ever learned about comedy." He joined the Oxford Playhouse in 1951 and worked there for three years, appearing in plays such as "He Who Gets Slapped" as the clown. Peter Hall worked with Barker at Oxford and