Hi-de-Hi! Channel at 1.40pm and repeated again at 6pm "Hi-de-Hi!" is set at a holiday camp in the fictional seaside town of Crimpton-on-Sea, Essex. Loosely based on Butlins, "Maplins" is part of a holiday camp group owned by Joe Maplin, with "Yellowcoats" replacing Redcoats. Cambridge University Professor of Archaeology Jeffrey Fairbrother, who had become tired of academia, has been appointed the new entertainment manager. He is clearly unqualified for the position. This has annoyed the camp host, Ted Bovis, who had expected the post. The job of camp comic is given to the naive but kind-hearted Spike Dixon, who wants an
Hi-de-Hi! to survive in its original format. The closing storyline of the series was the camp undergoing drastic changes to modernise with the times, meaning that many of the staff would lose their jobs as their particular talents were no longer required. The pilot episode was broadcast on 1 January 1980. "Hi-de-Hi!" ran for nine series and two Christmas Specials, totalling 60 episodes, between 26 February 1981 and 30 January 1988. Because of the programme's popularity, the BBC decided to air series 3 and 4 back-to-back, the only time the BBC has ever done this with one of their own (first