Where Arkwright in Open All Hours found his signature stutter
Open All Hours is in its second incarnation now, with David Jason – originally the assistant to Barker’s Albert Arkwright – in the main role. But these pictures take us back to the Seventies, when set dressers first transformed a hairdresser’s salon in Balby, near Doncaster, into the best known grocer this side of Sir Ken Morrison.
Barker took Arkwright’s signature stutter from one of his comic mentors, the 1950s writer and performer Glenn Melvyn, who made it his trademark.
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Hide AdBut it was the wordplay of the South Yorkshire scriptwriter Roy Clarke, who also turned out Last of The Summer Wine, that gave Arkwright a life of his own.
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