Doctor Who Vs. Hi-De-Hi!

This popular period sit-

com (based on writer

Jimmy Perry's service

as a Butlins Redcoat)

debuted on BBC1 at

New Year 1980, and

endured for nine

seasons, and even won

the BAFTA for Best

Comedy Series in 1984.

With David Croft, Perry

(1923-2016) created

comedies Dad's Army

and It Ain't Half Hot Mum, then You Rang M'Lord?, whilst Croft (1922-2011) also conceived Are You Being Served? and Allo' Allo'.

Set in the late 1950s and early Sixties, the programme followed the

antics of the employees of the fictional Maplins holiday camp when the

popularity of domestic holidays was already in decline. Package deals

were increasingly luring campers abroad, and in the last episode of the

show most of the staff lost their jobs. In real life, the camp where the

outdoor scenes were filmed, Warners in Dovercourt, Essex, only closed

in the 1990s.
Hi-De-Hi! made stars of actors Ruth Madoc (as Gladys Pugh), Paul

Shane (Ted), Simon Cadell (Fairbrother), Jeffrey Holland (Spike), Su

Pollard (Peggy), and David Griffin (Dempster). A repeat run of the

first, six-part series concluded on U&Gold today - it featured David

Troughton, and a total of thirty-one Doctor Who cast and crew

connections:

• Griffin was Commander Mitchell in The Sea Devils
• Leslie [Gilbert] Dwyer (Partridge) was Vorg in Carnival of Monsters
• Barry [Frederick] Howard (Stuart-Hargreaves) was Oliver Barnes in The End of Time
• Ben [Patrick] Aris (Dalrymple-Sykes) was Lieutenant Shears in (part 1 of) Invasion of the Dinosaurs
• Jean Challis (Woman) was Aunt Betty in The Idiot's Lantern
• [John] Talfryn Thomas (Davies) and Helen Dorward (Woman) both appeared in Spearhead from Space (1) as Mullins and Nurse - Thomas was also Dave in The Green Death
• Ron [Henry] Pember (Detective) voiced Seedle for Slipback
• Susan Jameson (Jenny) was cast as Morgan for Colony in Space but was replaced by Tony Caunter - she later voiced Mrs. Moynihan for The Spectre of Lanyon Moor (2000), then Fenella Wibbsey for Hornets' Nest (2009), Demon Quest (2010), Serpent Crest (2011), The Thing from the Sea (2018), The Winged Coven (2019) and The Penumbra Affair (2022)
• Ian [Gordon Arthur] Collier (Sutcliffe) and John [Christopher] D Collins [born Dixon] (Bailiff) both starred in Arc of Infinity as Omega and Talor - Collier was also Stuart Hyde in The Time Monster
• Derek Benfield (Dad) voiced Dr. John Hallam for Catch 1782 (2005)
• Michael [Anthony] Robbins (Roger) was Richard Mace in The Visitation
• Timothy [Dingwall] Bateson (Charlie) was Binro in The Ribos Operation
• Perry Benson (Trevor) was the Ice Cream Man in The Eleventh Hour
• Kathleen [Mary] Bidmead (Matron) was Tribe Elder in The Mysterious Planet, Rezzie in Paradise Towers, Mrs. Smith in Remembrance of the Daleks, Tourist in Silver Nemesis, and Woman in Survival
• Jimmy [Campbell] Mac [born McLeod] (Camper) was Villager in The Daemons, and Peasant in State of Decay (1)
• Arthur Bostrom (Hulk) voiced Arken for Scaredy Cat (2005)
• Michael [Harold] Lomax (Vicar) was Technician in The Silurians (1)
• Keith [Charles] James (Camper) was Patterson in Inferno (5)
• Martyn Read (Sergeant) was Security Guard in Silver Nemesis (1)
• Sarah Jones Parry (Player) was Citizen in Full Circle (1)
• Jeff Stewart [born Stewart Jeffrey] (Constable) was Dukkha in Kinda
• Geoffrey Leesley (Collector) voiced Paramount Minister Mortund for Arrangements for War (2004)
• Freddie Earlle (Jack) was Aldo in Warriors' Gate
• Morris [Randolph] Barry (Monty) was Tollund in The Creature from the Pit (1), but is better known as director of The Moonbase, The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Dominators
• Russell Brook (Waiter) was Crewman in Warriors of the Deep, Atten- dant in Revelation of the Daleks (1), Lakertyan/Tetrap/Genius for Time and the Rani, and Chimeron for Delta and the Bannermen (1)
• Jay McGrath (Man) was Worker in The War Machines (3), UNIT Soldier in The Silurians (3), Coven Member in Image of the Fendahl, and Dead Androgum in The Two Doctors (1)
• Harry Fielder (Constable) was a Guard (in serials PP, ZZZ, 4L, 4P, 5A, 5F, 5Z), Crewman (SS, 4T), Vogan (4D), Assassin (4Q), Tigellan (5Q), and Krarg in Shada
• Paul Allen was also production designer on The Seeds of Death, Spearhead from Space and Horror of Fang Rock
• Mike Robotham was also film editor on The King's Demons and The Two Doctors