Quote: lofthouse @ 22nd December 2013, 1:38 PM GMT

Dear God nooooooo

Stop ruining the legacy of this once great show

The last few specials were bloody awful

Let the damn show r.i.p.

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I don't quite understand your reasoning. I agree 'Sleepless In Peckham' was disappointing, but what's the harm of doing another special? Either it too will be disappointing, in which case the standard remains the same as the last one, or it's really good, in which case it will be a fitting finale. It really has nothing to lose.

I really hope it happens and it's sure to get loads of viewers.

This would be so awesome! I so hope it happens! Would be great to see all the cast again!

Who'd write the episode? Or is it an old unused script by JS?

Quote: Dave @ 22nd December 2013, 7:33 PM GMT

I don't quite understand your reasoning. I agree 'Sleepless In Peckham' was disappointing, but what's the harm of doing another special? Either it too will be disappointing, in which case the standard remains the same as the last one, or it's really good, in which case it will be a fitting finale. It really has nothing to lose.

I really hope it happens and it's sure to get loads of viewers.

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Time On Our Hands was supposed to be the end

And it was a fitting end

Very funny and they finally became millionaires and off they walked into the sunset

Nice

But they couldn't leave it alone

Kept bringing it back simply for hell of it

And every episode after that one was guff

It felt like they took about 20 minutes writing the scripts

And for me it was a sour end to a great show

And now! Even now!? They still just can't leave it alone

Ffs

Quote: Gordon Bennett @ 22nd December 2013, 9:19 PM GMT

Who'd write the episode? Or is it an old unused script by JS?

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The article I read said the sons. I know one of them wrote some Green Green Grass episodes.

Quote: lofthouse @ 22nd December 2013, 9:23 PM GMT

Kept bringing it back simply for hell of it

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Small, pernickety point: They didn't 'keep' bringing it back, the 2001-03 episodes were a single trilogy, filmed between November 2001 and March 2002, and occurred because there had been a tremendous amount of public demand for it in the preceding five years.

The plan, originally, was to broadcast the first at Christmas 2001 - which they did - and then show the other two the following year; like one at Easter, the other at Christmas. Hence why they had twelve months to pay off their debt. But then the BBC decided to show them over two successive Christmases, thereby gaining high ratings for three Christmas Days running.

When it finished, they continued the technique with further sitcom revivals The Vicar of Dibley in 2004 and 2006 Christmases, As Time Goes By (but not on Christmas day) with To the Manor Born for 2007 Christmas and The Royale Family thereafter.

Though I agree that 'Time On Our Hands' was indeed a great way to finish it, and I was disappointed with the comeback trilogy (though 'Strangers On the Shore' was good but not great) I'm just saying, "What's the worst that can happen?" They've already unfixed the '96 ending. Anything would be better than 'Sleepless In Peckham'. With another episode, surely they can only improve on it.

The ending of 'Sleepless In Peckham' was a little ambiguous, anyway, as they inherit enough money to keep the flat, and also enough money to leave if they wanted to, and yet they drive off in the general direction of Nelson Mandella House. It was a nice parting shot, though the dialogue over it was wince-inducing. It did, of course, answer the question of whether Del and Rodney were really brothers, but brought some mildly controversial continuity errors (re 'The Frog's Legacy, 1987) along with it.

If the new episode did indeed revolve around Del's 65th birthday, as David Jason intimated last year, then it would also be age-appropriate, as indeed playing Granville is now (Granville is now the age Arkwright was in the original series, as Ronnie Barker was playing an older character).

Quote: Dave @ 22nd December 2013, 10:49 PM GMT

Anything would be better than 'Sleepless In Peckham'. With another episode, surely they can only improve on it.

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Agree. I don't know what's got into Sullivan to end his magnum opus with such a half-arsed, rushed episode. A new episode would be at least a chance to correct that.

A message from the heart to all elderly famous comedians.

Please don't try and revive the character you played when you were young. There's nothing sadder to me than to see an old grey-haired comic trying to be the vivacious younger man he was 40 years ago. A comic must never have the audience pitying him.

If you must bring back OFAH, set it in an OAP home where all the old characters are under one roof. Rodney could visit with a suitcase of dodgy gear for Del Boy to sell to the others. Or he sells Del an electric reclining chair which blows up in the reclining position and Del's stuck with his legs in the air. That kind of thing.

George Burns was still as funny in his old age because he'd always just stood in front of the mike. But Laurel and Hardy didn't adapt. And I saw Ken Dodd recently shuffling on stage and wheezing through his act. It would have been funnier if his PA became "matron", delivered him to the mike in a wheelchair then taken it offstage with the warning "I'll be back with your medicine". When he forgot the next joke she could appear with a spoonful of medicine and whisper the next "bit".

Comics are more successful when they make their "disabilities" part of the act.

David Jason isn't old enough to be in an old people's home!

Quote: lofthouse @ 22nd December 2013, 9:23 PM GMT

Time On Our Hands was supposed to be the end

And it was a fitting end

Very funny and they finally became millionaires and off they walked into the sunset

Nice

But they couldn't leave it alone

Kept bringing it back simply for hell of it

And every episode after that one was guff

It felt like they took about 20 minutes writing the scripts

And for me it was a sour end to a great show

And now! Even now!? They still just can't leave it alone

Ffs

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This. The final three episodes were abysmal.

We live in an era of "returning/reunion" episodes. Few hit the target, most miss it by a mile. The only reason I can see them being a commercial success resides solely on the ratings entrusted on their fan base who'll watch n matter what in order to see "whatever happened to... ".

Maybe this'll mean "Goodnight, Sweetheart" will definitely return and show us "whatever happened to... " Gary Sparrow now that several of the songs he's said were his have come out along with the many other lies. Maybe this would work and would be delightful now that all of the cast can still be reached.

Now regarding OFAH, I think I'll watch the [Still] Open All Hours Christmas Special and decide from there. We'll know how good a timing there is or no longer is... or something like that.

Have a great Christmas, everyone.

Quote: Ben @ 23rd December 2013, 7:59 PM GMT

This. The final three episodes were abysmal.

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Which is why they can't go very wrong with a further one or two. They'd already unnecessarily extended it beyond TOOH, I agree. Now it's a case of why not? There's little else on that's good, it has a huge fan base and most of them are still around bar the writer and Uncle Albert. Sullivan junior should certainly know what's required. To see those 5 or 6 characters come together again should be the most rewarding thing, however good or not the story and dialogue is.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 25th December 2013, 10:28 AM GMT

Which is why they can't go very wrong with a further one or two. They'd already unnecessarily extended it beyond TOOH, I agree. Now it's a case of why not? There's little else on that's good, it has a huge fan base and most of them are still around bar the writer and Uncle Albert. Sullivan junior should certainly know what's required. To see those 5 or 6 characters come together again should be the most rewarding thing, however good or not the story and dialogue is.

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Mike will be painfully missed though (at least by me).