Trivia / Hi-de-Hi!

• Cast the Runner-Up: Nikki Kelly got the role of Sylvia after unsuccessfully auditioning for a role in It Ain't Half Hot, Mum, one of David Croft and Jimmy Perry's earlier series.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Penny Irving's departure after Series 1 was because she hated the show and didn't find it funny at all.
  • Rikki Howard thought the role of Betty was getting stale and left after Series 5 to return to the theatre.
  • Barry Howard grew unhappy with his role and began to drink heavily on set as a result. Jimmy Perry gave him several chances to stop drinking (the character of Julian Dalrymple-Sykes was written into "The Epidemic" as a warning that if Howard's misbehaviour kept up, he would be replaced). Still, the final straw came during the filming of Series 7 when a drunken Howard pushed one of the Yellowcoat girls into the pool. He was written out the next series, replaced by who else but Julian, as mentioned above.
• The Danza: Barry Howard as Barry Stuart-Hargreaves.
• Edited for Syndication: A 2020 airing of "Orphan of the Storm" on Gold cut out Alec Foster yelling "You bastards!" at the staff.
• Hostility on the Set:
  • Barry Howard turned to drink as the show went on and he got more and more unhappy with his role. Jimmy Perry kept giving him chances to improve but grew frustrated with Howard's behaviour, especially when Howard pushed one of the Yellowcoat girls into the pool during the filming of Series 7. Howard was let go at the end of that series.
  • David Griffin didn't have a particularly happy time on set. While his castmates weren't nasty to him, they would constantly bring up Simon Cadell (who Griffin had replaced when he chose to leave), making it hard for Griffin to fit in with the rest of the cast.
  • Linda Regan got on the bad side of David Croft during the rehearsals for "Man Trap"; she was scripted to slap Jeffrey Holland, but felt bad and didn't want to do it, making Croft madder and madder each time. On the night, however, Regan didn't hold back and cracked Holland one harder than anyone was expecting, much to her horror afterward.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Gladys's singing voice was mediocre at best, but she was played by professional singer Ruth Madoc.
• On-Set Injury: During the filming of "Carnival Time", when the burning float falls into the pool, Chris Andrews' costume dragged in the water and he got swept under the float and was stuck underwater, needing to be rescued by Simon Cadell. Series co-creator David Croft later remarked that out of all the shows he ever produced, this was the closest one ever came to tragedy.
• The Other Darrin: Gary was played by Terence Creasy in Series 1, and by Chris Andrews in all series afterwards. In the early days, Gary was nothing more than a Living Prop so it's doubtful that many viewers would've noticed the change for such an incredibly minor character.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • The twins (Stanley and Bruce) were played by actual twins, David and Tony Webb. In the end credits, they were billed together as "The Webb Twins".
  • Diane Holland got the role of Yvonne as she was the sister-in-law of co-writer Jimmy Perry.
• Recast as a Regular: Julian's assistant on his pig farm, Mr. Turner, was played by Billy Burden, who had previously appeared in the series as an angry camper in "It's Murder".
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: While Barry Howard's drunken antics on set had been a problem for production since at least Series 5, the final straw came during the filming of Series 7, when Howard pushed one of the Yellowcoat girls into the pool. Guest star Ben Aris was brought back full time in Series 8 and 9 to replace him.
• Role Reprise: When the Hi-de-Hi! stage show went on a six-month tour in 2010, Barry Howard once more returned to the role of Barry Stuart-Hargreaves. His in-series wife Yvonne was played by Nikki Kelly, who had played Sylvia in the TV series (even if they wanted the original Yvonne - Diane Holland - back to join Howard, they couldn't; she had died the previous year).
• Romance on the Set: Towards the end of the series, The Sun published a (totally untrue) story that David Croft was having an affair with Nikki Kelly.
• Throw It In!: Only one take could be done for the filming of the burning float in the climax of "Carnival Time"; Jeffrey falling off the float and into the pool, and Gary getting swept under were both accidents that were left in as they wouldn't be able to reshoot the scene. To Simon Cadell's credit, he plays the scene off in such a way that it seems intentional.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Jimmy Perry and David Croft wanted to film on location at Butlins Holiday Camp in Clacton. They sent the script to them, only to be threatened with legal action in response; Butlins were working on modernising and refused to be associated with the old style of holiday camp from The '50s.
  • John Quayle was the first choice for Jeffrey Fairbrother, but he was busy with the National Theatre. Simon Cadell was cast instead and later went on to become Croft's son-in-law.
  • Croft favoured Ronnie Hilton for Ted Bovis, but he wasn't experienced enough to play the role. Perry chose Paul Shane after he had seen him in an episode of Coronation Street.
  • Peggy wasn't in the Pilot at first. It was only when Richard Stone introduced Croft and Perry to Su Pollard that they created the character, as they liked Pollard too much to not have her in the series.
  • Apparently if Joe Maplin had ever shown up on screen, they wanted Bob Monkhouse to play him.
  • When Simon Cadell told Ruth Madoc about his intentions to leave the series after four years, he offered that she could leave at the same time as him, so Jeffrey and Gladys could end the series as a couple.
  • Mr. Partridge was supposed to appear in every episode of Series 6, however early in filming Leslie Dwyer had to pull out due to ill health. As a result, many scenes throughout the series had to be rewritten, either to have Mr. Partridge mentioned to be offscreen (such as when Fred mentions he is back in the chalet near the end of "Together Again"), suspiciously absent (such as when Clive is introduced to the staff in "Ted at the Helm"), or in the most obvious last-minute rewrites, had his lines given to a plumber played by Ronnie Brody (who even uses his "Listen to that silly cow!" Character Catchphrase).
  • Barry Howard (who had been dropped from the series in 1986) was given a chance to return for the finale, "The Wind of Change", but he turned down the offer.
  • There were brief talks of a Spin-Off about Ted and Peggy working in a theatre. It is possible that this inspired the scene in the You Rang, M'Lord? pilot, where Stokes and Ivy (also played by Paul Shane and Su Pollard) do an act in the music halls.
• Write Who You Know: As with most Perry/Croft sitcoms, such as Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot, Mum, the writers drew on their personal experiences for the series; Jimmy Perry was a Redcoat at Butlins at around the time the series is set, and most of the characters are based on people he met in that job.

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