{{Primarysources|date=December 2007}}

{{Infobox Television episode

| Title =Pilot

| Series =[[Open All Hours]]

| Image =<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:PilotOAH.jpg|200px]] -->

| Caption =Arkwright and the original Nurse Gladys.

| Season =

| Episode =Pilot

| Airdate =[[25 March]], [[1973]]

| Production =

| Writer =[[Roy Clarke]]

| Director =Roy Clarke

| Guests =[[Sheila Brennan]]<br>[[Yootha Joyce]]

| Episode list =[[Open all hours#Episode list|List of Open All Hours episodes]]

| Prev =

| Next =[[Full of Mysterious Promise]]

}}

The Pilot episode of ''[[Open All Hours]]'' was aired in a program called [[Seven of One|Seven of One]], which contained seven separate pilots for possible regular sitcoms. Open All Hours succeded to have its own, as did ''Prisoner and Escort'' (which became ''[[Porridge (TV series)|Porridge]]'', also starred by [[Ronnie Barker]])

== Plot ==

This episode introduces the series characters and many of the series' recurring themes.

We meet Arkwright ([[Ronnie Barker]]), the owner of a grocer shop in [[South Yorkshire]] who [[stuttering|stutters]] all the time and specifically at the most innoprtune times, with humourous results. Arkwright is extremely mean and is always looking for new ways to grab at least one more penny from his customers and spend as little as possible - or even better, spend nothing.

Arkwright employs his own nephew, Granville ([[David Jason]]), as his delivery boy and aide. Granville is a young man who is always thinking about the point of life, especially about his self-confidence, his need to get out of the shop and explore what life can offer him, and obviously his need to find girls, which he finds very difficult because he finishes work at 9 pm every day. Arkwright does not like this, and is always trying to get Granville to keep his feet on the ground. (In the pilot we can hear one of Arkwright's catchphrases: "Gr-Granville, f-fetch yer cloth".) In this episode, Granville wanders around the town on the shop's delivery [[bicycle]], watching young women and young couples, and feeling alone and sad. Anyway, at the end of the episode, Granville manages to date a girl, but only at 9pm of course.

The episode also introduces us to Nurse Gladys Emmanuel (in the pilot played by [[Sheila Brennan]], who was replaced in the regular series by [[Lynda Baron]]). Arkwright is in love with Nurse Gladys, who shows no interest in Arkwright's advances. During the few times that she accepts a date with him, she is disappointed by his extreme meanness, and his unwillingness to leave the shop for more than one hour. We also learn that she is always worried that Arkwright is going to disturb her mother (who we [[Unseen characters|never actually get to see]] in any of the series). In the pilot, Arkwright feigns having a twisted arm to receive Nurse Gladys' attention. Anyway, she does not believe him, and punishes him by treating the pain his arm by forcing him to take spoonfuls of horrible tasting medicine.

We also get to see the strange mix of Arkwright's customers. One of these customers in the pilot (played by [[Yootha Joyce]]) is a woman with a troubled family life, who uses her baby's pram to transport the empties (beer bottles with a returnable deposit. (Arkwright jokes by telling her that she should keep the bottles and return the baby.)

At the end of this and most other episodes, we see Arkwright reflecting on the episode's events, usually to God by beginning "Oh Lord....".

== References ==

[http://www.tv.com/open-all-hours/show/3913/episode_guide.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=tabssh&tag=tabs;guide| Open All Hours at tv.com]

[[Category:Open All Hours episodes]]