Albert Arkwright Albert E. Arkwright (born 1927) is played by
Ronnie Barker in
Open All Hours. Arkwright is a pragmatic, miserly man with old-fashioned values, whose world seems to stop at his shop door, except for his lusting for Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, which prompts him on occasion to wander across the road, usually with a ladder, to gain access to her bedroom window. Arkwright is a devious, and mildly dishonest character, who has many crafty tricks to try to persuade a customer to leave his store having bought at least one thing, and will avoid spending his own money at all cost. He is also very protective of his savings, keeping some in his pocket wrapped in a fine gold chain, and some in an old, battered
Oxo tin that he hides under the kitchen sink. This includes, or so he claims, coins from before 1922, when they were "solid silver". He is so protective of his money that the last time he spent a whole night away from the shop was in 1957, when he went to have his
appendix removed. The shop's old till possesses a tight spring-clip that regularly puts Arkwright and Granville's fingers in danger. Arkwright refuses to replace it because of the cost of a replacement and because it deters thieves. Although an avid political commentator, he has few political convictions and never sides with either the left or right wing, instead implying they are all useless. Arkwright does however seem fervently opposed to nationalisation, once commenting
"My top lip went all stiff and dead, as if it had been nationalised." His political comments usually show no allegiances, instead making remarks like ''When Wales get home rule, do you think they'll nationalise
Clive Jenkins?'' Arkwright maintains an openly polite demeanour around customers, but will often insult those who offend him in a veiled or open manner. Arkwright appears to believe in God, although he is certainly not portrayed as a religious man. Most episodes end with him on the pavement outside the shop during closing time, contemplating the day's events. His thoughts often start with an expression like "Soon they'll only be me and thee that aren't either nationalised or a limited company." Arkwright, like most characters in the series, is a rational, practical man, who shows no signs of any sentimentality, unlike Granville, who seems to dream away most of his days, and longs for a life away from the shop. Arkwright speaks with a stammer, which he acknowledges sometimes makes it difficult to express himself. He often makes his impediment into a joke, for example asking:
Granville, how do you spell P-p-p-pepper? Is it 6 Ps or 7?, Granville occasionally mocks his uncle's speech pattern (such as calling the
"weather fore-fore-forecast" the "
weather twelvecast", and referring to the "
B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-BC" as Morse code), although never in a malicious or hurtful manner. Arkwright was shocked on one occasion to find that he also appears to stutter even when thinking to himself. Ronnie Barker died in 2005 and, by the time of
Still Open All Hours, Arkwright has also died and his shop has been bequeathed to Granville as promised, but almost all of his personality traits have passed onto Granville. Granville keeps a framed photograph of Arkwright in the shop's kitchen which he occasionally talks to. Several people in the town, including Granville, believe that Arkwright's ghost still haunts the shop, particularly the cash register, attributing events such as the lights switching on and off or the register randomly opening and closing to him. This is heavily implied to be true in Episode 6 of Series 1, which revolves around Granville's latest scheme under the pretence of holding a séance to contact Arkwright's ghost. Whilst his plan is unsuccessful the final scene sees Granville outside the shop when the lights go out, and they only turn back on after he playfully threatens Arkwright with changing the till if it carries on. The opening of Series 6 episode 5 also sees Granville talking to Arkwright's framed photo which moves in nods and shakes motions into response to him, seemingly of its own accord and without any further explanation.
Granville Arkwright Granville Arkwright (born 1948) is played by
David Jason in
Open All Hours and its sequel,
Still Open All Hours. Granville is an errand boy to his uncle and employer, Albert Arkwright, who is the proprietor of an old-fashioned
Yorkshire corner shop. Granville was born to Arkwright's sister, who died while Granville was a young child, leaving Arkwright as his sole guardian. Granville's father's identity is not known, as his mother is implied to be a woman of loose morals, and Arkwright considers him to have likely been a
Hungarian, although he is unsure of this. Raised alone by Arkwright, Granville is often curious and engrossed in thoughts about who his father was and saddened not to have known his mother. Although a kind provider (as long as it is not too stressful on his wallet), Arkwright's miserly and eccentric personality makes him withdraw Granville from school and he starts helping in his uncle's shop at age eleven. The tedious routine weighs heavily on Granville, who resents getting up well before dawn and not being free until nine o'clock at night. He is poorly paid, at £3 a week (£31.17 in 2023), and is made to pay for anything from the shop shelves, even if Arkwright gave it to him. He is curious and anxious to explore the outside world and mingle with his peers, especially girls. Granville spends most of the day dreaming of being somewhere else or doing something else, a custom which is seen as alien to the other characters. Granville seems fairly sharp and quick witted, and is often quick to make satirical jokes about Arkwright's stammer or mannerisms whilst he will often flippantly make fun at customers to their faces, all of them seemingly being too unintelligent to realise this. Unlike his uncle who is a practical man, Granville is a carefree man, yet is treated as if he is still a child, despite being well into his adult years. Granville's mundane existence is only brightened up by the milkwoman, the only person other than Arkwright who is awake at the same time as him in the mornings. Despite his attraction to her, she is more worldly wise than he is and likes men of the same calibre as herself, but she is generally sympathetic towards Granville and they have kissed on several occasions. By the time of
Still Open All Hours, Arkwright has died and Granville has inherited the shop as promised by Arkwright, and has a young son, Leroy. Despite their radically different personalities and views on life, however, Granville has become a toned-down version of Arkwright in his old age, such as light-heartedly mocking Leroy over his mother's identity, and attempting to make money out of every customer who walks into the shop, even by telling fibs about certain items such as anchovy paste. At one point, Granville opens a bottle of whisky to pour a drink for a promoter, and then charges him for the whole bottle. As a tribute, Granville keeps a framed portrait of Arkwright in the kitchen. He occasionally speaks to the portrait as if speaking to Arkwright, and continues to affectionately mock his late uncle's stutter. In the first episode of the sixth series of
Still Open All Hours Granville is referred to as Mr. Arkwright confirming his surname. Throughout the series, Granville has begun an implied on-again-off-again relationship with Mavis, and he proposes to her in the finale.
Leroy Leroy is played by
James Baxter in
Still Open All Hours. Leroy is an errand boy to his father and employer, Granville, who is the proprietor of Arkwright's corner shop from the 2013 series. ==Regular characters==