Following its success with ’Allo ’Allo and Dad’s Army, Studio Theatre brought to the Landmark stage the well-loved characters from David Croft’s and Jimmy Perry’s popular holiday camp TV comedy Hi-De-Hi, directed by Anne Bacon.

See photos of all the cast

See posh Cambridge professor Jeffrey Fairbrother as he takes the reins at Maplin’s Holiday Camp, closely watched by doleful chief Yellowcoat Gladys Pugh, while working-class comic Ted and his hapless sidekick Spike dream up all kinds of mischief. Witness the trials and tribulations of the entertainers in their typical 1950s British holiday camp as they struggle to amuse campers with their antics, stories and songs.

Will Jeffrey success in educating the campers? Will Gladys get her professor? Will Ted’s money-making schemes work? Will Peggy ever get to be a Yellowcoat? Find out in Hi-De-Hi.

Apart from performances by some of the original cast in 1983 and 1984, Studio Theatre is one the first theatre groups nationally to have staged this production and was the first in the South West.

Studio Theatre's cast comprises: Katy Ashford, Lee Baxendale, Pamela Beecham, Jeanne Bennett, Mike Bennett, Larry Fabian, Jenny Horsman, Elizabeth Johnson, Julie Moore, Robbie Murray, Licha Parkhouse, Lauren Thomas, Rod Vass, Jade Whapham, Sandi Wildash-Daws and Robert Zarywacz.

How did Studio Theatre obtain the licence to perform Hi-de-Hi?

A cheeky approach to Jeffrey Holland – one of the stars of the original Hi-de-Hi series – when he was playing Widow Twankey in pantomime in Barnstaple – led to an approach to writer David Croft’s agent and the agreement for Studio Theatre to stage the popular seaside holiday camp show at Ilfracombe’s Landmark Theatre.

With a reputation for reproducing the on-screen success of Jimmy Perry’s and David Croft’s creations on the Landmark stage – including ’Allo ’Allo and Dad’s Army – Studio Theatre’s cast repeated this success with the goings-on between the entertainers and yellowcoats at the notorious 1950s Maplins holiday camp.

When asked to comment on the stage version, David Croft said: “Hi- de-Hi requires an unusual amount of artistic input from the director and artistes involved and I am sure that Studio Theatre at Ilfracombe, following their great productions of ’Allo ’Allo and Dad’s Army, are up to the challenge. Good luck and best wishes to you all.”

Performances were at the Landmark Theatre, Ilfracombe, from Thursday 24th May to Saturday 26th May 2007.

Performed in a theatre at a seaside resort with its own holiday camp, there can be no better place to have seen this wonderful seaside holiday comedy.