Open All Hours Season 1 Episode 1 Full of Mysterious Promise

Episode Description: Open All Hours is a British sitcom that follows the daily life of a small shop located in a suburb of Doncaster, England. Season 1 Episode 1, entitled "Full of Mysterious Promise," introduces the audience to Arkwright's corner shop, a small convenience store owned by the miserly and cunning Albert Arkwright. The episode takes place over the course of one day and follows Arkwright as he interacts with his customers, attempts to make a sale, and generally tries to make a profit.

Arkwright's shop seems to be a place frozen in time, with an impressive range of old-fashioned goods, including bottled pop (soda), candles, and old boxes of sweets, all of which have been sitting on the shelves for years. He has a loyal customer base, including an older woman named Nurse Gladys Emmanuel who drops in frequently, along with the chat and moral support Arkwright craves. He considers her special, and always treats her with extra patience and even sometimes tries to give her something for free. The episode also features a worker, A Granville, who spends most of his time stacking the shelves, wiping and cleaning the display cabinets, also eager to please Arkwright regularly. Granville dreams of breaking free from the monotony of the job and finding love but finds himself stuck in his mundane routine and under the watchful gaze of his boss.

As the day goes on, Arkwright is determined to improve his business, by taking on a new venture, introducing a delivery service to his customers. He immediately advertises in the local newspaper, hoping for a flood of new orders, only to be left waiting for the phone to ring. It takes several hours before he receives a response from his advertisement. Meanwhile, Nurse Gladys, who gets a night off once a week in her duties as a community nurse, reveals she is about to go out on a date with a new man, who she met through a friend. The thought of the date distracts her and she accidentally spills the beans of her shenanigans, and her intended paramour's profession. All of which Arkwright takes in and plays around with, and eventually, he also grows more familiar with the man's job and gets more of an insight into his potential financial status he can later exploit.

Arkwright’s corner shop is Full of Mysterious Promise in the initial parts of the first episode of Open All Hours. The characters and settings are warm and inviting, with the personality of Arkwright standing as one of the most prominent features of the show. The audience establishes a sense of familiarity and understanding while watching the events of his small shop unfold. Awaiting the phone to ring, Arkwright takes advantage of his downtime to examine his newest delivery vehicle, making sure to test it out, and attempts to create several situations to sell items while circumnavigating his "a penny saved is a penny earned" philosophy. While friendly with his patrons, Arkwright finds every way possible to profit, and then some, illustrating his penny-pinching, and sometimes devious, ways.

Overall, episode 1, "Full of Mysterious Promise," offers a comprehensive introduction to the show and its characters, with the storyline setting the scene for all that is yet to come in the series. The show is a fond representation of the eccentric small-town English way of life, and the episode is a joy to watch with its gentle humor, quaint settings, and punchy, off-the-cuff dialogue. The Open All Hours is a much-watch for anyone looking for light-hearted, easy-viewing entertainment that captures the quaint charm and gentle humor of small-town life.