Hi-de-Hi! - Episode Guide

England in the late 1950s: Jeffrey Fairbrother is an unassuming Cambridge academic suffering a mid-life crisis. His wife wants a divorce and he wants a change of career. He applies to become the entertainments manager at Maplins, a South coast holiday camp. Also up for the job is comedian Ted Bovis, a seasoned entertainer who knows how to work a crowd, but Jeff gets the job due to his administrative background and Ted remains Camp Host. Jeff feels that he should step down and give Ted the post but he is encouraged to stay when an elderly couple express their appreciation of his efforts.

Ted Bovis is seen entering a chalet with Rose, a young camper whose parents are friends of owner Joe Maplin. They are reported but Rose implicates Jeff as being her secret lover. Gladys Pugh, the camp's strident announcer, is prepared to dig Jeff out of the hole, but it means she will forever be on his back - in the most adoring way.

There is to be a beauty contest, held by the pool and to be judged by Jeff. Spike, the other comic, will emerge from the pool dressed as Ollie the Octopus and squirt Jeff. Jeff discovers that Ted has been running a nice little side-line in bribery in fixing the contest and puts his foot down. The winner must be chosen honestly. However the winner's father is not in on this and when Jeff chooses her honestly he gets rewarded with a bottle of bubbly anyway.

Mr. Partridge, the Punch and Judy man, hates children and slaps one who is annoying him. Jeff is supposed to sack him but his kind nature cannot do it so he gives Partridge money. This is a bad move as the puppeteer gets very drunk and cannot perform. Jeff fills the breach, helped by glamorous Yellowcoat Sylvia, who, like Gladys, now very jealous, has a very soft spot for Mr. Fairbrother.

Riding instructor and ex-jockey Fred Quilley panics when he hears camper Ron Armitage mention Big Mac, since Big Mac is the name of a violent man who wants to thump Fred for failing to place a bet Big Mac won. In fact Ron is planning to rob the camp but when Jeff, to help Fred, offers him two hundred pounds to leave, Ron assumes Jeff is on to him and wants two hundred pounds to keep quiet. A mutual monetary exchange takes place.

Ted's latest scam to get money from the guests is the Campers' Amenity Fund, actually to pay maintenance to his ex-wife. He puts money on a horse that wins but pockets the cash, claiming that Spike failed to place the bet. When Jeff finds out he is disappointed in Ted but, when confronted by an elderly couple who have been robbed, finds a way to make amends.

In the throes of his divorce, Jeff has to take care of his estranged wife's sheep-dog, Bubbles, but, due to Maplin's No Pets policy, has to hide the dog in his chalet. Hearing noises, people assume he is entertaining a young lady and Gladys is not pleased though all is revealed when a private eye, hired by Jeff's wife to catch him out with a member of the opposite sex, bursts into his room.

Persistent rain literally washes out the outdoor entertainments usually provided for the children and, to make matters worse, Partridge has hit another kid - who will be compensated by winning a singing contest. Unfortunately this has already been rigged to accommodate another winner so that Ted has to come up with a plan to keep everybody happy.

Peggy Ollerenshaw, the most vocal member of Miss Cathcart's cleaning staff, is anxious to be a Yellowcoat entertainer and Jeff arranges for her to have an interview. To give her an opportunity to prove her entertaining skills Ted invites her to impersonate a shark in a poolside routine which will involve bathing beauty Spike being rescued from the beast's jaws. Unfortunately she isn't very good and will need to wait awhile before she can bid farewell to her dusters.

Jeff decides that there should be sing-alongs led by Spike but these are not entirely successful. His next idea, to play records of classical music to the campers to improve their minds, is even more of a flop and it is up to Ted to step in and give the public what they want without hurting Jeff's feelings.

Ted is offered the opportunity to do another gig, away from the holiday camp. If it goes well he is likely to get a residency at golf club dinners. Jeff reluctantly gives him time off but his act dies, as Peggy, who has sneaked off to see him, tells Jeff. In order to spare Ted's feelings as to why he will now no longer want to leave Maplin's, Jeff tells him he is too valuable to the camp to let him go.

Gladys is sent a bottle of champagne by an admirer, which she shares with Jeff. Later that evening, in order to be civil, Jeff agrees to have a few beers with Bert, a rather loud football fan. As a consequence he gets rather tipsy and Gladys has to escort him back to his chalet. Hearing Jeff telling Gladys to 'let him go' Barry and Yvonne, the snooty dance demonstrators, feel that there is hanky-panky going on and are about to spread the word when Gladys saves Jeff's reputation. However, she still leaves him to wonder what exactly went on between them.

Comedian Spike Dixon falls for the lovely Brenda and the feeling is mutual. The only problem is that Brenda's father regards Spike's occupation as being anything but a proper trade and, if he is to give consent to the union, Spike must follow him into the family's butcher's shop. Spike is faced with a dilemma but Ted and Jeff know exactly what he should do for the best.

Yvonne and Barry decide to hold a genteel party for the more refined staff members. This does not include Peggy although they have asked her to give out the invitations. However, come the night of the party she admits she has forgotten to do this and the invitations are now probably lost. Advised by Jeff she summons all the entertainment staff to turn up but they are all going to bed so Barry and Yvonne find themselves the reluctant hosts of a pyjama party.

Hugo Buxton, Jeff's former head of department, comes to the camp to try and persuade him to go back to Cambridge. His visit coincides with the preparation of the Maplin float for the town carnival which features Gladys as Joan of Arc. Things go very awry when the fire on the float gets out of hand and it has to be pulled into the swimming pool. Hugo cannot understand why Jeff prefers such chaos to the academic life, but Jeff replies that he has met real people who are now his friends.

Joe Maplin rings Jeff to say that inspectors are coming to look at land next to the camp with a view to building a new hospital and he wants the staff to sabotage the plan. Opinion is split among the staff but when the inspectors turn up they are greeted by a smelly bonfire and a few very noisy protesters. Peggy, however, is annoyed with Ted for tricking her into taking part by telling her the visitors were Hollywood talent scouts.

The hospital could still be built next to the camp so Maplin sends Jeff a thousand pounds with which to bribe officials. Ted tricks Jeff into letting him do the hand-over but he is pursued by a policeman who wonders why he has so much money and he drops Jeff in it by saying it is a pay-off to a girl impregnated by Jeff. The news comes that the hospital will be built elsewhere. Maplin will donate nine hundred of the thousand pounds to the hospital and Ted hopes to pocket the remaining hundred for himself. However he gives it to Fred, who needs to pay the vet when his horse gets ill.

Ted's ex-wife Hilary turns up. He is behind with her maintenance and could be arrested unless he gives her fifty pounds. Ted and other members of the entertainment staff manage to scrape together forty pounds through a series of scams but Jeff refuses to give Ted the last tenner as Ted still owes him ten pounds from the previous day. Eventualy Jeff relents but Ted is annoyed as he could have got away with giving Hilary forty pounds and has to admit that the bet he placed with Jeff's ten pounds made him a winner so he has to repay Jeff as well.

Following an inspection of the camp by Joe Maplin, Gladys is considered to be the most efficient worker and entitled to a rise. To prove her superiority she sews stripes onto her blazer but other staff members become jealous and decide to add stripes to their uniforms as well. After Gladys' half-brother Gareth has turned up and erroneously identified as a Peeping Tom, Gladys realises that she has been childish and removes the stripes.

The holiday season is almost over and everybody is discussing their future plans, which, in several instances, involve not returning to Maplin's. Dawn, one of the Yellowcoat girls, is rushed to hospital with appendicitis and Peggy at last gets her wish to become a Yellowcoat when she is asked to replace Dawn. However, she is so enthusiastic that she also ends up in hospital, suffering from nervous exhaustion. But there is further bad news to come, as the staff learn that Maplin intends to turn the camp into a self-catering resort - with no Yellowcoats.