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In one episode of the 1980s sitcom Hi-de-Hi!, the tragi-comic holiday camp crooner and funnyman Ted Bovis dreams up a sure-fire money-making scheme. His plan is to defray his alimony expenses by charging campers entry to a secret night-time screening of a blue movie so hot that the police want to confiscate it.In one episode of the 1980s sitcom Hi-de-Hi!, the tragi-comic holiday camp crooner and funnyman Ted Bovis dreams up a sure-fire money-making scheme. His plan is to defray his alimony expenses by charging campers entry to a secret night-time screening of a blue movie so hot that the police want to confiscate it.
Bovis was always concocting scams – dodgy bingo, rigged raffles, embezzling the campers' amenity fund. Paul Shane, who has died aged 72 after a short illness, played the character in 58 episodes, from 1980 to 1988, and was ideally cast as the portly, sad-eyed clown with the loud check suit, teddy-boy quiff and gruff voice.Bovis was always concocting scams – dodgy bingo, rigged raffles, embezzling the campers' amenity fund. Paul Shane, who has died aged 72 after a short illness, played the character in 58 episodes, from 1980 to 1988, and was ideally cast as the portly, sad-eyed clown with the loud check suit, teddy-boy quiff and gruff voice.
If Les Dawson and Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons had been poured into the same body and given a hopeless job at a holiday camp in a coastal town they forgot to close down, the result would have been Bovis. His scheming never did pay dividends – and so it was in episode two of series four, first broadcast in 1982. Spike, Ted's trainee comedian, substitutes a Laurel and Hardy comedy for the blue movie, much to the punters' disgust and Ted's financial embarrassment.If Les Dawson and Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons had been poured into the same body and given a hopeless job at a holiday camp in a coastal town they forgot to close down, the result would have been Bovis. His scheming never did pay dividends – and so it was in episode two of series four, first broadcast in 1982. Spike, Ted's trainee comedian, substitutes a Laurel and Hardy comedy for the blue movie, much to the punters' disgust and Ted's financial embarrassment.
Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who also wrote Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum, created Shane's character as one of those disappointed Britons – in the line of Harold Steptoe, Rupert Rigsby, and Basil and Sybil Fawlty – trapped in lives that fall well short of their dreams. Bovis thought that he, rather than the stuck-up ex-Cambridge archaeology professor Jeffrey Fairbrother, should have been entertainments manager. He believed he had more to offer the world than being a compere for plebby holidaymakers at Maplin's (the late-1950s holiday camp Perry and Croft devised) and should be entertaining golf-club nobs instead. In reality, he was reduced to mentoring Spike, thinking up ways to make money, and demonstrating potato peelers in supermarkets out of season.Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who also wrote Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum, created Shane's character as one of those disappointed Britons – in the line of Harold Steptoe, Rupert Rigsby, and Basil and Sybil Fawlty – trapped in lives that fall well short of their dreams. Bovis thought that he, rather than the stuck-up ex-Cambridge archaeology professor Jeffrey Fairbrother, should have been entertainments manager. He believed he had more to offer the world than being a compere for plebby holidaymakers at Maplin's (the late-1950s holiday camp Perry and Croft devised) and should be entertaining golf-club nobs instead. In reality, he was reduced to mentoring Spike, thinking up ways to make money, and demonstrating potato peelers in supermarkets out of season.
Bovis never made the big time but the character was the making of Shane. When asked his biggest career achievement, he replied: "Hi-de-Hi! because I was a club act before that, and that led to everything else I did."Bovis never made the big time but the character was the making of Shane. When asked his biggest career achievement, he replied: "Hi-de-Hi! because I was a club act before that, and that led to everything else I did."
Born George Frederick Speight in Thrybergh, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, he appeared on stage in his teens at venues such as the Grafton pub in Rotherham and, later, Scunthorpe's Cemetery Road social club, where he sang and developed a stand-up routine. From the age of 16, he was a miner at Silverwood colliery, but he was pensioned off after an accident in 1967 (surely apocryphally written up as involving him slipping on a bar of soap at the pithead baths).Born George Frederick Speight in Thrybergh, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, he appeared on stage in his teens at venues such as the Grafton pub in Rotherham and, later, Scunthorpe's Cemetery Road social club, where he sang and developed a stand-up routine. From the age of 16, he was a miner at Silverwood colliery, but he was pensioned off after an accident in 1967 (surely apocryphally written up as involving him slipping on a bar of soap at the pithead baths).
His wife and childhood sweetheart, Dory, whom he married in 1961, suggested that he go into entertainment full-time after the accident. His first TV part came in the Alan Bennett drama A Day Out (1972). "I played a cyclist and all I had to say was, 'My bum's numb!'" Later he landed the role of Frank Roper in a 1979 episode of Coronation Street. He recalled: "I've got Corrie to thank for getting Hi-de-Hi! I was in Coronation Street doing a three-minute scene in Alf Roberts's shop. Jimmy Perry loves Coronation Street and he saw me."His wife and childhood sweetheart, Dory, whom he married in 1961, suggested that he go into entertainment full-time after the accident. His first TV part came in the Alan Bennett drama A Day Out (1972). "I played a cyclist and all I had to say was, 'My bum's numb!'" Later he landed the role of Frank Roper in a 1979 episode of Coronation Street. He recalled: "I've got Corrie to thank for getting Hi-de-Hi! I was in Coronation Street doing a three-minute scene in Alf Roberts's shop. Jimmy Perry loves Coronation Street and he saw me."
In a 1982 interview, Shane recalled going to Croft's house to read for the part. "I was frightened to death, but now it's all happening for me. I'm doing a summer season on the South Pier at Blackpool this year. Who would ever have offered Paul Shane any work there before Hi-de-Hi!? Suddenly I'm a desirable commodity – the show has made household names of people who have been around for years."In a 1982 interview, Shane recalled going to Croft's house to read for the part. "I was frightened to death, but now it's all happening for me. I'm doing a summer season on the South Pier at Blackpool this year. Who would ever have offered Paul Shane any work there before Hi-de-Hi!? Suddenly I'm a desirable commodity – the show has made household names of people who have been around for years."
In Hi-de-Hi!, which was based on Perry's experiences as a Butlins redcoat, he starred alongside Su Pollard (as the chalet maid Peggy) and Ruth Madoc (as chief yellowcoat Gladys). Most of the show's characters, like Bovis, battled failure – they were entertainers at the tail end of their careers.In Hi-de-Hi!, which was based on Perry's experiences as a Butlins redcoat, he starred alongside Su Pollard (as the chalet maid Peggy) and Ruth Madoc (as chief yellowcoat Gladys). Most of the show's characters, like Bovis, battled failure – they were entertainers at the tail end of their careers.
Shane later starred in two sitcoms that reunited him with several of his Hi-de-Hi! co-stars. Perry and Croft cast him as the butler Alf Stokes in You Rang M'Lord? (1988-93), a parody of dramas like Upstairs, Downstairs. As Stokes, Shane once more played a swindler – this time striving to outfox Lord Meldrum and his family of dimwit toffs, as well as the below-stairs shirkers. In Oh Doctor Beeching! (1995-97), written by Croft and Richard Spendlove, he played a station manger, Jack Skinner, on a branch line threatened with closure.Shane later starred in two sitcoms that reunited him with several of his Hi-de-Hi! co-stars. Perry and Croft cast him as the butler Alf Stokes in You Rang M'Lord? (1988-93), a parody of dramas like Upstairs, Downstairs. As Stokes, Shane once more played a swindler – this time striving to outfox Lord Meldrum and his family of dimwit toffs, as well as the below-stairs shirkers. In Oh Doctor Beeching! (1995-97), written by Croft and Richard Spendlove, he played a station manger, Jack Skinner, on a branch line threatened with closure.
Shane would never repeat the success of Hi-de-Hi! and he recalled: "After Dr Beeching ended I was in Oliver! on stage [at the Palladium] in London for 10 months playing Mr Bumble. But then not a lot happened until I got a small part in the daytime show Doctors." He appeared in Emmerdale, Common As Muck, Holby City and A Touch of Frost on TV and reckoned to have starred in around 40 pantos. His career nadir came in 1996 when he sang You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' on the BBC's Pebble Mill at One show – a performance included in a Channel 4 poll of the funniest TV moments.Shane would never repeat the success of Hi-de-Hi! and he recalled: "After Dr Beeching ended I was in Oliver! on stage [at the Palladium] in London for 10 months playing Mr Bumble. But then not a lot happened until I got a small part in the daytime show Doctors." He appeared in Emmerdale, Common As Muck, Holby City and A Touch of Frost on TV and reckoned to have starred in around 40 pantos. His career nadir came in 1996 when he sang You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' on the BBC's Pebble Mill at One show – a performance included in a Channel 4 poll of the funniest TV moments.
Dory died in 2001. Shane, who underwent heart surgery in 2009, is survived by three daughters and six grandchildren.Dory died in 2001. Shane, who underwent heart surgery in 2009, is survived by three daughters and six grandchildren.
• Paul Shane (George Frederick Speight), actor and comedian, born 19 June 1940; died 16 May 2013• Paul Shane (George Frederick Speight), actor and comedian, born 19 June 1940; died 16 May 2013
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