High & Dry is a 1987 British television sitcom written by Harold Snoad (using the pseudonym Alan Sherwood, as he was then contracted to the BBC) and Michael Knowles. The series, produced by Ronnie Baxter for Yorkshire Television, starred Bernard Cribbins, Richard Wilson, Angus Barnett and Vivienne Martin. It was a television adaptation of the BBC radio series It Sticks Out Half a Mile, a sequel to Dad's Army.

Following a pilot episode for BBC Television broadcast in 1985 under the title Walking the Planks, the writers took the concept to the ITV company. Only one series was made.

Walking the Planks A television pilot was broadcast on BBC1 on 2 August 1985. It starred Michael Elphick as Ron Archer, Richard Wilson as Richard Talbot, Gary Raynsford as Trevor Archer and Vivienne Martin as Miss Baxter. It was an attempt to adapt the radio series It Sticks Out Half a Mile for television, but the BBC did not commission a series. Writers Snoad and Knowles took their idea to Yorkshire Television, who decided High & Dry was a suitable project for a series.

Title Written by Directed by First broadcast Broadcast details Walking the Planks Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles Harold Snoad 2 August 1985 BBC1, 8.30pm

Ron Archer only allowed himself the merest flirtation with the three Rs. However, over the years, he has carefully developed a fourth R – Resourcefulness. This comes to the fore when he decides to buy an old seaside pier. All he needs is the money!

Cast

Main characters Bernard Cribbins - Ron Archer Richard Wilson - Richard Talbot Angus Barnett - Trevor Archer Vivienne Martin - Miss Baxter

Secondary characters Arthur English - Fred Whattle David Simeon - Ernest Woolcott Diana Coupland - Mrs Olive Briggs Poppy Lane - Laura Talbot (unseen character)

Plot Ron Archer and his son Trevor decide to buy an old decrepit pier, with Midbourne Council having put it up for sale for just five shillings. After visiting his brother-in-law Richard Talbot, manager of the local bank, Ron asks for a £2000 loan for maintenance costs, which he must guarantee to pay once he buys the pier. Richard is aghast at the prospect of giving someone a £2000 loan, especially a man like Ron. However, Ron has expected this to happen, so he blackmails Richard into giving him the loan. With financial costs all sorted, Ron and Trevor, with an uneasy Richard acting as financial advisor, meet with Midbourne Council to discuss the pier. When Richard starts having second thoughts again, Ron blackmails him further, and forms a solution for paying off the loan. With that all sorted, the council and the new owners of Midbourne Pier raise their glasses in celebration. Midbourne Pier is theirs.

Episodes This series chronicalises the first eight episodes of It Sticks Out Half a Mile.

# Episode Title Written by Directed by First broadcast 1 "The Pier" Alan Sherwood (Harold Snoad) and Michael Knowles Ronnie Baxter 7 January 1987 2 "Dry Rot" Alan Sherwood and Michael Knowles Ronnie Baxter 14 January 1987 3 "The Plans" Alan Sherwood and Michael Knowles Ronnie Baxter 21 January 1987 4 "Trevor's Brainwave" Alan Sherwood and Michael Knowles Ronnie Baxter 28 January 1987 5 "The Battle of Britain Reborn" Alan Sherwood and Michael Knowles Ronnie Baxter 4 February 1987 6 "Local Enthusiasm" Alan Sherwood and Michael Knowles Ronnie Baxter 11 February 1987 7 "The Hole" Alan Sherwood and Michael Knowles Ronnie Baxter 18 February 1987

Setting The series was set in 1946, just after the Second World War, in the fictional town of Midbourne. Most of the action took place at the decrepit pier owned by Ron and Trevor, or the bank where Richard and Miss Baxter worked.

Midbourne Pier Midbourne Pier was built in 1860 by real-life pier designer Eugenius Birch. In 1917, the pier was bought by Rolf Andrews and his partner Thomas Adler. They owned the pier for four months, before selling it, as they couldn't get it back on its feet. The pier was closed in 1932. After that, the council bought it, later selling it to Ron and Trevor Archer for five shillings in 1946. Between 16 and 21 March 1940, the middle of the pier was demolished so that the enemy could not land aboard and sneak onto the shore.

Ron and Trevor's telephone number for the pier is Midbourne 293. Visiting figures for the pier revealed that just 86 people visited the pier in September 1931.

Attractions at the pier included the clairvoyant Madame Zara, Gladys Wilcox and Her Trio and a theatre at the end of the pier, where Wee Georgie Wood and Myra Hess used to perform.

Amusements included: a test-your-strength machine, a punchball, distorted mirrors, a cockle and whelks stall, a rock shop, a crooked house, a ballroom, a haunted graveyard, a What the Butler Saw machine, a horoscope machine and a gift crane, among others.

The Friends of Midbourne Pier Association (FOMPA) The Friends of Midbourne Pier Association, often shortened to FOMPA, is a voluntary service that was created to help restore the decrepit Midbourne Pier. It was formed when Ron Archer and his son Trevor were having financial difficulties, and discovered it would cost a hefty price to restore the pier. It was originally Trevor's idea to have volunteers help with the restoration, when he read in an article about a parents association that rebuilt a school. Trevor thought of the name SPAM, the Society for Preserving Ancient Monuments, but they both settled on FOMPA, the Friends of Midbourne Pier Association. Its members include: Ron and Trevor Archer, chairmen Richard Talbot, enrolment official and volunteers Miss Baxter, Ernest Woolcott, Olive Briggs, Arthur Ramsden, and various citizens of Midbourne

Midbourne Council The council of Midbourne appear in the first episode of the series. It is made up of the town clerk Henry Cummings, entertainments manager Derek Rawlings, head of publicity Graham Winters and Borough Treasurer Frank Short, along with several council employees. Former clairvoyant Madame Zara who used to work at the pier now works for the council in forward planning. After placing an advertisement in the Midbourne Gazette, the council sell Midbourne Pier for just five shillings and are pleased to let it go. As a council, they appear to work well together, and are well acquainted with respectable bank manager Richard Talbot.

Characters

Main characters

Ron Archer (played by Bernard Cribbins)

Ron Archer is a crafty lower class unemployed man who is the owner of Midbourne Pier, along with his son Trevor. He is about 45, born around 1901, and has a not-too-bright son aged 19. Ron's wife left him for a publican eighteen years ago, in 1928, but he is still optimistic that she will return. Ron was left unemployed when the firm he was working for (creating garden gnomes) closed down during the war. His son's school was bombed and when at home and the air raids began, Ron would take Trevor down the garden into the air raid shelter. In "The Battle of Britain Reborn", he is hinted to suffer from migraines. He sometimes mispronounces words and confuses maths sums, but is not unintelligent. He is, however, a shady and "common" character.

Ron is disgusted at what is happening with Midbourne Pier, and feels it is his duty to restore 'this prime example of British heritage'. He and his son Trevor buy the pier for just five shillings, but must pay £2000 in maintenance costs. Ron visits his brother-in-law Richard, who also happens to be a bank manager, to ask for a loan. (It is revealed in "Dry Rot" that had Ron's bank managing friend not been in jail, he would have acquired the loan from him.) When Richard is reluctant, Ron blackmails Richard into giving him the loan.

His sister Laura, who is described as being heavily built, moved to Midbourne in 1945, just after the war. She is married to Richard Talbot, Ron's brother-in-law. Ron and Richard have not seen each other for at least five years (sometime before the war), and are not very close friends. Ron, much to the disgust of Richard, likes to call his brother-in-law "Dickie".

His son's dimwittedness causes Ron some anxiety and annoyance. Generally, however, Ron and Trevor share a good relationship together.

Ron has fond memories of the pier and is very enthusiastic to repair it. He also knows quite a lot about its history. Before the war, clairvoyant Madame Zara, who Ron wishes to hire at Midbourne, read Ron's palm. She said that he would always be greatly respected for his business decisions, but after that her ball went hazy. Ron is rather rattled when a card from the pier's horoscope machine reads about his star sign: 'Naturally aggressive. You should hold this in check. You would like to be accepted in the world of big business, but your inability to grasp even basic facts precludes you. Consider whether you have a chip on your shoulder, otherwise true success will always elude you.' Ron lives nine miles from the pier and owns a rusty and poorly running small dark grey vehicle. Its door has a tendency to fall off its hinges.

Ron Archer is based on ARP Warden Hodges (portrayed by Bill Pertwee), regular cast member in Dad's Army and It Sticks Out Half a Mile. Ron was portrayed by Michael Elphick in Walking the Planks.

He appears in all episodes.

Richard Talbot (played by Richard Wilson)

Richard Talbot, often nicknamed "Dickie" by his brother-in-law Ron, much to Richard's annoyance, is the manager of the Midbourne branch of the National United Bank. He is rather unhappily married to Laura Talbot. The couple have children as revealed in "The Pier". Richard is a respectable citizen in Midbourne; he knows all the members of Midbourne Council and is recognised by nearly everyone in the community. He arrived in Midbourne in 1945 to manage the National United Bank in town. He is often cynical and makes dry witted jokes and observations, mostly towards Ron's attempts to restore Midbourne Pier. During the war, Richard fought in the desert with General Montgomery at the Second Battle of El Alamein.

It is revealed in the opening episode that Richard supposedly had an affair with one Gloria Smith, a lonely widow, just after being offered the job at the bank. He needed a place to stay in Midbourne and answered Gloria's advert in the paper. Ron Archer, Richard's brother-in-law, uses this information to bribe Richard into giving Ron a loan. Richard claims, 'There was nothing in it.' It is uncertain whether anything did happen, but Ron still convinces Richard to give him the loan by informing that his wife wouldn't be pleased if she knew he had shared a house with a widow. Ron also learned that Gloria knew about an incident where several traveller's cheques went missing, and Richard was responsible. This is confirmed when Richard asks Ron worriedly, 'How do you know about that?' From there forth, Richard must act as Ron and his son Trevor's financial advisor.

Richard is cynical towards Ron and Trevor's attempts to restore the pier, and is shocked at the amount of money his bank must lend them to restore it. He finds Ron a common man, which he is, and discourages Miss Baxter to become involved with the pier. Richard does, however, have fond memories of the pier when he visited it as a young man.

Miss Baxter, Richard's secretary at the bank, is completely in love with him. At times, Richard knows this and tends to keep a safe distance away from her, and at other times he is oblivious to her harmless advances. He wants to stay loyal to his wife. He does, however, like Miss Baxter as a friend and sees her as a very efficient worker. When Ron visited Richard in his office, he commented that Richard had a 'fatal fascination over women', referring to Miss Baxter. Richard seemed quite pleased. Miss Baxter tells Richard that his signature is 'most impressive', but concludes that 'somehow it doesn't matter that you can't read it'. Richard is mildly offended by this.