Sir David Jason will return as Granville for a 90‑minute television special titled Open All Hours: Inside Out, the digital channel U&Gold has announced. The episode, framed as part of a season celebrating classic sitcoms, will include a short scene written by the show’s original creator, Roy Clarke.
The special is billed as a look at what has happened to Granville since viewers last saw him and will be broadcast ahead of the sitcom’s 50th anniversary next year. Jason, 85, said: "It's so good to be back! I played Granville for over half my life and so this show holds a very special place in my heart. There are countless memories and stories about this show, and I am thrilled to be able to share those with everyone."
U&Gold’s senior commissioning editor, Mark Iddon, described Open All Hours as "one of those rare beasts that even after 50 years is still as timeless and relevant as ever." He said the channel could not wait for audiences to see what it had planned as part of the nostalgia strand.
Open All Hours first appeared as a BBC pilot in 1973 before being commissioned for a full run. The sitcom ultimately produced four full series and 26 episodes; it remains well known through repeats and streaming. Ronnie Barker starred as the penny‑pinching shopkeeper Albert Arkwright, with Jason appearing in every episode as his nephew and assistant, Granville. Clarke, who created Open All Hours, is also the writer behind Keeping Up Appearances and Last of the Summer Wine.
The character returned to television in a 2013 revival, Still Open All Hours, in which Granville took over the shop. That series ran intermittently for six years before being cancelled in 2019. Open All Hours: Inside Out is described as a one‑off special rather than a new series and will feature Jason in a filmed scene penned by Clarke, alongside retrospective material and contributions tied to the U&Gold season.
The announcement follows renewed attention to archival episodes after some Open All Hours installments on the ITVX streaming service were given content warnings. Several episodes on the platform are accompanied by messages noting they "contain language and sex references which may offend some viewers" or "contain racial humour and language of the time that may offend." Media outlets have pointed to moments in older episodes — including innuendo‑laden plotlines and character descriptions — as examples of material that prompted the advisories.
U&Gold has positioned the special within a wider programming effort to revisit and contextualise longstanding British sitcoms for contemporary audiences. The channel has not yet released a transmission date for Open All Hours: Inside Out or detailed any additional contributors or archival participants slated to appear. Roy Clarke, whose writing helped define the original show’s tone, wrote the short scene featuring Jason; a production and broadcast timetable is expected to be confirmed by the network in the coming weeks.