A Welsh comedy classic: High Hopes

Hi everyone! I would like to tell you about this classic comedy that we in Wales have been lucky to be able to enjoy on our TV screens!

It's called High Hopes and is a surreal comedy set in the South Wales valleys. It follows the ups and downs of four people from the wrong side of the tracks as they form themselves into an unlikely but close-knit family group - Fagin, Mam, Hoffman and Charlie.

High Hopes was the longest running Welsh sitcom on television. People really loved it, they would make sure that after doing their work, having their dinner or playing about on a poker site that they would be in front of the TV in time for the show.

Written by Boyd Clack and Kirsten Jones, it tells the story of Richard "Fagin" Hepplewhite (Robert Blythe), an agoraphobic ex-criminal who launches an odd-job business in the Welsh valleys, after serving at Strangeways prison.
He lives with his Mam, and two teenage tearaways called Charlie and Hoffman (Ben Evans/Oliver Wood and Steven Meo). As his namesake does in the original Oliver Twist story, 'Fagin' takes the two lads under his wing and together they relentlessly forge new plans to make a pretty penny and cash-in at every opportunity.

High Hopes is set in the fictitious valleys town of Cwm Pen-ol ("Backside Valley") and revolves around working-class folk who have turned to petty crime to survive. Every week, they enter many scrapes, like stealing Tom Jones' first dickie-bow to finding a famous Welsh painting called Dafydd Ar y Twmp. High Hopes draws similarities from classic shows like Only Fools And Horses (director Gareth Gwenlan played his part in that show's history also), where Richard 'Fagin' Hepplewhite and his humble sidekicks go to every length to cheat the system and find their way out of the struggle that is indeed reality.

Some trivia: The series' theme tune is an instrumental version of the 1959 song High Hopes by Frank Sinatra, on a harp.

This was a very funny comedy. It run for 6 series plus a Christmas episode!

Why did it not get shown outside of Wales? You would swear that the BBC in London had something against us Welsh. Maybe one day other parts of the UK will see this classic Welsh comedy.

People talk about Mrs. Brown's Boys - yes it's funny but High Hopes is funnier, and I have watched both!

Hello welshdragon and welcome to the site.

I'm only vaguely familiar with the show's existence: as you say, it hasn't been broadcast outside of the Welsh regional channels (apart from the pilot, I understand). It is a pity that the series is not available on DVD.

There are many reasons why series from one part of the country are not shown in others. It could be to do with legal rights issues, subject matter, or other very regional issues.

Unfortunately, the BBC have to choose to draw a line somewhere; I suspect that they have to produce a certain percentage of programming that is not seen outside of the home region. In some cases shows may get on the wrong side of that balance line. After all, if everything was shown everywhere, then what would be the point in there being a BBC Wales or a BBC Scotland? I'm sure if that route was followed, there'd be far more complaints.

Guess what? I'm English, and I used to love watching High Hopes. I'm from Merseyside, outside Liverpool, so I used to pick up HTV. I haven't seen the show for a few years, but it was really funny, and was way better than Mrs Brown's Boys.

Hello! Aaron and catskillz, nice to meet you both on the forum.

Yes Aaron it is a pity that it's not available on DVD. I hope this happens in the near future. I think it's crazy that this wasn't shown across other parts of the UK. Maybe if you had Sky you would have picked it up on repeats on BBC Two Wales.

Like catskillz said, this was a very funny comedy programe, which starred the late Margaret John as Mam. Her television roles range from Z Cars to the Doctor Who episode [i]Fury From The Deep], plus Doris in Gavin & Stacey.

It had 6 series plus a Christmas special - it would not have had that if it didn't have a fan base and wasn't funny. You know the BBC!

To me it's like not being able to have seen Hancock's Half Hour because it was not shown in my part of Britain. Crazy! The BBC have on numerous occasions said, for High Hopes, that "although there are no current plans for a commercial release, they have registered the interest with the correct authorities at the BBC". So who knows.

I have this on DVD taped off the TV so I am lucky to be able to watch this and enjoy it over and over again!

Oh, so it was on BBC Two Wales, not HTV?

I used to get S4C as well. I remember I used to watch the football show Sgorio, to try and get a glimpse of Diego Maradona, when he played for Napoli in Italy, and later for Seville in Spain.

It was actually BBC One Wales, but let's not get bogged down with stuff like accuracy.

Funnily enough, I remember once asking a Welsh mate if he'd ever seen High Hopes, back in '03/'04, and he didn't have a clue what I was on about.

You'd be depressed at how many people have never heard of Fawlty Towers.

Quote: Aaron @ June 19 2011, 6:29 PM BST

It was actually BBC One Wales, but let's not get bogged down with stuff like accuracy.

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YES! The original pilot episode aired on April 1 1999 and the series followed three years later. The series started in 2002 on BBC One Wales to much acclaim, and in March 2007, filming began on its fifth series.

The sixth and final series, consisting of six episodes, was first shown on BBC One Wales weekly from Tuesday 11 November 2008. I should have made it clear there were repeats shown on BBC Two Wales of High Hopes.

You are right we shouldn't get bogged down with accuracy but it does help!

Quote: catskillz @ June 19 2011, 11:30 PM BST

Funnily enough, I remember once asking a Welsh mate if he'd ever seen High Hopes, back in '03/'04, and he didn't have a clue what I was on about.

View original

catskillz your friend didn't have a clue about the programme.
Not everyone will have seen the show over here. I'm sorry, it's your friend that's missed some of the best comedy TV in Wales!

This is the link I checked out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/highhopes/sites/content/

Looks familiar, but I grew up in Scotland.

All the best,
Cal

J had the pleasure of watching High Hopes being filmed Boyd Clack pushed partner who was in a w/chair to the set and greeted us for every episode, what a lovely man. Great cast very funny never forget those times.

I want to find a way to watch this show. Found some on youtube. I'm on a mission now!

If you find Series 1, let me know!