'Allo 'Allo!

For the 2005 song by Ilona, see Allô, Allô.

'Allo 'Allo!
'Allo 'Allo! intertitle of 'Puddings Can Go Off'
Format	Sitcom
Created by	Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft
Written by	Jeremy Lloyd David Croft (1982–1989) Paul Adam (1991–1992)
Directed by	David Croft Robin Carr Martin Dennis Susan Belbin Richard Boden Mike Stephens Sue Longstaff John B. Hobbs
Starring	Gorden Kaye Carmen Silvera Guy Siner Kim Hartman Richard Marner Sam Kelly Vicki Michelle Kirsten Cooke Francesca Gonshaw Kenneth Connor Sue Hodge Richard Gibson John Louis Mansi Rose Hill Arthur Bostrom Jack Haig Hilary Minster David Janson
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	9
No. of episodes	85 (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	David Croft Mike Stephens John B. Hobbs
Running time	26x25mins, 55x30mins 1x35mins, 3x45mins
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC1
Original run	30 December 1982 (1982-12-30) – 14 December 1992 (1992-12-14)

'Allo 'Allo! is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC One from 1982 to 1992 comprising eighty-five episodes. The story is set up in a small town café in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. It is a parody of another BBC programme, the wartime drama Secret Army. 'Allo, 'Allo! was created by David Croft, who also wrote the theme music, and Jeremy Lloyd. Lloyd and Croft wrote the first six seasons. The remaining seasons were written by Lloyd and Paul Adam. In 2004, 'Allo 'Allo came 13th in Britain's Best Sitcom. A reunion special, comprising new material, archive clips and specially recorded interviews, was broadcast on 28 April 2007 on BBC Two.

Main plot

Set during World War II 'Allo 'Allo! tells the story of René Artois, a French café owner in the town of Nouvion, during the early 1940s. Germans have occupied the town and stolen all of its valuable artefacts. These include a painting of the Vase with the Twelve Sunflowers by Van Gogh (known to those who have seen it as the The Cracked Vase with the big Daisies) and a painting of The Fallen Madonna by Van Klomp (known to those who have seen it as The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies). The five local commandants, Colonel Kurt Von Strohm, Lieutenant Hubert Gruber, General Erich Von Klinkerhoffen, Captain Alberto Bertorelli and Captain Hans Geering have decided to keep them for themselves after the war and force René to hide the paintings in his café. Hitler also wants the paintings, and sends Herr Otto Flick of the Gestapo to the town to find them. Flick, in turn, conspires to keep them. The paintings are duplicated by a forger, get mixed up, lost, found and are put in knackwurst sausages, and hidden in the cellar of Cafe Rene.

At the same time, the café is being used as a safe house for two brave but clueless British airmen, Fairfax and Carstairs. René is forced to work with the Resistance, led by Michelle Dubois, who threaten to shoot him for serving Germans in his café. The far-fetched plans of the Resistance to get the airmen back to England repeatedly fail. These are some of the main running gags of the series. As part of these plans, the Resistance have placed a radio in the bedroom of René's mother-in-law, Madame Fanny La Fan, as this is the only room nobody goes into unless they have to. This secret communication device between London and the resistance (codename "Nighthawk") is hidden under the bed, and incoming messages are signalled by triggering the light bulbs concealed in the bed-knobs, leading the elderly mother-in-law to cry "Ze flashing knobs!". René answers with "'Allo, 'allo, zis is Night'awk, are you receiving me?", hence the title of the show ("allô" is the normal French way of greeting someone over a remote communication system). The Resistance is also helped by Officer Crabtree, a British spy posing as a policeman sent to France because he can speak French. However, he does not speak it well, resulting in frequent malapropisms. For example, whenever he says "Good morning", it comes out as "Good moaning".

René is also trying to keep his affairs with his waitresses secret from his wife, Edith (who regularly sings in the café, despite being an appallingly bad singer, which she does not realise). In addition, the Communist Resistance is plotting against René for serving Germans and for working with the Gaullist Resistance. Ironically, the Communist Resistance only blow things up for money. The only reason they do not shoot René is that their leader is in love with him, a fact he has to hide from both his wife and the waitresses, Yvette Carte-Blanche, Maria Recamier and Mimi Labonq. Furthermore, the seemingly gay German Lieutenant Gruber is also continually flirting with René and finding him in embarrassing situations. These situations are made even more humorous by the fact that René is not exactly the best-looking man in France, is hardly a hero, and is often forced by his wife to do missions and secret operations. One memorable situation was when Edith pointed a gun at René to stop him from running away to hide with his cousin (when interrupted by the five German officers, he said that his wife was proposing to him).

Earlier on in the show, Rene was arrested and shot by a German firing squad for blowing up a railway line, but the German officers put in the firing squad's rifles, dummy/wooden bullets. Although Rene survives, he has to spend the rest of the show posing as his twin brother. Rene's will stipulates that the cafe is Edith's and in order to get Cafe Rene back, or "his fingers back in his own till", as he puts it, Rene tries to convince Edith to marry him again. Meanwhile Edith is wooed by Captain Bertorelli and Monsieur Alfonse, the undertaker who is torn between his love for Edith and his admiration for Rene, who he considers to be a true hero of France.

These few plot devices provide the basic storyline throughout the entire series, on which are hung classic farce set-ups, physical comedy and visual gags, amusingly ridiculous fake accents, a large amount of sexual innuendo, and a fast-paced running string of broad cultural clichés. Each episode builds on previous ones, requiring viewers to follow the series in order to fully understand the plot. A typical episode revolved around a far fetched plot to repatriate the British airmen unintentionally becoming intertwined with either the Gestapo’s attempt to recover the missing paintings, the German officers’ corrupt schemes, or some other unexpected twist which ends up cancelling out the effectiveness of each other's plan, often landing the characters in an even worse situation than they started. At the start of each subsequent episode, René summarises the plot to date for the audience; a gag based on the "As you remember..." device commonly used in serials. In re-runs some local TV stations have shuffled the episodes, making these plot synopses useful.

Characters

1988 cast photo

The characters in the series are fairly one-dimensional, as most have a catchphrase, gimmick, or saying, which became easily recognisable throughout the series.

Main characters

• René Artois (Gorden Kaye) – The local café proprietor, whilst trying to remain impartial, has been dragged into the war by both sides. The Germans are threatening to shoot him if he does not secretly hide stolen valuable paintings; the Resistance is using his café as a safe-house for shot-down British airmen. On top of that, he is trying to keep his passionate love affairs with the café serving girls secret from his wife. When caught in the arms of another woman, René invariably responds with the phrase "You stupid woman! Can you not see that..." followed by a convoluted explanation, which Edith always believes, leading to an apology from her. René does not care much for his mother-in-law, often referring to her as a "silly old bat!" Each episode starts with scenery, costumes or props from the end of the previous episode, and (usually) René opens each episode with a monologue to the camera starting "You may be wondering why..." and proceeding to describe the situation he finds himself in, and to summarise the previous episode.
• Edith Melba Artois (née La Fan) (Carmen Silvera) – René's wife, and the café's resident cabaret performer. However, her singing is so bad and tuneless (as René was heard once to comment "my wife, who cannot carry a tune in a bucket...") that locals stick cheese in their ears to block out the noise. Whilst René refers to her as stupid, she is also the subject of much romantic wooing by the local undertaker Monsieur Alfonse and the Italian Captain Alberto Bertorelli. Whenever she finds René embracing one of the waitresses, she always asks "René! What are you doing 'olding that servant girl in your arms?" However, on one occasion in a later series, Edith asks Yvette the waitress to explain the situation instead.
• Madame Fanny La Fan (Rose Hill) – Edith's mother. She lives in the attic of the café, which is also where the British airmen and the Resistance's radio (complete with "Ze flashing knobs") are hidden. When she wants attention she bangs her walking stick on the floor, and cries out "Will nobody 'ear the cries of a poor old woman?" She is partial to a glass of gin, and occasionally fills in for her daughter as part of the café cabaret, although her singing is just as bad (if not worse). She also hates the Gestapo, as evidenced by saying "The Gestapo, I spit on zem", which she then actually does.
• Yvette Carte-Blanche (Vicki Michelle) – A waitress at the café. She is in love with René, and wants to elope with him to Geneva in Switzerland, but is unable because René has to stay loyal to his wife. She is also responsible for 'entertaining' the German officers, upstairs at the café with wet celery and a flying helmet, and sometimes with an egg whisk. In her intimate moments with René, she throws her arms around him and rumbles an elongated, deep growl of "Ooooooh, René." Often clinched in the kitchen, "I was just 'anging up ze knockwurst when I remembered all ze 'appy times we 'ad in 'ere."
• Maria Recamier (Francesca Gonshaw) (series 1 to 3) – Another waitress, who is also in love with René. She has no idea that Rene loves Yvette, and also believes that Rene should run away with her. She is short statured and many of the jokes play on her small size. "May I get you something... that is not on a high shelf?" When she speaks she has the tendency to spit when she gargles her "r"s. She gets "lost in the post" in the episode 'Camp Dance'.
• Mimi Labonq (Sue Hodge) (series 4 to 9) – The replacement waitress for Maria, she is also short statured. She is a member of the Resistance who has a bloodthirsty hate of the Germans, with a secret mission to kill the "German swines", often after wooing them – her address on her card was "straight up the stairs first on the left past the linen cupboard". She also has a bit of a fancy for René.
  • It is heavily hinted that the waitresses supplement their income by prostitution with the Germans, and Yvette frequently entices Colonel Von Strohm with the promise of using "the flying helmet and the wet celery". How these are used is never made clear.
• Michelle "of the Resistance" Dubois (Kirsten Cooke) – Leader of the local "French Charles de Gaulle (the one with the big 'ooter) Resistance", she is responsible for devising elaborate plans to help British airmen escape, and to blow up German ammunition trains and lorries. Whenever she concocts a plan, she gathers everyone around and issues her instruction, "Listen very carefully, I shall say 'zis only once!", followed by the vital information. Whenever her plans are thwarted by someone's stupidity, she rebukes that person, "You fool!" She pretends to fall in love with René, but only to stop him leaving the Resistance. Michelle is also the only French character in the series who speaks English (see Languages below).
• Monsieur Roger LeClerc (Jack Haig) (series 1 to 5) – The Resistance's forger, 'master' of disguises (all of them unconvincing), and café piano player. He is responsible for delivering to the cafe various goods such as batteries, bombs, and radio equipment. This is undertaken by LeClerc in a variety of disguises, ranging from an onion seller to a lost mountain hiker. On delivery LeClerc always says, "It is I, LeClerc" accompanied by a raising of his glasses, presumably to reveal his identity. He seemed to think he was good at disguise even though he was always instantly recognisable (René once remarked: "Ze man of a thousand faces, every one ze same!") He is also the childhood sweetheart of Madame Fanny, who often popped up out of her bed whenever Fanny said "Ze flashing knobs!", only to be pushed back down. He is an escaped convict.
• Monsieur Ernest LeClerc (Derek Royle (series 6), Robin Parkinson (series 7 to 9)) – This character was introduced after the sudden death of Jack Haig (the actor who played Roger LeClerc), as his brother. He had many of the same characteristics, and was also the childhood sweetheart of Madame Fanny. The character switch was explained by claiming that Roger had tried to get his brother out of prison, but ended up taking his place. When Royle died after only one series, the series' producers chose to replace him this time with a different actor playing the same character.
• Monsieur Alfonse (Kenneth Connor) – "Alfonse, undertaker, swiftly and with style." He is in love with Madame Edith, often wooing her with flowers and the prospect of living above the mortuary. He has a serious heart condition, causing his "dicky ticker" to go into overdrive when he glimpses the women's underclothing. He often helps the resistance. When he heard that René was to remarry Madame Edith he challenged him to a duel, which Rene eventually escapes from disguised as a woman. René was thereafter proclaimed by Alfonse as the Hero of the Resistance – "The bravest transvestite in all France". Alfonse was later to have remarried them himself, in his capacity as Deputy Mayor, only to faint due to his "dicky ticker". He had set up a tunnel from his mortuary to the British POW camp to smuggle in the airmen. Funds for the Resistance were borrowed from him but forged by LeClerc on their return, unfortunately leading him to feel generous and spend it on a party at the café.
• Major-General Erich Von Klinkerhoffen (Hilary Minster) – A ruthless commander. He always threatens to have French peasants shot when the resistance attacks the Germans. He occupies a rather grand chateau, where he is wooed by the serving girls as part of a Resistance mission to steal the knackwurst. He is later implicated in a plot to blow up Hitler. This was a conversation misheard by the Gestapo of a plan for a birthday party, with Hitler's painting at the head of the table, and the "blowing-up" was actually the sound of bursting cases of balloons.
• Colonel Kurt Von Strohm (Richard Marner) – The corrupt German town commandant. He is kept occupied by hiding valuable local paintings and antiques, which he intends to sell after the war. He frequently visits the cafe, where the waitresses provide him with much entertainment. He always gets René to do his dirty work, threatening him with the line "Othervise I vill have you shot!" Hans – "He vould, he did it before!" Overweight, bumbling and greedy, the Colonel often promises René a cut of the profits but was quick to take them away. "Ve are vinning ze var. I am a German officer and I can shoot anyone I like!"
• Lieutenant Hubert Gruber (Guy Siner) – A German officer on leave from the Russian front, with a crush on René. He is also responsible for forging certain pieces of art. He has the effeminate manner of a stereotypical homosexual, and a "little tank" (which we later find out to be called Hubert Jr.), driven by the unseen Clarence. Gruber was in charge of the firing squad that shot Rene (unbeknownst to Gruber, with blanks) and feels terribly guilty about the incident. He takes over for Captain Hans as the Colonel's assistant after the captain is captured by the British.
• Captain Hans Geering (Sam Kelly) (series 1 to 4, series 7) – Original assistant to Colonel Von Strohm, he is lenient for a German officer (e.g. he is not shocked to discover that his uniform is being made by a Jewish tailor). He frequently visits the café. He is mistaken for a British Airman in 'Camp Dance' and sent to England. He returns briefly in one episode of series 7, having accidentally become a trusted member of British intelligence. He is astonished to discover that his friends Rene and Edith are actually the mysterious 'Nighthawk', but happy in his new life. He was noted for his odd pronunciation of 'colonel'. It usually sounded like "Colon-Nell". Whenever the Germans have to salute the Führer, Geering often heralded him by saying "-tler!" instead of the full salute, which when said incredibly fast sounded like 'clop' (it was humorous because with a whole group of Nazis, there were several 'Heil Hitlers' followed in the background by a 'clop'). In a 2007 BBC special, Kelly said about his character "Hans was just too lazy to say the whole sentence". However, he does actually say the full "Heil Hitler" but with an exaggerated emphasis on the "-tler!" Rumours that the actor refused to give the regular salute are false. Indeed, in the second series episode "Herr Flick's Revenge" and the third series episodes "Flight of Fancy", "Pretty Maids All in a Row" and "The Great Un-Escape", the Hans Geering character gave the full "Heil Hitler" salute. Kelly also went on to play Hitler himself in Stalag Luft in 1993.
• Captain Alberto Bertorelli (Gavin Richards series 4 to 6, Roger Kitter, series 7) – An Italian who has come to the local town as Benito Mussolini has joined the war. He has an eye for the ladies and is known as a womaniser, often using the phrase "Da Beautiful-a Liedee I kiss-a de 'and-a". When saluting the Führer, Bertorelli instead says "Heil-a Mussolini", and when things go wrong he always says "What a mistake-a to make-a!" His Italian troops are unprofessional and always run away. In greeting, he kisses everybody except Gruber whom he knows about and so shakes his hand. Famously asked about his medals: "The first row are for service in Abyssinia. The second row are for service in North Africa". The last row? "They are for servicing Fiats!" Later he put on a big feast for Madam Edith and was seen to put some of the olive oil on his hair.
• Herr Otto Flick (Richard Gibson series 1 to 8, David Janson series 9) – The local Gestapo officer who tries to show as little emotion as possible. He was dressed in a long leather double-breasted coat over a pinstriped suit, with a wide-brimmed leather hat, leather gloves and octagonal steel-rimmed glasses. He fancies the equally blonde Helga Geerhart, whom he plans to marry after the war. He is the godson of Heinrich Himmler. He has a considerably exaggerated limp, and frequently used the word 'Gestapo' as an adjective: "My powerful Gestapo binoculars", "My Gestapo staff car", etc. In one episode he answers the phone by announcing himself as "Flick, the Gestapo"; after a short period he is forced to explain to the caller that he said 'Flick, the Gestapo' and not 'Fick (German for "fuck") the Gestapo'. Herr Flick often hits von Smallhausen on the head with his cane, saying "Wrong!" When Flick wants Helga to kiss him he will say in a stern manner "You may kiss me!" In the episode "Pigeon Post" it is revealed that he has the same taste in undergarments as Helga. Inviting Helga to the Gestapo dance, he explained their song: "You put your left boot in! You take your left boot out! You do a lot of shouting and you shake your fists about! You light a little smokie and you burn down ze town! Zat's vot it's all about! Ahh...Himmler, Himmler, Himmler...". The change of actors in the final series was explained as Flick having had plastic surgery to avoid capture by approaching Allied forces.
• Private Helga Geerhart (Kim Hartman) – The Colonel's secretary, and lover of Herr Flick. She is well built, and known for a tendency to take off her clothes for tenuous reasons, showcasing a vast range of erotic lingerie. This could be seen as a parody of Jane, a British comic strip character popular during World War II, who was always losing her clothes and constantly being captured or found in lingerie. She says, "When he's like this I always find it's best to strip off and ask questions later". When inquiring how they are going to be together after the war, he says: "I will take you for long walks on a short lead". Helga's attempts to seduce Herr Flick usually have no effect. Typically these include a particularly vigorous kiss. When announcing visitors to the Colonel's office, Helga always yells at the top of her voice, for example, "GENERAL ERICH VON KLINKERHOFFEN!" and "GO A-VAY!" Helga was a Lance Corporal for several episodes.
• Herr Engelbert Von Smallhausen (John Louis Mansi) (series 2 to 9) – Herr Flick's assistant. Dressed exactly like Herr Flick but only half as tall. He also copies his exaggerated limp. He often suggests stupid plans and ideas, only for them to be put down by Herr Flick. He once delivered an out-of-date ransom note from the Resistance saying "It vas tied around a brick and thrown at my head – I have only just regained consciousness!" He once turned up at Herr Flick's dungeon banging on the door without success. The door then exploded and he entered over the wreckage to say apologetically "I lost my key!" He is often sent on spying missions or to eavesdrop on the radio, but he likes listening to Tommy Handley. When once hypnotised he revealed that his real name is Bobby Cedric Von Smallhausen.
• Officer (Captain) Crabtree (Arthur Bostrom) (series 2 to 9) – A British spy posing as a French police officer. Unfortunately, he has a terrible grasp of French which means that sometimes he is quite incomprehensible, most famously in his usual greeting: "Good moaning!" Despite this, the Germans never seem to suspect him. To quote a notable example: "I was pissing by the door when I heard two shats. You are holding in your hind a smoking goon. You are clearly the guilty potty!" Another, during an air raid, is: "They have had a direct hot on the pimps!" "The pimps?" "The pimps! The pimps in the pimping station! No water is being pimped through the poops!" To repair the airmen's air balloon: "You must get your hands on girl's knockers. At least farty, maybe fifty." And: "I am mauving in a ginger fashion becerrs my poloceman's pints are full of dinamote!" He then unbuttoned his flies and slowly pulled out several large knockwurst in front of the watching café. After Crabtree was introduced in the series, Yvette frequently announced him as "That idiot British Officer who thinks he can speak French". He says, "I admit my Fronch cod be butter." Another example came when Officer Crabtree mistook Captain Alberto Bertorelli for a German officer, addressing him with a raised hand and: "Hole Hotler!" (as taken from script) instead of "Heil Hitler!" When Captain Bertorelli pointed out he was actually an Italian, Officer Crabtree responded with: "Hael Missuloni!" instead of "Hail Mussolini!"
• RAF Flight Lieutenants Fairfax and Carstairs (John D. Collins and Nicholas Frankau) (series 1–7, series 9) – Two British airmen trying to get back to the United Kingdom, their plane having been shot down. Emerging from where they are hiding, they say "Hello!" with an exaggerated English accent. When talking to one another, Fairfax or Carstairs always starts with the words "I say Fairfax/Carstairs...". On discovery of the tunnel to the POW camp, all the cafe staff were trapped there including the Resistance and the hostage German officers, who then all had to adopt exaggerated RP accents as POWs, with large moustaches and flying helmets. On inspection by the German camp guards, they stood to attention saying clichés like "Toodle pip! Good Show! Bang on! Old fruit!" Humour is also derived from the French not being able to understand what the British airmen are saying, and vice-versa, when in the show the conversations are all in English.

Recurring characters

• General Leopold von Flockenstuffen (Ken Morley) (series 5–7) – A German general, whose sexuality is similar to that of Gruber. At one point he has to take over command of the district when Von Klinkerhoffen is considered to have gone completely mad.
• Denise Laroque (Moira Foot) (series 5) – Original leader of the Communist Resistance and childhood sweetheart of René.
• Louise (Carole Ashby) (series 5–9) – Later leader of the Communist resistance, she is also in love with René.
• Henriette (Phoebe Scholfield) (series 1–2 & 5–6) – Michelle's assistant in the resistance. Often appeared alongside Michelle during attempts to save the British airmen.
• Corporal Caponi (John Banks) (series 5–6) – Captain Bertorelli's second-in-command, of the Italian troops stationed in Nuvion.
• Doctor LeCount (David Rowlands)(series 8–9) – The local doctor in Nouvion.
• Clarence – Lt. Gruber's tankdriver. Drives Gruber's little tank quite often for him, but is never actually seen in the flesh. Gruber often gives him orders to drive the tank, and is sometimes mentioned by him while in Rene's cafe.
• The Fallen Madonna (With The Big Boobies) by Van Klomp – A valuable portrait whose location and genuineness is a key concern to other characters, the original changing hands regularly as well as various fake copies. Other antiques (such as a painting referred to as The Cracked Vase With The Big Daisies by Van Gogh, essentially one of the Sunflower paintings) occasionally crop up, but The Fallen Madonna regularly recurs throughout all of the series, often hidden in sausages or other guises. No one ever knew who had the original. Once Herr Flick managed to get hold of three copies and commented "I have three paintings with six big boobies!"

The late Lord Bath was a big fan of 'Allo 'Allo!, and in 1992 created an exhibition in his ancestral home Longleat. In return the BBC made a copy of the painting of the Fallen Madonna, which may still be seen today.

Character table

Key

• A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in that Series.
• (a) indicates that the character returned in a one episode cameo.
• The table shows only characters written in with new scenes, not appearances in archive footage.

Character	Character Nationality	Pilot and Series 1 (1982 and 1984)	Series 2 and Christmas Special 1 (1985)	Series 3 (1986–1987)	Series 4 (1987)	Series 5 (1988–1989)	Series 6 (1989)	Series 7 (1991)	Christmas special 2 and Series 8 (1991 and 1992)	Series 9 (1992)	The Best of 'Allo 'Allo! (1994)	The Return of 'Allo 'Allo! (2007)
Rene Artois	French	Gorden Kaye
Edith Melba Artois		Carmen Silvera
Yvette Carte-Blanche		Vicki Michelle										Vicki Michelle
Maria Recamier		Francesca Gonshaw
Mimi Labonq					Sue Hodge							Sue Hodge
Michelle "of the Resistance" Dubois		Kirsten Cooke										Kirsten Cooke
Monsieur Roger LeClerc		Jack Haig
Monsieur Ernest LeClerc							Derek Royle	Robin Parkinson				Robin Parkinson
Monsieur Alfonse		Kenneth Connor
Madame Fanny La Fan		Rose Hill
Major-General Erich Von Klinkerhoffen	German	Hilary Minster
Colonel Kurt Von Strohm		Richard Marner
Lieutenant Hubert Gruber		Guy Siner										Guy Siner
Captain Hans Geering		Sam Kelly						(a)Sam Kelly
Herr Otto Flick		Richard Gibson								David Janson
Herr Engelbert Von Smallhausen			John Louis Mansi
Private Helga Geerhart		Kim Hartman
Captain Alberto Bertorelli	Italian				Gavin Richards			Roger Kitter
Officer (Captain) Crabtree	British		Arthur Bostrom									Arthur Bostrom
RAF Flight Lieutenant Fairfax		John D. Collins								(a)John D. Collins		John D. Collins
RAF Flight Lieutenant Carstairs		Nicholas Frankau								(a)Nicholas Frankau		Nicholas Frankau

Languages

With four different languages (French, German, Italian, and English) spoken by the characters, representing this to the audience could have been tricky. The programme uses the device of representing each language with English spoken in a theatrical foreign accent.

For example, an exchange between French-speaking characters, conducted in English with a French accent, is totally incomprehensible to the English airmen until Michelle (the only French character who speaks English) switches to Bertie Wooster-esque "top hole, old chap" style banter in an upper-class English accent. The English undercover officer Crabtree, in the permanent disguise of a French-speaking gendarme, speaks abominable French. His mangling of French vowels is represented by similarly distorted English, most famously his customary greeting catchphrase of "good moaning"; many of his distortions come out as innuendoes, such as "I was pissing by the door, and I thought I would drip in". The Germans, generally, speak English in a more guttural way than the French. Bertorelli, the Italian captain, speaks English in a nasal tone, generally adding an "-a" at the end of certain words; for instance in his catchphrase, "What a mistake-a to make-a!". Other examples included "We drop-a the bolls", "I kiss-a your hand-a". Curiously, in spite of the difficulties in communicating with the English characters, the French, Germans, and Italians all appear to understand each other's languages perfectly, the implication apparently being that they all share a common language (probably French or German) which they use when talking to one another, but one in which their own accents remain evident.

When one particular plan calls for Herr Flick and Von Smallhausen to impersonate English Airmen, a phonographic record is used by these German characters to learn the 'nuances' of English. This essentially consists of the non-word sounds suitably voiced with the signature 'upper-class English accent' employed in the programme. Within the scope of the on-screen action, it is a surprisingly effective masquerade.

In one episode, René is actually forced to speak German (not to be confused with an earlier episode in which he infiltrates the Gestapo headquarters). He achieves this by simply speaking as he normally would, but noticeably more high-pitched, which may be a gag concerning the way the Germans talk.

The last few series introduced a new gag, where Colonel Von Strohm and Lieutenant Gruber are put in situations where they have to speak in a strange manner. In one episode the two try to learn Spanish, which is basically "German" with high-pitched voices and mangled consonants. In another they are forced to wear "suicide teeth" – large bulky dentures containing poison – making them garble their speech to avoid releasing the poison. In yet another, Von Strohm and Gruber are posing as Frenchmen, and are forced to speak French. This comes out as another set of non-words sounding like "Woffel woffel, woffel woffel". A further episode features a Swedish art dealer inspecting The Fallen Madonna, who pronounces "Heil Hitler!" as "Oil Jesus!"

Episodes

Main article: List of 'Allo 'Allo! episodes

After the Pilot aired in December 1982, a full-length first series of seven episodes was subsequently commissioned and aired from September 1984 onwards. Series two, three and four followed annually, comprising six episodes each.

Series five was commissioned with a view to syndicating the show in America. As a result, it aired as a single long series of twenty-six episodes between September 1988 and February 1989. The attempts to air the show in America failed (although the series later became popular on PBS), and so series six had only eight episodes commissioned, which aired from September 1989 onwards.

On 25 January 1990, Gorden Kaye suffered serious head injuries in a car crash brought on by gale-force winds. This delayed the start of the seventh series, which consisted of ten episodes airing from January 1991 onwards. Series 8 (7 episodes) followed in January 1992, and the ninth and final series of six episodes aired later that year from September onwards.

Two Christmas specials were also made. The first was a 45-minute episode, which followed Series 2 in 1985, and the second was also a 45-minute episode, screened at Christmas 1991, preceding Series 8.

In 1994, two years after the series ended, the BBC broadcast The Best of 'Allo 'Allo!, a compilation of clips from the series, linked by new scenes featuring Gorden Kaye and Carmen Silvera, in which René and Edith reminisce about the events of the war.

On 22 March 2007, a one-off special episode entitled The Return of 'Allo 'Allo! was filmed in Manchester, and was broadcast on 28 April 2007 at 9 pm on BBC 2. The storyline involves René writing his memoirs after the war, and the events from the final episode in 1992 have been overlooked. The new scenes were interspersed with clips from the original series and new interviews. The actors who reprised their roles were: Gorden Kaye, Vicki Michelle, Sue Hodge, Kirsten Cooke, Arthur Bostrom, Guy Siner, Robin Parkinson, John D. Collins and Nicholas Frankau. In addition, Richard Gibson and Sam Kelly are interviewed, although they are not reprising their respective roles. Jeremy Lloyd wrote the new material.

On 8 March 2008 the BBC announced that German channel ProSiebenSat1 had bought the screening rights for all nine series, which are to be overdubbed into German.

In France, the series was broadcast from 3 July 1989, dubbed into French, in the lunchtime free-to-air window of the pay-TV channel Canal+.

In Britain, BBC1 still repeats the series, but as a 'schedule filler' on Sunday afternoons. However episodes are run in an apparently random order which can be confusing due to the serial nature of the programme. It is regularly shown on UKTV channel GOLD in series order.

End credits

At the end of the each show, the end credits begin with a short vignette shot of each of the main characters with the actor's name displayed below. The shots are not actual clips from the episode but are usually re-enactments of a specific shot or action for each character from that episode. Being an ensemble show, the actor credits are given in the order of their first spoken line for that particular episode. Because every episode begins with René recapping the plot to camera thus far, Gorden Kaye is always first (even if he is not the first seen on screen, such as the start of episode 26 "The Sausages in the Trousers" where Mimi and Edith are first seen, but René has the first line). Gorden Kaye was credited first in all but one of the episodes, where he was credited second behind Carmen Silvera.

Cultural references

The show's premise was not to make fun of the war but to spoof war-based film and TV dramas, and in particular a BBC1 drama Secret Army, which ran from 1977 to 1979 and dealt with the activities of Belgian "escape line" that returned allied pilots to Britain, working from a Brussels cafe and later restaurant. Very many of the elements and characters are directly taken from Secret Army, such as the cafe owner having an affair in the restaurant under the nose of his wife, a bed-ridden woman in a room above who knocks on the floor for attention, a pianist who is also the forger, and the enmity between Gestapo and the German military. Many storylines for 'Allo 'Allo also derive directly from episodes of Secret Army, such as the valuable paintings and the accompanying forgeries, which in an episode from the second series of Secret Army both the Germans and the Resistance are seeking to obtain. Some actors from Secret Army also appear in 'Allo 'Allo!: Richard Marner, Guy Siner, John D. Collins, Hilary Minster and David Beckett. Inspiration was also drawn from patriotic black-and-white British melodramas of the 1940s.

The French village setting is reminiscent of 1972's Clochemerle whilst Rene's intermediary role between the Germans and the Resistance reflects a comic version of Rick from Casablanca (as well as directly matching the proprietor of the café in Secret Army).

Two of the BBC's earlier wartime-based comedies – Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum – were also written by David Croft in partnership with Jimmy Perry. Several actors from 'Allo 'Allo! also appeared in these series: Carmen Silvera, Rose Hill, Jack Haig, Joy Allen, Michael Stainton, Robert Aldous, John Leeson, John D. Collins and Robin Parkinson in Dad's Army, and Robin Parkinson, Gorden Kaye, John D. Collins, Iain Rattray and Eric Dodson in It Ain't Half Hot Mum.

The Shelburne Escape and Evasion Line (Operation Bonaparte) of World War II (Comet Line) has some similarities to this series. More than 300 airmen and agents escaped through this line.

Music

Having a café cabaret in the plot, music was often performed on the show. This usually took place with Madame Edith singing, and either Lt. Gruber or LeClerc at the piano. Occasionally, Gruber sang and played piano at the same time. Characters could also be seen whistling or humming tunes at certain points.

Theme tune

David Croft and Roy Moore composed the theme tune performed at the start and end of each episode. It features a French-style melody performed on an accordion. The title is London Calling, but according to Guy Siner the first lyrics are:

'Allo 'Allo, we meet again,
And just as before...

Then, we hear the rest of the lyrics as a part of a cabaret in episode 3 of the first series:

We loved, we parted as fate had arranged;
Now there you stand and nothing has changed.
And so it goes, the same refrain, the final encore,
You are my love, my only love,
Once more!

Other music

The café cabaret music usually took the form of 1930s film and show tunes – reminiscent of the way period songs were also used in Secret Army.

Most popular was "Louise" from the film Innocents in Paris (1953), which featured a number of times and was even sung in the "broken-French" language of Crabtree, who pronounced the title "Loo-woes". Gruber sang a number such as "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" from Show Boat or "(I Got a Woman Crazy for Me) She's Funny That Way" by Neil Monet and Richard A. Whiting. He gazed at René in a slightly lustful manner, replacing lyrics such as "woman" and "she" with "boy" and "he". He caused a particular sensation with his straight version of Noël Coward's "Mad About the Boy".

Naturally the "La Marseillaise" and the German National Anthem "Deutschlandlied" featured from time to time, for example where several French peasants sang La Marsellaise to celebrate the expected bombing of the Germans, but the singers flawlessly and without hesitation switch to Das Lied der Deutschen when the Germans come past. Helga also sometimes stripped to a rather raunchy version of the latter tune.

Captain Bertorelli could be seen singing "'O Sole Mio (It's Now or Never)"; and the British airmen in a prisoner of war camp could be seen singing "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball".

In 1986, Gorden Kaye and Vicki Michelle released a version of the hit song Je t′aime... moi non plus. The characters of Yvette and René could be heard talking and canoodling in a comic manner whilst the familiar musical Je t′aime melody played in the background. The song got to number fifty-seven in the UK Singles Chart.

Stage show

The show gave rise to a successful touring stage-show featuring most of the TV cast. This ran from 1986 to 1992 and included three London stage runs as well as international tours.

In January 1990 Gorden Kaye suffered serious head injuries in a car accident. As a result his understudy, John Larson, played the part in a London Palladium production. Kaye still has a dent in his forehead from a piece of wood that smashed through the car window. He wanted to end the television show after his accident, but was convinced by Jeremy Lloyd to continue. In Australia Gorden Kaye's part was played by Australian comedian/impressionist Max Gillies (later, Gorden Kaye repaid the favour when he took over Max Gillies' role in another play in Australia, when Max Gillies was unable to take part).

The show was last performed for a summer season at Bournemouth's Pier Theatre in 1996.

In 2007 Gorden Kaye, Sue Hodge and Guy Siner reprised their roles in a production of the stage show in Brisbane, Australia. They were joined by Steven Tandy as Colonel Von Strohm and Jason Gann as Herr Flick.

A new touring show, based on the 1992 tour written by Croft and Perry, opened at the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage, Hertfordshire on 29 August 2008 before going on a national tour in 2009. Vicki Michelle is reprising her role as Yvette Carte-Blanche. The Cast also included Jeffrey Holland playing Rene Artois and his Wife Judy Buxton playing Michelle. Other cast members included Robin Sebastian as Gruber, James Rossman as Herr Flick, Nell Jerram as Private Helga Geerhart and Claire Andreadis as Mimi Labonq.

The theatrical version is also frequently performed by amateur theatre companies in the UK and elsewhere.

DVD releases

Australian and New Zealand releases

In Australia, Roadshow Entertainment, under licence from the BBC began releasing the series on DVD in 2006, on a semi-annual basis. To date, all series have been released on DVD with only "The Return of 'Allo 'Allo!" TV special remaining.

DVD name	Release date	Comments
'Allo 'Allo! – Series 1 & 2	7 June 2006	3 disc set
'Allo 'Allo! – Series 3 & 4	7 September 2006	3 disc set, includes Christmas special 1
'Allo 'Allo! – Series 5	9 February 2007	4 disc set
'Allo 'Allo! – Series 6	7 November 2007	2 disc set
'Allo 'Allo! – Series 7	2 April 2008	2 disc set
'Allo 'Allo! – Series 8	6 August 2008	2 disc set, includes Christmas special 2
'Allo 'Allo! – Series 9	5 March 2009	2 disc set, includes The Best of 'Allo 'Allo!
'Allo 'Allo! – The Complete Collection	6 August 2009	18 disc box set
'Allo 'Allo! – Series 1–4	5 August 2010	6 disc set

UK releases

Universal Playback, under licence from the BBC, began releasing the series on DVD in 2002. In the UK six box sets with series 1–9 have been released, as well as a complete box set.

The UK releases have episode titles superimposed over the openings of the episodes (series 1–4). The American releases have no on-screen episode titles, reflecting the way that the shows were originally transmitted.

DVD name	Release date
'Allo 'Allo! – Series 1 & 2	8 August 2002
'Allo 'Allo! – Series 3 & 4	16 February 2004
'Allo 'Allo! – Series 5 Volume 1	23 October 2006
'Allo 'Allo! – Series 5 Volume 2	26 December 2006
'Allo 'Allo! – Series 6 & 7	18 August 2008
'Allo 'Allo! – Series 8 & 9	26 December 2008
'Allo 'Allo! – The Complete Collection	2 November 2009

North American releases

In January 2004, BBC Worldwide began releasing the show themselves onto DVD in North America, beginning with Series 1. The releases have continued on a somewhat irregular basis (approximately twice-yearly).

DVD Name	Release dates
'Allo 'Allo!: The Complete Series One	2004-01-20 (2 discs)
'Allo 'Allo!: The Complete Series Two	2005-03-15 (2 discs; includes Christmas special 1)
'Allo 'Allo!: The Complete Series Three	2005-08-16 (2 discs)
'Allo 'Allo!: The Complete Series Four	2006-01-24
'Allo 'Allo!: The Complete Series Five Part Un	2006-07-25 (2 discs)
'Allo 'Allo!: The Complete Series Five Part Deux	2006-07-25 (2 discs)
'Allo 'Allo!: The Complete Series Six	2007-01-16 (2 discs)
'Allo 'Allo!: The Complete Series Seven	2008-01-15 (2 discs)
'Allo 'Allo!: The Complete Series Eight	2008-05-06 (2 discs; includes Christmas special 2)
'Allo 'Allo!: The Complete Series Nine	2008-10-07 (2 discs; includes the Best of)
'Allo 'Allo!: The Best of (1994)	2008-10-07
'Allo 'Allo!: The Return of (2007)	TBA

• Note: The Best of 'Allo 'Allo! is included as an extra on the series nine DVDs.

See also

• Are You Being Served?
• Comet Line
• Keeping Up Appearances

External links

• 'Allo 'Allo! at BBC Programmes
• 'Allo 'Allo! at BBC Online Comedy Guide
• 'Allo 'Allo! at TV.com
• 'Allo 'Allo! at the Internet Movie Database
• 'Allo 'Allo! at the British Comedy Guide