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Harwich Museum: Hi-de-Hi! fans display memorabilia for first time

BBC Tony TarranBBC
Tony Tarran and his wife Joanne have been collecting Hi-de-Hi! memorabilia for more than a decade

A couple who have been collecting memorabilia related to the BBC comedy Hi-de-Hi! for years have put it on display for the first time in a new museum in the town where it was filmed.

The 1980s TV show was filmed at a holiday camp near Harwich, Essex.

A display featuring the iconic yellow coats, as worn by Su Pollard and Paul Shane, forms part of Harwich Museum.

Tony Tarran, who has loaned the items to the museum, said it was "brilliant" to be able to put them on show.

Together with his wife Joanne, he has collected the memorabilia over the past 15 years and it had previously been stored in their spare room.

Shane, better know for wearing a check suit, donned a yellow coat in the 1982 episode Stripes.

The couple, who are also involved in the Dad's Army Appreciation Society, said they told Hi-de-Hi! writers, the late David Croft and Jimmy Perry, they would put it on display "one day".

"It's been an ambition of ours for a long time but up until now there has been nowhere to do it," said Mr Tarran.

Michael Healy The Hi-de-Hi! display at Harwich MuseumMichael Healy
The Hi-de-Hi! display includes a board game, merchandise and books
Michael Healy The Hi-de-Hi! display at Harwich MuseumMichael Healy
An authentic yellow coat worn by Su Pollard features in the display

Mr Tarran, who was 16 when the show was being filmed in his hometown, said he was a "huge fan" of the programme, set at a holiday camp in the late-1950s.

"For us locally, it's two things, it's great British comedy but also it's local, it's the holiday camp and you can watch it and appreciate the locations," he said.

Other items on show include a board game, scripts and books.

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Hi-de-Hi!
Hi-de-Hi! - which won a Bafta in 1984 for Best Comedy Series - was based on writer Jimmy Perry's experience as a Redcoat at Butlins in the 1950s
Harwich Museum
In real life, the holiday camp hosted kindertransport children who had fled the Nazis to Britain

The Hi-de-Hi! display is part of an exhibition showcasing the history of the Warners holiday camp at Dovercourt that hosted thousands of kindertransport children who fled the Nazis to Britain and was transformed into a military base during World War Two.

It is one of many displays in the new museum dedicated to the history of Harwich, Dovercourt and surrounding villages.

David Whittle, curator of Harwich Museum
Harwich Museum curator David Whittle said creating the volunteer-run attraction had been "challenging but rewarding"

The museum has been created by volunteers who have worked on the project over 14 months.

Other displays include Harwich's history during both world wars, the town's annual Guy Carnival and the town's link to the Mayflower, the pilgrim ship that sailed from the UK to the shores of America in 1620.

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