Is the most watched comedy programme on any television channel in the UK in recent years, averaging audiences of nearly 6 million viewers per episode.
Stephanie Cole, who plays Mrs Featherstone, has frequently played characters much older than herself throughout her career, and was only 40 when she took the role of the pensioner in the original Open All Hours series. By the time Still Open All Hours began in 2013, Cole was 72 and had "caught up" with the age of the character, despite nearly 30 years having supposedly passed in the show's in-universe timeline.
On Wednesday, 2nd May 2018 the BBC confirmed that it had commissioned a 6-episode fifth series of the show for 2018. This sequel show has now surpassed both the number of series and number of episodes of the much-loved original show.
Gastric usually is the first customer of the day, arriving shortly after the store opens.