A POPULAR television sitcom was brought back to life in a themed weekend at the Harwich Museum.

Residents were taken on a trip down Hi-de-Hi lane to celebrate the much-loved series which was first aired in 1980.

Set in a holiday camp in the fictional Essex town of Crimpton-on-Sea, Hi-de-Hi follows the story of the camp’s staff at a time when the British holiday industry was already in decline.

Much of the filming took place at Warner’s Holiday Camp in Dovercourt, which was portrayed as the fictional holiday camp of Maplins.

Stunning memorabilia from the set now forms part of the Harwich Museum and attracts visitors from every corner of the country.

To celebrate the show, the museum hosted two special days for residents with star guests Jeff Holland, playing camp comic Spike Dixon and David Webb, who starred as Stanley Matthews, both attending.

Series fans were thrilled to have a meet and greet with the starts as well as a Q&A session.

David Whittle, who is Harwich Museum’s curator, added: “We actually visited the Electric Palace where one of the episodes was filmed.

“The cast sat down at the desk and signed autographs and I understand they were so pleased with the day they want to do come back and do it again.”

Throughout the day, visitors also had the chance to enjoy the museum’s Hi-de-Hi exhibition.

The display was put together thanks to residents Tony and Joanne Tarran, who collected memorabilia for more than 15 years and kindly loaned it to the museum.

David added: “There are yellow coats which are the original jackets that were actually used during the filming.

“And the motorcycle was used in one of the last episodes of Hi-de-Hi.”

Tony said: “The museum have welcomed us with open arms and we appreciate them finding home to all these sort of things.

“We had Hi-de-Hi’s greatest moments on the screen and then bloopers and outtakes.

“We had a documentary David Webb produced which has never been seen in its entirety.”

Visit harwichmuseum.com.