The episodes themselves focus on the lives of the camp's entertainers and staff, who frequently greet campers with the titular phrase "Hi-de-Hi!

The Yellowcoats are led by Ted Bovis, the camp host, and consist of three different groups of entertainers: the young, who see the job as a lucky break into showbusiness; the middle-aged, who are realistic about their prospects but still cling to the hope that they can still achieve fame; and the veterans, the oldest members of staff who see their job as a step down from former stardom glories.

The sitcom notably focused on a common theme in stories surrounding the erosion of class boundaries during the post-war period and attitudes of staff towards each other – a recurring element in stories is chalet maid Peggy Ollerenshaw's desire to be a Yellowcoat and the dislike Yellowcoat Sports Organiser Gladys Pugh has towards this idea.

relied on BBC studios for interior scenes for the entertainment staff building and interior chalet rooms, but much of the exterior scenes for Maplins were shot at Warners' former holiday camp that operated within the town of Dovercourt near Harwich, Essex; the site is now a housing estate after the camp was closed in 1990.

It was short-lived, however, when some of the cast complained that filming the TV series and doing the summer show limited their offers of acting jobs elsewhere.

In March 2010 the show was revived for a six-month national tour produced by Bruce James Productions Limited and written by Paul Carpenter and Ian Gower, adapting scenes and storylines from episodes of the television series including A Night Not To Remember and Maplin Intercontinental.

The tour also starred Peter Amory as Jeffrey Fairbrother, Abigail Finley as Peggy Ollerenshaw, Rebecca Bainbridge as Gladys Pugh, Damian Williams as Ted Bovis, Ben Roddy as Spike Dixon, Richard Colson as William Partridge, Andrew Fettes as Fred Quilley, Kate Burrell as Sylvia Garnsey, Lauren Harrison as Betty Whistler and Carrie Laurence as Tracey Bentwood.

The script lacks many of the camp entertainment scenes, including the musical numbers, whilst adding a subplot featuring Ted's ex-wife from the episode Trouble and Strife.

A stage play for amateur production by Paul Carpenter and Ian Gower was originally available from Samuel French Ltd of London[6] but now licensed in the UK by Concord Theatricals.

was one of the first BBC shows to capitalise on the merchandise market, with products such as board games, albums, books, toys and T-shirts available to buy.

Several principal cast members were reunited in another period piece by the same writers called You Rang, M'Lord?, which piloted in 1988, and ran for four series to 1993, and again in Oh, Doctor Beeching!