Grace & Favour

I've been a long time fan of AYBS and have recently been watching Grace and Favour on one of my PBS stations. It was wonderful to see the cast again, and the addition of the beautiful and talented Fleur Bennett. Her accent and charm really made this show that much better. I recently bought the DVD and watch it often, mostly selecting the scenes where Mavis interacts with Mr. Humphries and the other cast. Chavenage House, where the show was filmed, was a much better setting than the old department store, and I plan to visit next fall and have a good look around. I wish they would've continued the series.

Joe

I thoroughly enjoyed the original series, "Are You Being Served?", but I LOVED the re-union series commented on here. It's good to see the old gang from Grace Brother's Department Store in such fine fettle (retired now, of course). The show is funny, charming, and in many ways superior to the original. The added cast members are marvelous and memorable. The new setting, a country inn (run for profit by our inexperienced cast)is far removed from their familiar city life and provides a greater range of backdrops for their mis-adventures. And, as always, the double entendre and mis-use of language are expertly used.

A thoroughly enjoyable show and I am "UNANIMOUS" in that!!!!!

PS--I dare you not to be charmed completely by Fleur Bennett's character Mavis. She's a scene stealer... (so's her dad)...

Only joking, I m not that old :) I loved the original, but this was also a great show. I wish they did more episodes. Sigh.

Id class myself as a die hard fan of Are you being served, knowing every episode pretty much word for word, and I suppose for this reason I pretty much steered clear of Grace and Favour, but how wrong was I, it's an absolutely brilliant series, you get a true sense of the warmth shared amongst the actors, both new and old. The characters set off exactly where they left off in AYBS, great to see that the usual frustrations were still there, Captain Peacock forced to take orders from Me Rumbold, Mrs Slocombe still the butt of the jokes. Of the new characters i think Mavis was my favourite, so adorable and funny. Every single episode is hilarious, I particularly liked the one with the cat in the roof, the haunted house concept really suited the setting of this comedy. A huge amount of character development was done for Mrs Slocombe, we learn lots about the character's past and Mollie added a tonne of physical humour. I know many of us which just one more series had been made of our favourite show, but this definitely had more legs. A forgotten gem, and I am unanimous in that! 9/10

It's true that it's not the same as the original, and I also wish that Trevor Banister had joined, (it would have been great to see him as a hen pecked husband, kind of to make up for his being such a "ladies man") but it was still a great show. It's too bad they didn't continue. I would have loved to see Mr. Humpfries bop Malcom in the hooter! I loved how they showed Mrs. Slocomb's "humble beginnings." Corpral Pompus looked like a bit of a dirty old man, but it was in the name of comedy. And Mr. Rumbold was just as irritating as in the original. Did anyone else notice that some of the guest stars were in the original. Mr. Slocomb was the store detective in Big Brother. Malcom's dad was one of the robbers. Can't remember the name of that episode.