Are You Being Served?

Are You Being Served is the best British comedy can give us. I don't understand why some people are offended by this series! It's all in good fun. The follow up Grace & Favour was great too. It's a shame they only made ten series (from 1973/1985). AYBS? will rank as one of the best sit-coms ever.

I left England in 1968 so I missed watching this live as it were but it is still hilarious. Here in Alberta we can watch it 5 times a week on P.B.S. or on Y.T.V. in Canada at 1 a.m. I find it so amusing, the characterizations are faultless the dialogue is matchless the situations are believable even if sometimes outrageous.

But above all it is a very gentle comedy, in the best traditions of English comedy, nobody gets hurt, reputations are never ruined, it is never malicious or small-minded.

I watch it every chance I get because it is funny without forcing the humour.

I love this show so very much! Ever since I first had the honour of viewing this show for the first time, I have loved it. I have seen each episode more times then I can remember, and yet still every night I watch them again. I have grown to know ALL the characters personally, and feel like I am a part of what feels very much like real life at Grace Brother's Department Store. What the characters said, and everything that happened, I know as a very pleasant dream. Dive into the joy of the working staff of this wonderful series, and you will not want to leave. Listen, and you can almost hear the wonderful Mr. Humpries's saying "I'm Free!"

On another note, I must just give a huge thank you to everybody was ever involved in Are You Being Served?, and Are You Being Served, Again?. Because of this show, I grew to love many other wonderful BritComs (British comedies). Thank you to all cast members, crew, the very men who brought the show to TV, extras, etc. To those who have passed on, rest in peace brothers and sisters. You may have departed this world, but I for one will never forget you, and the wonderful contributions you made. To the fictional staff of Grace Bros., thank you for allowing us a just a peek into you lives. I just wish I did not have to leave. Thanks all, your work is remembered certainly by me, and millions of fans past, present and definately future. Grace Bros. will continue to be open, as long as someone keeps watching and remembers.

This series ran from 1972 to 1985, but as British series typically only do six or seven episodes in a season, there are only sixty-nine episodes in all.

The series focuses on the relationship between the staff of the ladies' department and the gentlemen's department in a mid-priced department store in London. Also involved in the humor and bickering are the floorwalker, the department manager, and the owner of the store. There were several cast changes, but most of the crew stayed on through the entire run.

As Frank Thornton (Captain Peacock, the floorwalker) points out in interviews, this show is appealing because it's about shops. Everybody knows what goes on in a shop. We see the bickering for display space, the outrageous lies told to clinch a sale, and the petty squabbles as management institutes ridiculous rules.

The one flaw to the series is that continuity stank. The departments in question bounced from floor to floor over the years, not because they were moved, but because the writers forgot where they were supposed to be!

A blessing to fans of the series is the new DVD collection which includes 34 episodes from the first five seasons. There were four Christmas episodes that are rarely shown on television, and two are in the time frame of this set. Also included is "Top Hat and Tails," which had been "lost" for twenty-five years. Once you see it, you'll understand why someone "lost" it until just recently (there's a scene that was surely considered inappropriate at the time).

This series has its down moments, but every episode brings laughs and joy. The quick wit and hilarious physical comedy remain timeless, even as the clothes seem more dated and the political references get stale.

I have seen every episode in this show at least 10 or more times for sure. So let me tell you the sets are by today's standards cardboard like the, props sort of dated.

BUT that said you would be a fool to let that stop you from seeing this awesome example of Double Entendre! taken to the highest comedic extremes. No other show is so packed with things that on the surface suggest daily life that one who has an active mind easily finds a more gutter snipe meaning to what was said.

A perfect example follows where Mrs. Slocumbe was talking to a truck driver on the road via CB radio from the Grace Brothers store. Mrs. Slocumbe an avid feline lover and, owner has a cat named tiddles. She is constantly on the hunt for a man like a British Sadie Hawkins this guy was a hot prospect seeing he too sounded keen on her. Mrs. Slocumbe regales the truck driver with all her home spun skills and loves... you hear the truck driver obviously in the midst of driving his big rig as Mrs. Slocumbe begins telling the truck driver of her pussy <cat> and how it wins a prize every time she shows it. You hear the wheels lock and, screech as dude looses control of his rig and, the connection is broken. Not to mention she was dressed as a punk rocker in a rainbow Amazon woman outfit when talking to the man.

Whey was she in the punk rocker garb well. Well this just a hint of the funny things you will find on this show... You just have to get the videos DVD's whatever's available but one thing for sure you will never ever be sorry you did.