Are You Being Served?

I'm now 30 years of age and grew up watching Allo Allo, 2.4 Children, Only Fools and Horses, One foot in the Grave etc, all of which I have wonderful nostalgic feelings for. I've always felt Brits make the funniest sitcoms, maybe i have an inbuilt British humour. Only in the last 2 years i bought series one of this to see what all the fuss was about, without any shadow of a doubt this is the funniest sitcom ever, no matter what mood i'm in i can put one of these on and laugh out loud, to the people who moan that the jokes were repeated i'd like to remind them of how many years this ran for and just how successful it was and still is. The movie was horrible, why did they make it!! However the sitcom all the way through was hilarious, Mollie and John i think made the series but all the cast were wonderful, especially young Mr Grace. There was an innocence about the series hidden deep amongst all the double entendres. High points for me were from the episodes Camping in, Oh what a tangled web and Friends and Neighbours. Maybe the show dipped a bit at series 9, but series 10 was a class act.

I don't understand how anyone could bash this show. Yeah, there were a lot of sexual references in it, but it's not near as bad as some of the shows we see on TV these days. There are other Brit-coms like Monty Python that show actual nudity. AYBS does not. I could never get tired of this show. Frankly, I've been a fan of it for years and I hate that it's not currently on our local PBS station. Thankfully, I have taped episodes from when it did air so that if I feel like watching a real comedy, I can just pop in a videotape of AYBS and laugh away. This is an outstanding comedy and I highly recommend it for anyone who wants a good laugh. To all the people who have left nice comments about the show, all I can say to you is "You've all done very well."

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.

Are You Being Served is a fantastic example of British humor at its finest. Granted, with almost 30 years since the telecast of the first episode, some of the humor has become dated. However, the cast and script-writers took the concept of double entendre to a whole new level with the jokes in the show (the best one I think being about Mrs. Slocum's cat, if you get my drift!). The thing that makes the show stand the test of time is that they did not have to resort to outright obscenity and crudity to get the humor across. It requires a little bit of thought to follow some of the jokes, which while base, are veiled in "false propriety". It is something that I would have no problem letting my children watch because they would not get the jokes until they were old enough to understand and deal with the humor. What comedy today can we say the same about? The show also has the ability to pull you in, make you privy to the "secret jokes" and make you feel part of the club. You become bound up in the inside jokes and personalities, and can identify with the characters (within reason: who can understand the concept of Mrs. Slocum's changing hair-colors?!). Overall, it is a great series and well worth watching, even 27 years later!

ARE YOU BEING SERVED had a long run on British TV, from 1972 to 1985. This groundbreaking series paved the way for many other famous Brticoms. But this one was the first to feature a gay character and delighted audiences with its naughty and unending double entendres.

Set in a dismal department store, Grace Brothers, the basic plot revolves around the sales people in the ladies' and gents' departments, forced to share floor space. Of course there are other store employees and many hapless customers. This basic structure saw something like 69 episodes filmed over 13 years as well as many cast changes.

The series was first seen as a starring vehicle for the swinging bachelor, Mr. Lucas, played by Trevor Bannister. As the junior sales clerk in the men's department, Lucas was always short of money and anxious to get out of the store to chase "birds." But after a few episodes two other characters emerged from the pack as audience favorites.

The blowzy Mrs. Slocombe, played by Mollie Sugden, was a middle-aged woman with an ever-changing hair color. She could switch between Cockney and Posh accents in a heartbeat and was often the butt of Lucas' crude jokes. Mrs. Slocombe had an alarming habit of referring to her "pussy" but was always blithely unaware of how these stories were taken by others.

The character of Mr. Humphries, played by John Inman, embraced many gay stereotypes but at heart he was a sweet and non-threatening character. Like Mrs. Slocombe, he had his own set of double entendres, but he winkingly made it known he knew exactly what he was saying.

Other main characters included the pompous floorwalker, Captain Peacock, played by Frank Thornton; the busty sales girl Miss Brahms, played by Wendy Richard, the crusty senior sales clerk, Mr. Grainger, played by Arthur Brough, the dim manager, Mr. Rumbold, played by Nicholas Smith, and the ancient store owner, Young Mr. Grace, played by Harold Bennett.

There were also crude maintenance men, Mr. Mash, played by Larry Martyn, who was succeeded by Mr. Harman, played by Arthur English, and a series of busty-but-dumb secretaries.

After Bannister left the series and Brough passed away, there was a series of replacements for these characters but none were terribly successful. Pop star Mike Berry had a decent run as Mr. Spooner, "the junior," and a series of actors had turns replacing Brough as "the senior." Alfie Bass, James Hayter, Benny Lee, and Milo Sperber all had short runs.

Over all the years, however, the hearts of the series were Mollie Sugden and John Inman. Both were superb comic actors who were game for just about anything. Anything here meant outlandish costumes (Inman often in drag), musical numbers, dances, and knock-about slapstick comedy that was done live and apparently in front of an audience. Sugden was often asked to wear ridiculous costumes, ranging from rompers to lederhosen. Inman even appeared as his own mother.

The bottom line is that this series was silly but sweet. Its crude language and situations were easily forgiven because the actors were so damned good. Like a handful of other TV classics, ARE YOU BEING SERVED has never stopped running. This was a famous import for PBS) along with other Britcoms) and became a staple of that network.

The show was so popular, it spawned a 1977 movie in which the gang all go on holiday together. There was also a sequel series called GRAVE AND FAVOUR or ARE YOU BEING SERVED AGAIN? In which Sugden, Inman, Thornton, Richard, and Smith all retire to the country and run a hotel (owned by Grace Brothers) in exchange for free board.