Are You Being Served?

Are You Being Served? focuses on the lives of the staff of the fictional department store Grace Brothers, who work within the clothing departments for men and women respectively, alongside their senior staff, maintenance workers and the store's owner. The sitcom focused on the staff dealing with various issues such as frictions between each other, ideas to improve sales, and the effects of local events that impacted the store's running. A key humorous base of the series was a parody of the British class system, which permeated a range of relationships and interactions between the show's characters, such as conversations between the maintenance men and sales personnel or management. The episodes rarely featured locations outside the store, mostly being focused on the shop floor used by the two departments, and the staff-only areas. Characters also rarely addressed each other by their first names, even after work, instead using their surnames in the manner of "Mr", "Miss", or "Mrs".

The sitcom featured humour based on sexual innuendo, misunderstanding, mistaken identity, farce, and occasional slapstick. In addition, there were sight gags generated by outrageous costumes which the characters were sometimes required to wear for store promotions, and gaudy store displays sometimes featuring malfunctioning robotic mannequins. The show is remembered for its prolific use of double entendres. Alongside the comedy, some episodes also conducted specialised dance routines which were choreographed either to be natural or sometimes comedic in effect.

The idea for the show came from Lloyd's brief period in the early 1950s working at Simpsons of Piccadilly, a clothing store which traded for over 60 years until its closing in 1999.^[3] The inspiration for the store has also been credited to the former Clements of Watford where the concept of the floor walker character Captain Peacock was devised.^[4]

 

The pilot episode was created as part of the Comedy Playhouse series, although the BBC had originally chosen not to broadcast the programme. The pilot was used as a filler during the 1972 Summer Olympics when the coverage of the games was interrupted by the Munich massacre on 8 September 1972, leading to a full series being produced.^[5] The pilot episode was repeated before the first series began, on 14 March 1973. Although the first series was aired in the same timeslot as Coronation Street on ITV, consequently receiving relatively little attention, the repeats shown later in the year were much more successful.^[6]

The show became a ratings hit and, after a successful 13-year run, Are You Being Served? came to an end on 1 April 1985.

Of the original cast, only Frank Thornton, Mollie Sugden, John Inman, Wendy Richard and Nicholas Smith appeared in all 69 episodes. The same five later featured in the sequel sitcom, Grace & Favour (also known as Are You Being Served? Again!). The cast performed in character for a stage sketch on the BBC1 programme Variety on 19 June 1976.

Although the pilot was produced in colour, the videotape was wiped in the 1970s, leaving only a 16mm black-and-white film telerecording, which was made for international syndication to countries where colour television broadcasts had not been adopted.^[7] In 2009, the pilot episode was restored to colour using the colour recovery technique previously used for the Dad's Army episode "Room at the Bottom". The restored colour version was first shown on BBC2 on 1 January 2010 as part of a special Are You Being Served? night. As of 2024, the colour version has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray.

 

"Are You Being Served?" theme

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The theme tune, written by the show's co-writer David Croft and composer Ronnie Hazlehurst, consists of an imaginary lift girl, voiced by Stephanie Gathercole, also Mr Rumbold's first secretary, (r.n. Reeve), (1944-2011), announcing each floor over the musique concrète sounds of a cash register and a simple musical accompaniment.

The 1977 Are You Being Served? film has a different version of the theme tune which is longer, in a different key and without the floor announcements. A remix of the theme was released in 1996 by a dance act calling itself "Grace Brothers",^[8] and featured vocal samples of John Inman and Frank Thornton.

There is an homage to the theme tune in the Ladytron song "Paco!" from the album 604, and New Zealand band Minuit's "I hate guns". A lugubrious version of the theme tune is featured on the album The Ape of Naples by the experimental music group Coil. The theme tune has also been covered by Australian band Regurgitator on their 1999 album ...art. Pop singer Jamelia's song "Window Shopping" (from her 2006 album Walk with Me) begins with a sample of the familiar cash register sound effect as well as Mrs Slocombe's voice inquiring, "Good morning, Mr Grainger; are you free?"

The song was also used in a 2016 Audi advertisement for their Quattro range.

Cast of Are You Being Served?

 

Original cast of 1972–75. (From left): Mollie Sugden, Wendy Richard, Trevor Bannister, Nicholas Smith, Larry Martyn, Arthur Brough, John Inman, and Frank Thornton.

 

Series 8 cast of 1981. (left to right): (top) Arthur English, Wendy Richard, Benny Lee, Mike Berry; (bottom) Nicholas Smith, Frank Thornton, Mollie Sugden, Vivienne Johnson, John Inman, Kenneth Waller, Louise Burton

• John Inman as Mr Wilberforce Claybourne Humphries: a camp-acting sales assistant in gents' clothing. Inman often portrayed the character as being implied to have a gay lifestyle,^[9] with Humphries often frequently using double entendres in episodes. During the first series, a senior BBC executive ordered David Croft to drop Inman's character from the sitcom after disliking the character's personality, prompting Croft to threaten to leave the BBC if he was forced to do so.^[10]
• Mollie Sugden as Mrs Betty Slocombe: a senior sales assistant and head of the ladies' department, often portrayed with a different hair colour in each episode. The sitcom frequently saw Sugden's character telling double entendre stories about her pet cat, often referring to it as "my pussy".^[11]
• Wendy Richard as Miss Shirley Brahms: a young, attractive, working-class, cockney-speaking junior sales assistant to Mrs Slocombe, who sometimes referred to her as "dead common".
• Frank Thornton as Captain Stephen Peacock: a haughty floorwalker who purportedly fought in the North Africa Campaign of World War II, although in one episode a wartime acquaintance reveals him to have been a NAAFI corporal. Croft designed the character to command respect and often act as leader during difficult times, with little backstory exploration.
• Arthur Brough as Mr Ernest Grainger (series 1–5): a 40-year veteran of Grace Brothers, a senior sales assistant and head of the gents' department. Croft devised the character as being somewhat dislikeful and displaying his age such as sleeping during opening hours. Brough made his final appearance as Grainger in the 1977 film, dying before filming began on the sixth series.
• Trevor Bannister as Mr James/Dick Lucas (series 1–7): a young, penniless, womanising junior salesman in the gents' department, often cheeky and mocking to the female staff in the ladies' department. Bannister maintained his role in the show until the end of the seventh series, before leaving to focus on his other commitments. In an interview held after the sitcom's conclusion, Wendy Richard claimed the sitcom was originally devised to be a platform for Bannister to secure his career on other television programmes.
• Nicholas Smith as Mr Cuthbert Rumbold: an autocratic, obsequious person, but an altogether bumbling and incompetent floor manager. He seemed to never understand explanations, but used his own confused interpretations to create comedy effect.
• Harold Bennett as "Young" Mr Grace (series 1–8): the elderly but stingy owner of Grace Bros, often portrayed with attractive young women and a running joke of him being respected despite being slightly too old for his position. Bennett died following the eighth series, prior to the broadcast of the 1981 Christmas special; his character was referenced in the first episode of the spinoff series Grace & Favour.
• Larry Martyn as Mr Mash (series 1–3): a working class stock and maintenance man at Grace Bros, often mistreated by Peacock due to rules regarding the presence of maintenance staff during opening hours. The character was designed to help portray some of the specially designed comedic display units that would feature in episodes. Martyn left the sitcom after the 1975 Christmas special, with his character written out of the programme.
• Doremy Vernon as Diana Yardswick (series 3–4, 6–10): manageress of the department store's staff canteen, often ill-tempered and sarcastic, and favours enforcement of strict social order for staff. The character was initially minor in appearance, but by the later series in the sitcom, was given more prominence in episodes.
• Arthur English as Mr Beverley Harman (series 4–10): a working class stock and maintenance man at Grace Bros, who garners more friendly relations with the floor staff than Mr Mash. English's character was created after Martyn's character was written out of the series, with Harman becoming a staple in the sitcom through much of its broadcast.
• James Hayter as Mr Percival Tebbs (series 6) - A prominent salesman assigned to the men's department in order to replace Mr Grainger. The character was created following the death of Brough, but lasted only one series. Hayter left the series after the sixth series, when he was paid generously to do so by a snack manufacturer who wanted him to exclusively voice their television adverts.
• Alfie Bass as Mr Harry Goldberg (series 7) - A senior salesman, originally a junior, brought in to replace Mr Tebbs after retiring. Bass was brought in to replace Hayter after his departure, but dropped out of the programme following the conclusion of the seventh series.
• Mike Berry as Mr Bert Spooner (series 8–10): A junior sales assistant, mimicking similar traits to Mr Lucas. Berry was brought in to replace Bannister following his departure from the programme.
• Kenneth Waller as "Old" Mr Grace (series 8): "Young" Mr Grace's even-older brother, who took over the running of Grace Bros while his younger brother took a sabbatical to write his memoirs. Like Dad's Army's Clive Dunn, Waller was much younger than his character's age and so underwent makeup similar to Dunn to "age up". The actor was brought in to replace Bennett, who left the series after the first episode of Series 8 due to declining health. "Old" Mr. Grace wasn't received well by fans, so he was dropped in favour of bringing back "Young" Mr. Grace as an invisible character.
• Milo Sperber as Mr Grossman (series 8): An expert shoe salesman assigned to the shop floor between men's and ladies'. The character was brought in as a replacement for Mr. Goldberg, but Mr. Sperber dropped out after four episodes to take a lucrative movie role.
• Benny Lee as Mr Abraham Klein (series 8): A sales assistant assigned to the gents' department to help out with upcoming sales in the store. Like Sperber, Lee lasted only four episodes before writers dropped his character from the sitcom.
• Candy Davis as Miss Belfridge (series 9–10); Mr Rumbold's last and longest-running secretary, admired by the male staff on the shop floor.

Are You Being Served? was initially broadcast from 1973 to 1985. Each series had between five and nine episodes. Counting the pilot episode, all episodes and specials from the series, and the film, the show ran for sixty-nine episodes and ten series. Each episode was self-contained, with no continuing story or theme throughout the series.

In 1977, as for many other British sitcoms of the time, a feature film was released. The film version of Are You Being Served? followed the staff of Grace Brothers taking a package holiday together while the store is closed for redecoration, a loose adaptation of the play version from the year before. Set in the fictional resort of Costa Plonka, in Spain, the entire cast of the television series reprised their roles in the film.^[12] Reviews of the film were generally mixed, with the Monthly Film Bulletin reviewer John Pym declaring, "The humour consists mainly of withering selection of patent British puns; an inflatable brassiere, some let's-insult-the-Germans jokes and a rickey thunder-box which bolts from the outside are thrown in for good measure."^[13]

Buoyed by the huge success of the series in the United States, BBC America commissioned a special straight-to-VHS compilation in 1992. Running at 78 minutes, The Best of Are You Being Served featured newly shot scenes of Mr Humphries reminiscing with his elderly mother, Annie, about his time working at Grace Brothers. Both roles were played by John Inman. The additional sequences were filmed in America, when John Inman was in Phoenix, AZ to promote the show on the local PBS channel, and directed by Don Hopfer.

In 2016, a one-off revival episode was announced and filmed at dock10 studios. It was broadcast as part of BBC's Landmark Sitcom Season, a celebration of 60 years of television sitcoms.^[14] It was set in 1988 with the original characters, played by a new cast.^[15]

Former Only Fools and Horses actor John Challis portrayed Captain Peacock; former Coronation Street actors Sherrie Hewson and Roy Barraclough were cast as Mrs Slocombe and Mr Grainger respectively, and comedian Arthur Smith as Mr Harman. Mr Humphries was portrayed by Jason Watkins, Miss Brahms by Niky Wardley, and Mr Rumbold by Justin Edwards.^[16][17] New characters introduced in the show included Young Mr Grace's grandson, also called Young Mr Grace, played by Mathew Horne; Miss Croft, named as a tribute to series co-creator David Croft, played by Jorgie Porter; and newcomer Mr Conway, played by Kayode Ewumi. The episode was written by Derren Litten. The BBC issued a press release saying: "It's 1988 and Young Mr Grace is determined to drag Grace Brothers into, well 1988, but he has a problem on his hands. Mr Humphries, Captain Peacock, Mr Rumbold and Mrs Slocombe all seem to be stuck in another era. A new member of staff, Mr Conway, joins the team but will he help shake things up or will he just put a pussy amongst the pigeons?"^[14]

The episode was aired in August 2016 to universally poor reviews for both the writing and the acting.^[18][19] No further episodes were commissioned.

Almost immediately after the cancellation of Are You Being Served? in 1985, the cast began suggesting a spin-off to Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft. Though all felt the department store format was exhausted, it was suggested the characters could be moved to a new location. In 1992, most of the original cast reunited for Grace & Favour (known as Are You Being Served Again! in the United States and Canada). The new series followed the characters after Young Mr Grace's death, when they are forced to run a hotel in a dilapidated manor house that was purchased using their pension fund. Grace & Favour ran for two series.^[20]

In the summer of 1976, a stage adaptation of Are You Being Served? ran at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Directed by Robert Redfarn. John Inman, Mollie Sugden, Frank Thornton, Wendy Richard, and Nicholas Smith reprised their characters from the television show while the characters of Mr Lucas, Mr Grainger, and Mr Mash were recast. The play had basically the same plot as the film version which would debut the next year, though Young Mr Grace's role was omitted entirely and Mr Mash had less to do than Mr Harman in the film. Reviews for the play were mixed; a writer for the Blackpool Diarist of the Stage declared it the funniest show he had seen in thirty years, while Michael Leapman from The Times declared the play to be worthless except for the final line, though he admitted he had never seen the television show.^[21] The play has occasionally been run at other theatres since.

In 1979, Garry Marshall, in the midst of success producing and directing Happy Days and its spin-offs, produced a pilot for an American version of Are You Being Served?, Beane's of Boston, remaking the episode, "German Week" for the television pilot.

At the time, Americanised versions of British series, including Three's Company, All in the Family, and Sanford and Son were doing well in the ratings, and Marshall hoped to capitalise on this with his script for the production.

Most of the characters were substantially similar to those of the UK version, with slight name changes in some instances. The one significant difference was that the Rumbold character was replaced by "Franklin Beane" (George O'Hanlon, Jr.), the young nephew of the proprietor who has recently been put in charge of the department.

Jeremy Lloyd's Laugh-In partner, Alan Sues, was cast as Mr Humphries, a decision Lloyd regretted, saying Sues had been miscast.

Other cast included future Magnum, P.I. star John Hillerman as Mr Peacock, Charlotte Rae as Mrs Slocombe, Lorna Patterson as Miss Brahms, Tom Poston as Mr. Beane (the Mr. Grace equivalent), Larry Bishop as Mr. Lucas, Morgan Farley as Mr. Grainger, and Don Bexley as Mr. Johnson (the Mash/Harman role).

Ultimately, CBS passed on Beane's of Boston and a full series was not produced.^[22]

An Australian adaptation, also called Are You Being Served?, ran for two series and sixteen episodes from 1980 to 1981 on Network Ten. It starred John Inman as Mr Humphries, who travels to Australia on loan from Grace Brothers to work for the Grace brothers' cousin, Mr Bone at his department store, Bone Brothers. The name Grace Brothers being the name of an actual department store chain founded in Sydney in 1885. Renamed versions of characters from the original series rounded out the cast including June Bronhill as Mrs Crawford, a copy of Mrs Slocombe, and Reg Gillam as Captain Wagstaff, a copy of Captain Peacock. Jeremy Lloyd adapted episodes for the show from his own scripts from the British Are You Being Served, drawing from the then-new episodes of the seventh series for series one of the Australian version, and a selection of older episodes for series two. Lloyd would later say he hated the process of adapting the episodes, which were mostly left intact with the exception of some topical jokes, which were changed or deleted.^[23]

The TROS, the Dutch broadcaster that showed AYBS? in the Netherlands, invited over the key faces of the original cast twice to reprise their characters on Dutch television (albeit not for a full, half-hour episode). First in 1976, Dutch comedian André van Duin entered a shop and ran into Mr Humphries, Miss Brahms and Mrs Slocombe.^[24] A different special was made 1994, on the occasion of the 30 years jubilee of the TROS. This time, the search was for a replacement for Mrs Slocombe, with Mollie Sugden, John Inman, Frank Thornton, Wendy Richard, and Trevor Bannister all reprising their roles.^[25] In 1985 John Inman also assisted in character as co-presenter for a quiz.^[26]

The series gained much of its popularity with TV viewers by "pushing the envelope" through its deliberate-yet-subtle use of risqué visual gags, innuendo-infused dialogue and cleverly-disguised sophomoric humour. These comical devices also attracted some mild criticism, in part for relying on sexual stereotypes and double entendres – e.g., Mrs Slocombe discussing her cat (always referred to as her pussy): "Animals are very psychic; the least sign of danger and my pussy's hair stands on end."

John Inman's portrayal of Humphries' over-the-top antics and sharp-tongued, witty responses, along with his trademark catch-phrase "I'm free!", were enthusiastically embraced by many audience members, and the character evolved into a gay icon in popular culture. Despite this, Inman pointed out that Mr Humphries' true sexual orientation was never explicitly stated in the series, and David Croft said in an interview that the character was not homosexual, but "just a mother's boy".^[9] In an episode of the spin-off Grace & Favour, the character is further described as neither a "woman's man" nor a "man's man" and as being "in limbo".

The series was shown in the United States on PBS stations and on BBC America, as well as in many Commonwealth nations around the world. PBS first began airing it (on 24 stations) in 1987, and viewership steadily climbed as more stations carried it. By the early 1990s, it had gained such a loyal following that American viewers of the show formed fan clubs and were in large attendance wherever cast members made guest appearances.

Are You Being Served? aired in Canada in prime time on Global Television Network in the mid-1980s and late night on YTV. The show aired on Saturday evening prime time from the mid-1980s to late 1990s. It was also available to Canadian viewers from most border PBS stations in the United States.

The series was successfully screened in Australia. It began on ABC Television in 1974 and was repeated by ABC in Australia several times.^[27] By 1978, the rights to early episodes had been acquired by the commercial Seven Network who gained a larger audience than it had received on the ABC.^[28] Are You Being Served? was ranked as the top-rated show on Australian television for 1978, being watched by 2,255,000 people in five cities.^[29] New episodes were aired on ABC until 1984. After that, the last series was broadcast on the Seven Network.

The entire series was screened in New Zealand on TVNZ.

Seven early episodes were novelised for a book, written by Jeremy Lloyd, called Are You Being Served? – Camping in and other Fiascos. This was written in 1976, and republished in 1997 by KQED Books. The seven episodes featured are "Camping In", "Up Captain Peacock", "Wedding Bells", "His and Hers", "Coffee Morning", "The Hand of Fate" and "The Clock".

In 1995, KQED Books published Are You Being Served – The Inside Story by Adrian Rigelsford, Anthony Brown, and Geoff Tibbals, with a foreword by Jeremy Lloyd, and sub-titled: The Inside Story of Britain's Funniest – and Public Television's Favorite – Comedy Series. In 212 pages, the book's six chapters cover: The Cast of Characters, Behind the Scenes, The Episodes, The Spin-offs, Trivia Quiz, and Glossary. ISBN 0-912333-04-9.

In 1998, Are You Being Served? 25 Years, a guide to the series was published by Orion Media. It was written by Richard Webber with David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd. The book contains an introduction by the actress Joanna Lumley. The book is 176 pages.

In 1999, I'm Free! The Complete Are You Being Served?, a guide to the series, was published by Orion Books. It was written by Richard Webber, with contributions from David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd. This book as stated on Amazon is 176 pages. It also contains the introduction by Joanna Lumley, so it is probably a reprint of the 25th year anniversary book.

A board game was also produced in the 1970s. Players moved round a board resembling the shop floor to purchase one item from each of the four counters and leave the store, before their opponents and without going over budget.

All episodes exist in the BBC Archives. All ten series, as well as both series of Grace & Favour are now available on DVD in the UK (Region 2). The Are You Being Served? film was released in 2002. A colour-restored version of the original pilot episode has yet to be released commercially but is available in the US to stream on BritBox.

All ten series, as well as both series of Grace & Favour (in packaging titled Are You Being Served? Again!) and the film are available on DVD in Region 1 (North America).

All ten series, as well as both series of Grace & Favour and the film have been released in Australia (Region 4).

A DVD titled Are You Being Served? – Best of The Early Years and Are You Being Served? Christmas Specials have also been released.

• List of films based on British television series

• Rigelsford, Adrian; Brown, Anthony; Tibballs, Geoff (1995). Are You Being Served?: The Inside Story of Britain's Funniest-and Public Television's Favorite-Comedy Series. San Francisco: KQED Books. ISBN 0-912333-04-9.

 

Wikiquote has quotations related to Are You Being Served?.

• Are You Being Served? at BBC Online
• Are You Being Served? at BBC Online (Archived BBC Comedy page)
• Are You Being Served? at the British Film Institute
• Are You Being Served? at British Comedy Guide
• Are You Being Served? at the BFI's Screenonline
• Are You Being Served? at IMDb
• Are You Being Served? Virtual Video Vault
• Are You Being Served? Forever
• The Grace Brothers' Multimedia Department Archived 23 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine
• Are You Being Served? Central (Official site)