Are You Being Served? was a
British sitcom broadcast from
1972 to
1985. It was set in the men's and women's department at a large fictional
London store called Grace Brothers. The episodes rarely leave the department floor, and if they do they don't leave the store. The main characters included:
- Mr Humphries (Men's wear assistant, played by John Inman[?]), who is certainly not gay.
- Mrs Slocombe (Lady's wear senior assistant, Mollie Sugden[?]) who always seems to have trouble with her feline, and always seems to be changing the colour of her hair.
- Captain Peacock (floor-walker, Frank Thornton[?]), which is above the assistants.
- Miss Brahms (Lady's wear junior, Wendy Richard[?]), cheeky to Mrs Slocombe
- Mr Rumbold (manager of the floor, Nicholas Smith[?]), jug-eared
- Mr Lucas (1972-1979, Trevor Bannister[?]), Mr Spooner (1981-1985, Mike Berry[?]) (Men's wear junior)
- Mr Grainger (1972-1977, Arthur Brough[?]), Mr Tebbs (1978, James Hayter[?]), Mr Goldberg (1979, Alfie Bass), Mr Klein (1981, Benny Lee), Mr Grossman (1981, Milo Sperber) (Men's wear senior)
- Mr Mash (1972-1975, Larry Martyn[?]), Mr Harman (1976-1985, Arthur English[?]) (Maintenance)
- Young Mr Grace (1972-1981, Harold Bennett[?]), Old Mr Grace (1981, Kenneth Waller) (store owner) - both of which were old and neither were all that bossy to other members of staff-hence Young Mr Grace's catchphrase "You've all done very well!"
Are You Being Served? featured mostly obvious humour based on sexual innuendo[?], misunderstandings[?] and mistaken identity, as well as many costumes (usually in order to encourage business. Many jokes surprisingly also confronted the English class system-for example those directed to Mr Mash or Mr Harman. Characters traded-on such well-worn stereotypes[?] as the effeminate Mr Humphries who lived at home with his mother, the haughty floorwalker, and the snobbish and boistrous Mrs Slocombe. The series has become very popular in America on PBS. There have been several short-lived spin-offs including Grace & Favour (US: Are You Being Served? Again!), Are You Being Served? (in Australia), and Beanes of Boston (an American version that was never broadcast). In 1977, an Are You Being Served? movie was released using the same characters and cast.