RaspberryLucozade In the '70's, no sitcom was quite as daring as Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft's 'Are You Being Served?'. Bold, cheeky and lively, it featured a cast that were or would soon become some of Britain's most popular television stars.Set in the clothing department of Grace Brothers department store, the staff include cantankerous Mr. Grainger ( Arthur Borough ), gorgeous Miss. Brahms ( future 'Eastenders' star Wendy Richard ), camp Mr. Humphries ( John Inman ), hideous Mrs. Slocombe ( Mollie Sugden ), randy womaniser Mr. Lucas ( Trevor Bannister ) and toffee-nosed floorwalker Captain Peacock ( Frank Thornton ). In charge of these group of misfits is Mr. Rumbold ( Nicholas Smith ), whose rather large ears make him look not unlike Big Ears from 'Noddy'.The store is owned by Young Mr. Grace ( Harold Bennett ), a dirty old man who looks as though he has died but doesn't realise it. One of his nurses was played by buxom Vivienne Johnson, with whom I was madly in love with.The plots, such as they were, centred on the store embarking on some new sales campaign or other. The scripts were laden with smut and double entendre. Perhaps the most memorable recurring gag is Mrs. Slocombe's references to her 'pussy' ( no, not that kind ). Mr. Humphries' ''I'm free!'' catchphrase also caught the public's imagination. Like 'On The Buses', there was no new ground broken here but all in all it was an entertaining and well-written series brought to life by a wonderful cast.Appearing later in the series were James Hayter, Alfie Bass, Mike Berry and Candy Davis. The gorgeous Joanna Lumley, then married to Jeremy Lloyd, appeared in two episodes.A feature film was made in 1977 in which the staff of Grace Bros went to Spain but it met with an unremarkable box office performance. It also came under fire by the 'alternative comedy brigade' in the '80's ( Rik Mayall openly slated it in an episode of 'Filthy, Rich & Catflap' ). Overall though it still enjoys a loyal following from viewers today, thanks to repeats on UK Gold.In the early '90's, Lloyd and Croft followed up 'Are You Being Served?' with 'Grace & Favour' ( entitled 'Are You Being Served Again?' in America ), which reunited the cast save for Trevor Bannister. It saw the staff of Grace Bros inherit from Young Mr Grace's will a large country house. It was well received but did not gain the same affection as its parent programme did.In its day, 'Are You Being Served?' regularly topped the ratings and, as I said earlier, thanks to repeats and DVD releases, it continues to entertain today. It may be dated but it is still good raunchy fun at heart. For fans of saucy '70's comedies, it is a must-see.In 1986, the excellent BBC Scotland sketch show 'Naked Video' made a hilarious reference to the show with a sketch in which Gregor Fisher plays a scriptwriter who comes up with an idea for a sitcom set in a Japanese concentration camp - ''We could call it 'Are You Being Starved?''', he says.

rishi dev Frank Thornton and Nicholas smith are the only 2 who are alive.An entertainment show as prolific and being connected to the audience as the World Wars themselves.Probably the only "entertaining show" along with allo allo that are worth storing for eternity and an embarkment into the future, depicting the pestilence of the human condition and flaws.Build a room store the essentials and "stuff" that you would expect some living intelligent entity to find after 10000 years and these two shows quite definitively must make it to that list---- if earth and life on it survives.Transmitting into deep space since decades of reruns of the show and Laika the dog rotting away in a module that may not have crash landed on some distant rock. We clearly as humans aren't worth a second chance and an embarrassment to existence itself.Some things are worth an eternity-- ARBS?---We've truly been served!! Thank YOu and RIP: John Inman, Molly Sugden, Wendy Richard, Trevor Bannister, Larry Martyn, Arthur Borough, Harold Bennett.

Paul Evans 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.

drednm 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 Borough, 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 Borough 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 Borough 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.