Are You Being Served? is a British television sitcom that was broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was created and written by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, with Croft also serving as executive producer and director. Michael Knowles and John Chapman also co-wrote certain episodes with Lloyd and Croft. Produced by the BBC, the series originally starred Mollie Sugden, Trevor Bannister, Frank Thornton, John Inman, Wendy Richard, Arthur Brough, Nicholas Smith, Larry Martyn and Harold Bennett, with Arthur English, James Hayter, Alfie Bass, Mike Berry, Kenneth Waller and Candy Davis taking subsequent roles. Set in London, the show followed the staff of the retail ladies' and gentlemen's clothing departments in the flagship department store of the fictional Grace Brothers, a stuffy and old-fashioned establishment constantly out of step with the times.
The series was broadcast on the BBC for 10 series, totalling 69 episodes between 8 September 1972 and 1 April 1985, including five Christmas specials. A ratings hit with UK audiences, it gained international attention when broadcast across several English-speaking countries, including Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the Republic of Ireland, and the United States. A feature film of the same title was released in 1977, and a spin-off television series, Grace & Favour, ran from 1992 to 1993 with the same main cast. In 2004, Are You Being Served? was ranked 20th in a television countdown of Britain's Best Sitcom. A one-off revival episode with a new cast was created in 2016. The sitcom – including its pilot and Christmas specials – the spin-off and the film have since been released on DVD.
Premise Are You Being Served? depicts the work (and occasionally personal) lives of the staff of a fictional London department store, Grace Brothers. Its main characters serve in the ladies' and gentlemen's departments, alongside their senior staff, maintenance workers and the store's owner. Plots generally focused on the relationships among staff, their attempts to improve sales (being chronically underpaid), and the effects of local events that impacted the store's running.
A key humorous aspect of the series was its parody of the British class system, which permeated the interactions among management, sales personnel and the maintenance staff. The episodes rarely featured locations outside the store, with most of the action taking place on the shop floor and the staff-only areas. Characters 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 featuring malfunctioning robotic mannequins. The show is remembered for its prolific use of double entendres.
Production Programme conception 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 closure in 1999. 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.
Broadcast
Are You Being Served? was originally produced as a standalone pilot episode for the BBC Television Comedy Playhouse series, but the episode was not selected for broadcast. During the 1972 Summer Olympics, television coverage of the games was interrupted by the Munich massacre. The BBC, faced with a gap in the schedules, selected the unused pilot episode to fill a 30-minute slot on Friday 8 September. The episode was not well received by critics, but David Croft's reputation as a writer enabled him to gain support from the BBC's Head of Light Entertainment, Bill Cotton, to turn the pilot into a series. After Croft agreed to a limited budget and a short production schedule, a first series of five further episodes was commissioned. The series was broadcast with the repeated pilot episode as episode one on Wednesday 14 March 1973. Cotton expressed some dissatisfaction with the character of Mr Humphries, and reportedly told Croft to "get rid of the poof". Croft refused to alter his scripts and threatened to quit, telling Cotton, "If the poof goes, I go".
The first series was initially aired on a Wednesday timeslot, in competition with the ITV soap opera Coronation Street. As a consequence, Are You Being Served? received relatively little attention, but when the BBC later repeated the show on a Friday evenings primetime slot, its popularity soared.
The sitcom was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London in front of a live studio audience, on two main adjoining sets, the Grace Bros shop floor and the staff canteen. The cast and crew rehearsed and filmed one episode each week.
After a successful 13-year run, Are You Being Served? came to an end on 1 April 1985.
Of the original cast, only John Inman, Mollie Sugden, Frank Thornton, 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.
Restoration of the 1972 pilot 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 yet been adopted. 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. , the colour version has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray.
Character development The 1972 Comedy Playhouse pilot had originally been conceived with Mr Lucas as the lead character, providing a vehicle for Trevor Bannister's acting career. In the early episodes, Lloyd and Croft recognised that the characters of Mr Humphries and Mrs Slocombe were raising the most laughter from the studio audience, and as a result they became breakout characters, receiving the best lines in the scripts of the new series. The phrase "I'm free!" was first spoken by Mrs Slocombe in the pilot. John Inman reportedly first used the phrase behind the scenes which amused his colleagues so much that Mollie Sugden suggested to the writers that Inman should be given the line in future scripts. Inman developed "I'm free!" as his camp catchphrase in Series 2, and it rapidly became one of the most popular catchphrases in British comedy.
Theme tune
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, who also played Mr Rumbold's first secretary, (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", 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 its Quattro range. In the same year, Goldie Lookin Chain used the tune extensively for their song "Waitrose Rap".
Cast
Main cast John Inman as Mr Wilberforce Claybourne Humphries: a camp-acting sales assistant (later senior) in the gentleman's department. The character is implied as having a sexually fluid lifestyle, frequently telling colourful stories and using double entendres that leave his orientation in doubt. Mollie Sugden as Mrs Betty Slocombe: a senior sales assistant and head of the ladies' department, portrayed with a different hair colour in each episode. She is vain and snobbish, and speaks with an affected Received Pronunciation accent, which reverts to a broad, working class Northern accent when annoyed or angry. She frequently tells stories about her pet cat, referring to it as "my pussy". Wendy Richard as Miss Shirley Brahms: a young, attractive Cockney junior sales assistant under Mrs Slocombe, who sometimes refers to her as "dead common" regarding her working-class background. 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 both command and crave respect. He is the nominal floor manager. 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 unlikeable and displaying his age, such as sleeping during opening hours. Brough made his final appearance as Grainger in the 1977 film, dying before the sixth series. Trevor Bannister as Mr James/Dick Lucas (series 1–7): a penniless, womanising junior salesman in the gents' department, often cheeky and mocking to the female staff. Bannister appeared until the end of the seventh series, when a job in the theatre conflicted with the show's taping schedule and the BBC refused to reschedule their dates. In an interview after the show's conclusion, Wendy Richard claimed it was originally devised as a platform for Bannister. Nicholas Smith as Mr Cuthbert Rumbold, the autocratic, obsequious, bumbling and incompetent manager of both departments. His prominent ears and confused reactions are used to comic effect. Harold Bennett as "Young" Mr Grace (series 1–8): the elderly, miserly, and oversexed owner of Grace Bros, often seen with his attractive secretary and/or nurse. 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 hounded from the floor by Captain Peacock. Mash helped demonstrate the specially-designed comic display units that featured in episodes. Martyn left after the 1975 Christmas special; he simultaneously appeared in the series Spring & Autumn, and could no longer manage both schedules. Arthur English as Mr Beverley Harman (series 4–10): a working-class stock and maintenance man at Grace Bros, who has more friendly relations with the floor staff than Mr Mash. Harman was created after Mash's departure, and became a staple of the series. 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 lasted only for the sixth series, after which Hayter was paid generously to voice Mr Kipling television adverts. Alfie Bass as Mr Harry Goldberg (series 7): a Cockney tailor, brought in to replace Mr Tebbs after retiring. Bass dropped out of the programme following the conclusion of the seventh series.