Are You Being Served
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Are You Being Served? was a long-running British sitcom broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was set in the men's and women's department of Grace Brothers, a large, fictional London store. It was written mainly by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, with contributions by Michael Knowles and John Chapman. The idea for the show came from Lloyd's brief period working at Simpsons of Piccadilly in the early 1950s, a clothing store which traded for over 60 years until 1999.
The episodes rarely left the store, and to parody the stereotype of the British class system, characters rarely addressed each other by their given names, even after work. In 2004, it came 20th in Britain's Best Sitcom.
Cast
- Frank Thornton - Captain Stephen Peacock
- Mollie Sugden - Mrs Betty Slocombe
- John Inman - Mr Wilberforce Clayborne Humphries
- Wendy Richard - Miss Shirley Brahms
- Nicholas Smith - Mr Cuthbert Rumbold
- Arthur Brough - Mr Ernest Grainger (pilot to series 5)
- Trevor Bannister - Mr Dick/James Lucas (pilot to 1979 Special)
- Harold Bennett - Young Mr Grace (pilot to 1981 Special)
- Larry Martyn - Mr Mash (pilot to 1975 Special)
- Stephanie Gathercole - Mr Rumbold's secretary (pilot to series 2)
- Nina Francis - Miss Ainsworth (series 2 and 3)
- Moira Foot - Miss Thorpe (series 3)
- Arthur English - Mr Beverley/Harry Harman (from series 4)
- Penny Irving - Miss Bakewell (series 4 to 1979 Special)
- James Hayter - Mr Percival Tebbs (series 6 and 1978 Special)
- Vivienne Johnson - Nurse (series 6 to 1981 Special)
- Alfie Bass - Mr Harry Goldberg (series 7 and 1979 Special)
- Mike Berry - Mr Bert Spooner (from series 8)
- Milo Sperber - Mr Grossman (series 8, episodes 1 to 4)
- Benny Lee - Mr Klein (series 8, episodes 5 to 7; 1981 Special)
- Kenneth Waller - Old Mr Grace (series 8 and 1981 Special)
- Debbie Linden - Secretary (series 8, episodes 1 to 4)
- Louise Burton - Secretary (series 8, episode 4 to 1981 Special)
- Candy Davis - Miss Belfridge (from series 9)
- Diana King - Mrs Peacock (series 4 and 9)
- Diana Lambert - Mrs Peacock (series 10)
- Doremy Vernon - Canteen Manageress (from 1975 Special)
- Pat Astley - Mr Grace's Nurse (series 5; uncredited)
Plot
Are You Being Served? featured humour based on sexual innuendo, misunderstandings, mistaken identity and occasional slapstick. In addition, there were sight gags generated by outrageous costumes the characters were sometimes required to wear for store promotions, and gaudy store displays frequently featuring malfunctioning robotic mannequins. The show is remembered for its prolific use of double entendres.
The main humorous base of the series was a merciless parody of the British class system.Template:Fact This permeated every interaction and was especially evident in the conversations between the maintenance men and the ostensibly higher-class store personnel.Template:Fact
Characters included stereotypes as the effeminate Mr. Humphries, who lived with his mother; Captain Peacock, the haughty floorwalker who purportedly fought in the North Africa Campaign of World War II (but was actually in the Service Corps), the snobbish and boisterous Mrs. Slocombe with her ever-changing hair colour and Miss Shirley Brahms, a young, working-class, cockney-speaking junior assistant to Mrs. Slocombe.
The show spawned the catch phrase "Are you free?", usually said by Captain Peacock to the staff; more often than not, the staff are noticeably free, and each would look solemnly from side to side before answering, "Yes, I'm free, Captain Peacock." John Inman remarked, when Mr. Humphries trilled, "I'm free!", it became his own personal catchphrase. Another recurring catch phrase was "they'll ride up with wear", about the length of the sleeves.
During its run, the series attracted some mild criticism for its reliance on sexual stereotypes and sexual double entendres, including jokes about Mrs. Slocombe's "pussy" (cat). John Inman's camp portrayal of Mr. Humphries as an effeminate man whose sexual orientation was never explicitly confirmed was supposedly considered offensive by some gay men, but the character quickly developed a cult gay following. 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". With a broad mixture of stereotypical gay characteristics, some apparent heterosexual attractions, and always picking up on ambiguous words such as 'queen', 'gay' and 'camp', viewers were left wondering about Mr. Humphries' sexual orientation. 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".
