Are You Being Served? 

The misadventures of the staff of a retail floor of a major department store.

Creators:

Jeremy Lloyd, David Croft

Stars:

Mollie Sugden, John Inman, Frank Thornton

1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Mollie Sugden	...	Mrs. Slocombe 69 episodes, 1972-1985
John Inman	...	Mr. Humphries / ... 69 episodes, 1972-1985
Frank Thornton	...	Captain Peacock 69 episodes, 1972-1985
Wendy Richard	...	Miss Brahms 69 episodes, 1972-1985
Nicholas Smith	...	Mr. Rumbold / ... 69 episodes, 1972-1985
Trevor Bannister	...	Mr. Lucas 48 episodes, 1972-1979
Arthur English	...	Mr. Harman 48 episodes, 1976-1985
Harold Bennett	...	Young Mr. Grace 46 episodes, 1972-1981
Arthur Brough	...	Mr. Grainger 34 episodes, 1972-1977

Storyline

This quintessentially British sitcom is about Grace Brothers, a department store in London which is owned and kept traditional, almost pre-war (e.g. precise dress code for ladies frills and gentlemen's hats according to rank), by two brothers who look old enough to have fought in the Boer war but rarely appear, as most scenes play on one floor where Mr. Cuthbert Rumbold is the executive (meaning he enjoys an endless parade of foxy but stupid secretaries) in charge of management while his dignified floor walker, Captain Stephen Peacock, has daily charge over two small sales teams. The bossy, implicitly man-hungry widow Mrs. Betty Slocombe supervises the attractive Miss Shirley Brahms (with a terribly common Cockney accent) -with first choice of customers, on commission- the sale of women's clothes and accessories; the sales star at the gentleman's side is Mr. Wilberforce Clayborne Humpries, an implied closet-gay true gentleman, whose successive superiors are first obviously nearly ...

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Plot Keywords:

store | department store | british comedy | workplace | workplace comedy | 

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Taglines:

I'm Free !

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 September 1972 (UK)

Also Known As:

Are You Being Served?

Filming Locations:

BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

28 min (69 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The store in the series was based on Simpson's Department Store.

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Goofs

Throughout the series, the entire staff of the floor takes breaks together. That would mean that the entire floor would be closed due to lack of employees during break times. Indeed, one episode specifically deals with this problem. Mr. Grace feels that they are losing too much business during this hour, and pushes the lunch break back to later in the afternoon, leading the staff to hit the roof.

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Quotes

Miss Brahms: I want some excitement, I want to do something with my life. I'm looking for Dallas and all I'm getting is Coronation Street.
Mr. Humphries: You're lucky. All I'm getting is Jackanory.

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Crazy Credits

Closing credits were preamble with the caption, "You have been watching" followed by each actor, either breaking the fourth wall to the camera or still in character relating to the episode. Sometimes, like the episode "Camping In", this would include the customer shown in the store at night, long after it was closed, since the episode ended with the store employees spending the night in the store.

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Connections

Featured in The Funny Blokes of British Comedy (2005)

User Reviews

The funniest show I've ever seen

I never laughed so hard in my life as the first time I saw this show. The only American sitcom that ever compared was Cheers. Anybody who has nit seen this sitcom should really watch it. The cast of characters is excellent. For example in the early episodes Mr. Lucas is always getting Mrs. Sloacombes goat. John In man as Mr. humphries is definitely the star of the show. Mr. granger reminds me of A man I used to work with A long time ago. That's what really makes this program so funny. It is more realistic than you might think. One of the funniest in jokes is the one where they always tell the customers that their sleeves or pants leg will "ride up" with wear. I highly recommend this show for everybody!