IMDb user comments for
"Are You Being Served?" (1972)

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40 comments in total

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15 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
PURE AWESOME, 11 August 2001
Author: Wolf (alphaspace) from Baltimore, Maryland

I have seen every episode in this show at least 10 or more times for sure. So let me tell you the sets are by today's standards cardboard like the, props sort of dated.

BUT that said you would be a fool to let that stop you from seeing this awesome example of Double Entendre! taken to the highest comedic extremes. No other show is so packed with things that on the surface suggest daily life that one who has an active mind easily finds a more gutter snipe meaning to what was said.

A perfect example follows where Mrs. Slocumbe was talking to a truck driver on the road via CB radio from the Grace Brothers store. Mrs. Slocumbe an avid feline lover and, owner has a cat named tiddles. She is constantly on the hunt for a man like a British Sadie Hawkins this guy was a hot prospect seeing he too sounded keen on her. Mrs. Slocumbe regales the truck driver with all her home spun skills and loves... you hear the truck driver obviously in the midst of driving his big rig as Mrs. Slocumbe begins telling the truck driver of her pussy <cat> and how it wins a prize every time she shows it. You hear the wheels lock and, screech as dude looses control of his rig and, the connection is broken. Not to mention she was dressed as a punk rocker in a rainbow Amazon woman outfit when talking to the man.

Whey was she in the punk rocker garb well. Well this just a hint of the funny things you will find on this show... You just have to get the videos DVD's whatever's available but one thing for sure you will never ever be sorry you did.

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13 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
A great British comedy, 30 May 2005

Author: schu00 from United States

This is a series about the adventures and misadventures of the staff of Grace Brothers Department Store.

This is a very funny series. It can be watched over and over without getting tired of it. In fact, my wife and I have done just that. Frank Thornton is excellent as the pompous Captain (or is it Corporal?) Peacock, the floor walker of the men's department, overseeing the likes of Wilberforce Humphries (John Inman), the effeminate middle salesman. John Inman and Molly Sugden are definitely the anchors of this series, and provide consistency and humor to the series around other changing staff. Arthur Borough is especially good as the aging Mr. Grainger in the first several episodes.

While the humor is somewhat juvenile, it is clever and remains consistently funny throughout the run of the series. It is, without a doubt, British humor, but for those of us who are entertained by the British, this is a series not to miss.

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11 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Greatest ever!, 15 May 2002
Author: Marnix ten Brinke (abba1982@hotmail.com) from Doetinchem, The Netherlands

Are You Being Served is the best British comedy can give us. I don't understand why some people are offended by this series! It's all in good fun. The follow up Grace & Favour was great too. It's a shame they only made ten series (from 1973/1985). AYBS? will rank as one of the best sit-coms ever.

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13 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Double Entendre!, 31 October 2000
Author: adaiello from Kingston, Rhode Island

Are You Being Served is a fantastic example of British humor at its finest. Granted, with almost 30 years since the telecast of the first episode, some of the humor has become dated. However, the cast and script-writers took the concept of double entendre to a whole new level with the jokes in the show (the best one I think being about Mrs. Slocum's cat, if you get my drift!). The thing that makes the show stand the test of time is that they did not have to resort to outright obscenity and crudity to get the humor across. It requires a little bit of thought to follow some of the jokes, which while base, are veiled in "false propriety". It is something that I would have no problem letting my children watch because they would not get the jokes until they were old enough to understand and deal with the humor. What comedy today can we say the same about? The show also has the ability to pull you in, make you privy to the "secret jokes" and make you feel part of the club. You become bound up in the inside jokes and personalities, and can identify with the characters (within reason: who can understand the concept of Mrs. Slocum's changing hair-colors?!). Overall, it is a great series and well worth watching, even 27 years later!

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11 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
I loved this show, 17 October 2005
Author: bregund from San Francisco

I remember watching reruns of this show on PBS in the 90s, I must have watched every episode ten times. The only American show that could be compared to AYBS is probably Threes Company, if only for the dirty jokes that pop up on every episode. It was a little weird seeing such proper British people casually tossing off filthy double entendres, but that was part of the charm, the characters were largely oblivious to the fact. My favorite character was Mrs. Slocombe with her sky-high neon-colored hair. She and Mr. Humphries made the show, just like Karen and Jack make Will & Grace, if you get my drift. Mrs. Slocombe had the funniest reactions to every event, no matter how small, and was quick to petulance after her fragile ego was even slightly bruised. I still laugh when I recall scenes from the show, for instance when she walked in one day wearing a brown outfit and Mr. Lucas said "how now brown cow", and she glared at him. I'm laughing as I type this. Or the time when Mr. Rumbold became ill and Mrs. Slocombe took over the whole department and used his office, she started ordering all these fancy things befitting an executive, like a new suit, and Mr. Travis said "She looks like Rocky Marciano". Then she ate the meringue and got a call from Mr. Rumbold not to eat the meringue, and became violently ill. My favorite Mrs. Slocombe episode, if there is one, is when she can't get home so she stays at Grace Brothers upstairs and has a self-contained apartment. One-by-one, all the other characters, who couldn't get home either, drop by to stay at her apartment and she has to accommodate them all. It's hilarious! There's also one episode where Joanne Lumley makes an appearance and she's young and sexy, she's selling perfume or something.

This wasn't the best show ever made, but the characters are so well crafted that you feel like Grace Brothers could be a real department store somewhere. Even in the 70s, when this show was made, Grace Brothers seems hopelessly old-fashioned and out of date.

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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Excellent!, 18 October 2002
Author: Ccmcr1 from Scotland

"Are You Being Served?" is one of my favourite comedy programmes.

It involves the working life of the staff in Ladies and Menswear departments on the third floor of Grace Bros store.

The main characters are the hilarious senior saleslady Mrs Slocombe, always worried about her pussy!, played by Mollie Sugden, John Inman as homosexual-type salesman Mr Humphries, pompous floorwalker Capt. Peacock played by Frank Thornton, wisecracking junior salesman Mr Lucas [Trevor Bannister], who was always leering at young saleslady Miss Brahms [Wendy Richard, now Pauline in EastEnders], senior salesman Mr Grainger [Arthur Brough] and tactless manager Mr Rumbold [Nicholas Smith].

The boss was 80 year old Mr Grace, telling everyone "You've all done very well!", played by Harold Bennett. People of all ages will love this series, even thirty years after it's entry to TV, you can still laugh at it over and over again!

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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
What can I Say, I LOVE this show!, 16 June 2001
Author: Darryl from Seoul, South Korea

I love this show so very much! Ever since I first had the honour of viewing this show for the first time, I have loved it. I have seen each episode more times then I can remember, and yet still every night I watch them again. I have grown to know ALL the characters personally, and feel like I am a part of what feels very much like real life at Grace Brother's Department Store. What the characters said, and everything that happened, I know as a very pleasant dream. Dive into the joy of the working staff of this wonderful series, and you will not want to leave. Listen, and you can almost hear the wonderful Mr. Humpries's saying "I'm Free!"

On another note, I must just give a huge thank you to everybody was ever involved in Are You Being Served?, and Are You Being Served, Again?. Because of this show, I grew to love many other wonderful BritComs (British comedies). Thank you to all cast members, crew, the very men who brought the show to TV, extras, etc. To those who have passed on, rest in peace brothers and sisters. You may have departed this world, but I for one will never forget you, and the wonderful contributions you made. To the fictional staff of Grace Bros., thank you for allowing us a just a peek into you lives. I just wish I did not have to leave. Thanks all, your work is remembered certainly by me, and millions of fans past, present and definately future. Grace Bros. will continue to be open, as long as someone keeps watching and remembers.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Funny, 29 June 2004
Author: Malcolm Pearson from Bon Accord,Alberta,Canada

I left England in 1968 so I missed watching this live as it were but it is still hilarious. Here in Alberta we can watch it 5 times a week on P.B.S. or on Y.T.V. in Canada at 1 a.m. I find it so amusing, the characterizations are faultless the dialogue is matchless the situations are believable even if sometimes outrageous.

But above all it is a very gentle comedy, in the best traditions of English comedy, nobody gets hurt, reputations are never ruined, it is never malicious or small-minded.

I watch it every chance I get because it is funny without forcing the humour.

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
The U.K. series that made a splash in the U.S., 6 October 1999
Author: Ken (Baldach) from Mesa, AZ

In Arizona, where I live this T.V. series was a major audience to the local P.B.S. station. The comedy was quick, sometimes crude, but always funny. The characters were portrayed as the different types of British workers, from the rigid Captain Peacock, the proud Ms. Slacombe with her blue hair, and the effeminate male clothing sales person Mr. Humphrey.The fights between the two clothing departments (men's and women's) were hilarious. Although it was sterotypical, I still get a laugh at seeing Mr. Humphrey answered the telephone with a deep voice, "Men's wear", then back to his normal squeaky voice when he realizes it is someone he knows.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
A British Comedy Classic!, 9 January 2003
Author: mapleleaves from Atlanta, GA

This series ran from 1972 to 1985, but as British series typically only do six or seven episodes in a season, there are only sixty-nine episodes in all.

The series focuses on the relationship between the staff of the ladies' department and the gentlemen's department in a mid-priced department store in London. Also involved in the humor and bickering are the floorwalker, the department manager, and the owner of the store. There were several cast changes, but most of the crew stayed on through the entire run.

As Frank Thornton (Captain Peacock, the floorwalker) points out in interviews, this show is appealing because it's about shops. Everybody knows what goes on in a shop. We see the bickering for display space, the outrageous lies told to clinch a sale, and the petty squabbles as management institutes ridiculous rules.

The one flaw to the series is that continuity stank. The departments in question bounced from floor to floor over the years, not because they were moved, but because the writers forgot where they were supposed to be!

A blessing to fans of the series is the new DVD collection which includes 34 episodes from the first five seasons. There were four Christmas episodes that are rarely shown on television, and two are in the time frame of this set. Also included is "Top Hat and Tails," which had been "lost" for twenty-five years. Once you see it, you'll understand why someone "lost" it until just recently (there's a scene that was surely considered inappropriate at the time).

This series has its down moments, but every episode brings laughs and joy. The quick wit and hilarious physical comedy remain timeless, even as the clothes seem more dated and the political references get stale.

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