Places Everybody - the Are You Being Served? thread

[Nyder]

As I'm off for the week I thought I'd treat myself to a daily episode of AYBS. This is a programme I've always had very warm, cozy memories of. And yes it made me laugh too So I hope you'll indulge me over the next few days as I randomly dip into a few of the 69 episodes that were made. Of course, the most imortant question about every episode will be .... what colour was Mrs Slocombe's hair??

[Nyder]

We start with a Series 7 episode from 1979. The food in the staff canteen has hit rock bottom, and the canteen staff themselves have gone out on strike following complaints from Captain Peacock and gang. Who's going to do the cooking? Why the staff of the Gents & Ladieswear of course......

This was an unusual episode in that there were no scenes set on the iconic shop floor. All the action took place in the staff canteen, Executive Restuarant (do companies still have these??) and the catering kitchen. But fear not, we still get to see the dark wood-panelled office of old Jug Ears himself, Mr Rumbold. Whenever I go into a building which has this type of wood on the walls I always think of the Rumbold office In the later series of AYBS, some of the scenes took place away from Grace Brothers. That was something I always felt uncomfortable with, because it felt too much out of context, with the characters inhabiting "the real world".

In this episode, Mrs Slocombe says the word "orgasm". Is this is a single entendre? No don't worry, it's all perfectly innocent! There's plenty of product placement going on, with bottles of Morning Fresh washing up liquid vying for attention with Safeway's own brand. Now if it would have been Carrefour I'd have gotten REALLY nostalgic Mr Humphries mentions his mother a lot. More than usual. And yes Mrs S mentions her pussy. But why wouldn't she - she's awfully attached to the old thing!

Alfie Bass is a regular in this series, playing Mr Goldberg. When Arthur Brough (Mr Grainger) left the show they tried various replacments including Mr Tebbs (played by the voice of Mr Kipling himself James Hytner), Mr Milo and Mr Grossman. None of these could compare to Mr Grainger, but Mr Goldberg was the best of a bad bunch! They finally got rid of the "elder staff member" in the final season and gave Mr Humphries a long-overdue promotion!

One of the semi-regulars was the feisty, no-nonsense Canteen Manageress played by Doremy Vernon. You wouldn't want to cross her on a dark night!

Matt Irvine usually applied the special effects. Must have been less of a challenge than Doctor Who or Blakes 7! In this episode he was responsible for a frog in a bowl of soup!

So was this episode funny? To my suprise I found myself laughing out loud on a few occaisions, even though I've seen it before. What's very evident is that the actors are having a ball playing these parts, and this comes across clearly on screen.

As to Mrs Slocombe's hair colour? How would you describe this?

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

That surely adds a whole new level of meaning to the phrase "blue rinse"

[Dirk Gently]

Mrs Slocombe was the first person I ever saw with coloured hair.

[Nyder]

Today it was "Sit-In" from Series 8 (1981)

A game of two halves this one. First half sees the staff demonstrate their ways of attracting customers by a bit of role play. In the opening scene they're all doing crosswords, with Miss Brahms surprising everyone with her knowledge of Archimedes Principle! Mr Humphries reveals how he played a round at the golf course, and we get to learn of a powerful new perfume called "Power Failure" which is so pongy that you can find your wife in the dark..... There's two-fingered salutes and raspberries blown to middle management as the staff complain about their wage cut and relegation to The Basement.

The second half sees them on the roof of Grace Brothers protesting. There seems to be a lot of industrial unrest at Grace Brothers!

This series saw the introduction of Old Mr Grace to replace Young Mr Grace. (Harold Bennett sadly died a few months earlier). However, Kenneth Waller was nearly 30 years younger than Harold Bennett so "Old" was hardly appropriate! I didn't really warm to Old Mr Grace - he didn't have the charm & cheeky-ness of his "young" namesake. Mr Lucas has also departed and has been replaced by Mr Spooner (played by 60s singer Mike Berry). Once again, the replacement character is a pale imitation of the original one.

There's no ambiguity about Mrs Slocombe's hair colour in this episode

[Dirk Gently]

...and we get to learn of a powerful new perfume called "Power Failure" which is so pongy that you can find your wife in the dark...

[SiHart]

Old Mr Grace was nowhere near as good as Young Mr Grace. I warmed to Mr Spooner in the end, but he was never quite as good as Mr Lucas. He didn't have the cheekiness of Mr Lucas and seemed to be far more patronised than Mr Lucas was.

[Nyder]

So it’s back to the very first episode, and Ladies Casualwear and Intimate Apparel are moving in the Gents Readymades. We learn that Mr Lucas has been with Grace Brothers for a month, Mr Humphries came from Tools, Paints & Hardware, and Captain Peacock is a member of The Blue Cinema Club! We also learn that Young Mr Grace is worth a cool £2M…

Although it’s the pilot episode, all the characters have arrived fully formed and instantly recognisable as those we know and love. Right from the start we have these catchphrases:-

“Don’t worry about the sleeves, they’ll ride up with wear”
“Glass of water for Mr Grainger”
“Are You Free?”
“You’ve All Done Very Well”

We also get to see the first Point Of Display model – in this case a bra that lights up and makes a buzzing noise! These PODs became more & more elaborate as the series progressed. Matt Irvine had fun with these!

One of my favourite scenes (which happens a lot!) is when all the staff are gathered in Mr Rumbold’s office and he’s trying to make sense of their recent escapades, which results in this gem from Mrs Slocombe:-

“What’s me not having a baby got to do to with Mr Grainger taking down his trousers?”

Mr Lucas says “bloody” in this episode – I’ve never heard any swearing since then in Grace Brothers!

Ok as it’s the first ep, a quick history lesson. Jeremy Lloyd (co-writer) got the inspiration from his time working at the Simpsons department store in Piccadilly. The pilot was commissioned as part of the “Comedy Playhouse” series. It was broadcast earlier then planned because BBC schedulers had an unexpected gap in their programmes due to the Munich Olympics atrocities (11 Israelis were killed). Hardly the most appropriate circumstances to showcase a new comedy…. Bill Cotton liked the show, but told David Croft to “lose the poof”. Fortunately DC stuck to his guns and Mr Humphries became a major star of the series.

I can’t comment on Mrs Slocombe’s hair colour because the only surviving print of this episode is in black & white

[Nyder]

Not sure where all my apostrophes went, but I can assure you I did put them in - and I am unanimous in that!

[SiHart]

They recolourised this episode the other year using the chromadot techniques they're using on Doctor Who. I don't know if it was ever made available on DVD but it was certainly shown on TV a couple of years back.

[Nyder]

“Happy Returns”

This is the final episode of Series 6 first broadcast on Boxing Day, 1978. It’s also the final episode to feature Young Mr Grace – he did very well!

This is a typical end-of-term kness-up, with the staff of Grace Brothers dressing up for a song & a dance in order to celebrate Young Mr Grace’s birthday. Mr Lucas is Little Boy Blue with a plastic mac on to hide his modesty. Miss Brahms is Little Miss Muffet, Mrs Slocombe is Little Bo Peep, and the one that made me laugh the most was Mr Tebbs dressed as a Teddy Bear with his head on sideways as he could only see through his ear. Mr Humphries is the Fairy Prince of course, with John Inman playing the part with gusto!

[Nyder]

The Night-Club

This is from the final series (Series 10) broadcast in 1985. Old Mr Grace has allowed the staff to open the shop up in the evenings for whatever moneymaking schemes they want. A Night-Club is seen as a good option. As you can tell, reality had truly left the ground at this point! It’s AYBS by numbers really with lots of familiar storylines. There’s still some funny scenes though, especially when Mrs Slocombe attempts to speak to her pussy over the telephone.

This is one of the episodes where the staff leave the confines of Grace Brothers (shock horror) They’re all off to the cinema (where Mr Humphries is an usherette standing in for his mother) to see the trailer they’ve recorded for the Night Club. Unfortunately there is a problem with the vision so it’s sound only. This is where the double entendres take on a life of their own!

The Mrs S hair colour is particularly startling! In the early days Mollie Sugden's hair was actually dyed, but when it started falling out they played it safe and resorted to wigs!

[SiHart]

Reality left the ground in AYBS? Never!


Going back to the previous episode, I always quite liked the oens where they'd end up with a song and dnace routine. I know they found increasingly outrageous ways of including them as the years went by, but the first few were fine and you really see the cast enjoying themselves doing them.

[Nyder]

Well as it's a Bank Holiday here in the UK I thought I'd once again drop into Grace Brothers to see what the staff are up to. I reckon they've all done very well! Will keep you informed :-)

[Nyder]

Poor Captain Peacock! Ever since he went wild with his blowtickler at the Grace Brothers' Christmas party, there have been rumours of shennanigins between him and Mr Rumbold's secretary. At the same time, Mrs Slocombe is up for promotion, but wires get crossed when Mrs Peacock thinks she is the "other woman" whilst Mrs Slocombe thinks she is the lady from Personnel:-

Mrs Slocombe: "I believe in jumping at any opportunity. Anything to get out of Underwear"

I love Captain Peacock's utter disdain for Mr Rumbold, as evidenced by this retort:-

"If you were drowning, Mr Rumbold would be the first to help you with an electric cow prod"

Elsewhere, Mr Grainger shocks Mr Lucas by admitted getting a girl from habidasherie "in the pudding club" more than 25 years ago! There's a scene where poor Arthur Brough (who plays Mr Grainger) really gets whacked over the head with a wedding cake. It's very funny, but it must have hurt a bit! You can watch this 18 mins into the programme here:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0caBnBCMRSs

[Nyder]

One of the funniest moments in AYBS is in "Fire Practice" when Mr Lucas tries to give Mrs Slocombe a fireman's lift. Say what you like about Mollie Sugden, she's a game old bird, the way she allows herself to be put in the most undignified positions, with bloomers showing of course!