Are You Being Served is a series set in a London department store circa perhaps post WWII & is full of double entendre (sp?) of the bawdy sort. It is very funny! It is sort of British Music Hall humor transplanted to TV tho not as naughty as Benny Hill. They have played Are You Being Served for many years on our local PBS stations & it is a big fav of mine! Vanye 8^)
I think some of my most favorite
AYBS? episodes were the earliest ones - where the original cast was in place, and before the shows began to sometimes verge into the realm of silly fantasy and outrageous improbability -
( not that is there is anything wrong with silly, or fantasy, and it wasn't like the show wasn't
always silly and a bit on the improbable side, but I think one of the reasons the earlier
episodes worked so well is that they derived more of their humor from the ordinary, the mundane, & from situations everyone could relate to and perhaps see themselves in...)
Anyway, the first episode(s) start off introducing the main characters, the company of the "ensemble" --
Mrs Slocombe ---
Mrs Slocombe being the senior in the Ladies Department, ( the term "Old Battle-axe" comes to mind, but in Mrs. Slocombe's case, "Old Battleship" might be more appropriate - She can put on phony airs when the need arises, but she is also
rough and ready underneath...
She can be quick to temper and to hold a grudge ( even a vendetta ) but she can also be easily flattered ...
She seems a little bit sad and lost in her personal life at times -
no Mr Slocombe around, just her cat, -
( another term for the word "cat" being an endless source of double entrendre humor in almost every episode )
And after a while, it becomes apparent that Mrs Slocombe is a bit of a pushover when it comes to having a drink ( or two, or three )
Miss Brahms ---
The junior in the Ladies Department...
A real babe, ( if you will excuse the chauvinistic terminology )
but one who sports a thick "lower class" Cockney accent and who might appear to be somewhat dimwitted sometimes, although she is sharper than she might appear...
Usually in cahoots with Mrs Slocombe, but sometimes at odds with her...
Sometimes hotly pursued by the young Mr Lucas
( the junior from Men's Wear, on the other side of the floor )
and even some of the older gents have been known to flirt with her...
Captain Peacock ---
The floorwalker - pompous, arrogant, pretentious, sometimes vindictive, full of himself and a "know-it-all" attitude, the perennial stickler to rules, regulations & decorum, but who often gets "hoisted by his own petard", and who is also prey to human weaknesses and frailties like everyone else, and who is also a lovable character, in spite of himself...
Mr Lucas ---
The handsome, brash young junior in the Men's Department,
almost constantly being harassed by Captain Peacock -
often landing in trouble, always one demerit shy of a firing -
and still trying to have some sort of life outside of
Grace Brothers Department Store...
Mr Humphries ---
In the very first episode, the character of Mr Humphries was quite under-developed:
It was obvious he was supposed to be gay, or at least highly effeminate ( although as the show progressed, things became more ambiguous - there was a lot of "I'm neither one way or the other" type jokes )
but he just seemed distant, kind of snooty, with his nose in the air, and not very nice, really...
But as time went by, the Mr Humphries character blossomed & flourished...
As compared to Mr Lucas, Mr Humphries had no trouble leading a very exciting social life "after hours"
( and yet he still lived at home with his mother )...
As Mr Humphries developed, he became more jovial, more expressive, and really became one of the biggest "stars" of the show
[ the entire project had originally been conceived to be more of a vehicle for Trevor Bannister ( Mr Lucas ) who was more well-known at that time, and the show was more or less supposed to revolve around
him ]
Mr Rumbold ---
"Middle Management" Mr Rumbold - sometimes dismissive of the
staff, as he is their immediate supervisor, and he often
"pulls rank" on them ( just as, in turn, Captain Peacock
"pulls rank" on those below him in the pecking order )
although Mr Rumbold must in turn defer to the owner upstairs, "Young Mr Grace" ( who, of course, is very old )...
Mr Rumbold is often the butt of jokes with his tall portly figure, his balding head and stick-out ears ( in fact, he is often referred to as "Old Jug-ears" by the others ) and he does have a way of totally confusing matters whenever anyone comes to his office with a problem to sort out, or has been sent there "on report"...
Then there is Mr Mash ---
( in the early episodes )
the Cockney maintenance man who doesn't like getting ordered about and insulted by his snooty so-called superiors
( such as Captain Peacock ) and who occasionally doesn't mind letting them know his feelings on the subject...
Mr Mash was later replaced by Mr Harmon, the one case where a
regular character on the show was replaced by a new character
( who was supposed to more or less "follow in the footsteps" of the character he was replacing ) and it was an improvement -
not that was anything wrong with Mr Mash ( he did just fine ) it's just that Mr Harmon added his own distinctive touches to the
Cockney blue-collar worker from maintenance ...In time, the other characters come to have a great deal more respect for
Mr Harmon, and he became more integrated into the stories than what Mr Mash usually was...
And finally, the beloved Mr Grainger...
He's sort of the counterpart to Mrs Slocombe...
( and sometimes, they are enemies ) he's the senior in the
Men's Department ( in more ways than one, because: )
He's the old geezer who has been at Grace Brothers as long
( or longer! ) than anyone can remember...
Often having problems with his dentures or with his regularity problems - but mostly having a problem staying awake while on the job...
( he can always be brought back to wakefulness by shouting
"Mr Grainger, are you free?" in his direction )...
After a while, Mr Grainger was replaced by a Mr Tebbs,
who in turn was replaced by a Mr Goldberg, who was turn replaced by a Mr Grossman, who in turn was replaced by a
Mr Klein...
Each of these were adequate in their own way, but none of them could fully replace dear old Mr Grainger...
The Mr Lucas character of the beleaguered young junior was replaced eventually by a "Bert Spooner"...
And, oh yes, was there ever an abundance of
"double entrendres" on every show...
In fact, from what I can recall from browsing through some definitions in a rather comprehensive "Dictionary Of Dirty Words",
( which included many slang euphemisms
for body parts, sexual acts, and other such items )
sometimes it seems like practically every line in an episode could
( and probably does ) have some kind of naughty undertone
( or overtone )....
