"It's a wonder I'm here at all. My pussy got soaking wet. I had to dry it out in front of the fire before I left." - Mollie Sugden as Mrs. Slocombe
The Complete Are You Being Served? Collection, Series 1-5 DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
On September 8, 1972, the BBC premiered the pilot episode of a wacky series, Are You Being Served?. The show was not originally set to run that evening but was put on the air with little fanfare when the tragedy at the Munich Olympics left a hole in the BBC's schedule. That was quite a somber beginning for a show that plays like a mix of Benny Hill and Three's Company.
The series follows the madcap antics of the sales staff of the ladies' intimate apparel counter and the men's readymade department at the fictitious London department store Grace Brothers. The two departments have been recently forced to share the same floor, much to the consternation of their senior salespersons, overbearing Mrs. Slocombe (Mollie Sugden) and elderly fussbudget Mr. Grainger (Arthur Brough). New employee Mr. Lucas (Trevor Bannister) relishes the move as the proximity of the departments allows him to make fun of Mrs. Slocombe while hitting on her junior assistant, Miss Brahms (Wendy Richard). Fey, wisecracking Mr. Humphries (John Inman) rounds out the men's readymade department. They are overseen by floor manager Captain Peacock (Frank Thornton), who especially likes to manage female customers, and by Mr. Rumbold (Nicholas Smith). The owner of the store, Young Mr. Grace (Harold Bennett), who despite his name is quite possibly the world's oldest human, drops in from time to time to keep an eye on things.
Only the BBC could build a series around smutty double entendres, dumb plotlines, and broad stereotypes yet still manage for it to be genial and almost innocent. Mrs. Slocombe's tales of her "pussy" are shockingly unsubtle, but still evoke a laugh every time. Mollie Sugden plays Mrs. Slocombe in a way that suggests a low class Dame Edna. She helps to soften what would come across as course if spoken by another actor.
The character of Mr. Humphries is as mincingly un-politically correct as can be, but he remains inoffensive. This is partly due to John Inman's portrayal of him, but it is also obvious that the creators mean no ill will. As a matter of fact, he is one of the sanest characters on the show, except for the fact that he occasionally wears a Marie Antoinette costume.
The plotlines are often groaningly bad - one that features the cast crawling around on the floor in an effort to find a lost diamond but instead finding rhinestones fallen from an evening gown comes to mind - but this only adds to the show's charm. Several times, seemingly when the writers cannot think of a way to end the show, the cast simply breaks into a song and dance. The show and its actors seem to relish the plots' lack of reality, and their obvious joy is infectious.
All thirty-four episodes from the first five series (seasons) are collected on the first six DVDs. This includes two Christmas specials that ran between series three and four and series four and five. While the shows are presented in broadcast order, the episodes are disbursed on the DVDs with no regard for the beginning and end of each series. Each DVD is simply assigned six episodes. The seventh DVD contains extras.
Each DVD comes in its own keepcase, and all of the cases are housed in a cardboard sleeve. The seven volumes have different color schemes, and feature a different "Employee of the Month." The back of the cases list episode titles along with one sentence synopses. The first six DVDs are also available separately if buying the complete boxed set seems like too big a commitment.
When the DVD is placed in the player, an endless number of BBC commercials are cued up. These can easily be skipped with the menu button. The colorful menus continue the "Employee of the Month" theme. Viewers can choose to play all episodes or individual episodes.
If an individual episode is chosen, its own menu is brought up. This menu offers a more detailed synopsis of the episode. Read the synopses at your own risk, however, as they sometimes contain plot spoilers. The episode menus also branch off to the scene selections menu and episode trivia.
