I Read The Reason Mr Lucas Left "Are You Being Served"

Actually the show was supposed to be a star vehicle for Mr. Lucas, Trevor Bannister, but the show's most popular characters turned out to be Mr. Humphries and Mrs. Slocombe (and her pussy), so Bannister left after a few seasons. He was actually very cute; there are a couple of episodes where he took his shirt off, too.

We're not being served without any documentation now, are we?

I love this goofy TV show. Although it’s very old and it’s the same story almost every week, I find it indearing.

Indira Gandhi

DL fave Joanna Lumley made two appearances on the show. I think her husband (boyfriend?) was a producer.

R3 And I am unanimous in that!

Who do you think would win in a bitch/catfight type of match? Mrs. Slocombe or Hyacinth Bucket? I'd put my money on Mrs. Slocombe personally, since she's very keen on her pussy and probably has seen some catfights at Grace Brothers during the Boxing Day Sale.

Mr. Humphries kept drilling holes in the toilet partitions.

Poor Mr. Lucas did not age well

Fun fact: There was an Are You Being Served? movie. A 20 minute tedious sitcom plot shoved into 90 minutes.

Poor Mr Lucas didn’t young well, either.

The only Britcoms my local PBS station has been able to afford for the past several years are [italic]Keeping Up Appearances, As Time Goes By[/italic] (zzzzzzz), and [italic]Doc Martin.[/italic]

[quote]The only Britcoms my local PBS station has been able to afford for the past several years are Keeping Up Appearances, As Time Goes By (zzzzzzz), and Doc Martin.

The internet is the Britcom seekers best friend.

Bannister did not leave after a few seasons. He was there for all but the last 2 seasons when he was replaced by well known British rocker of the day Mike Berry as Mr. Spooner. The show ran 9 seasons I believe.

R10, even more bizarre, the film is based on the "Are You Being Served" stage play.

[quote]Bannister did not leave after a few seasons. He was there for all but the last 2 seasons when he was replaced by well known British rocker of the day Mike Berry as Mr. Spooner. The show ran 9 seasons I believe.

Actually, the last 3 seasons. They had 10 seasons. Seasons 1-7 were filmed 1972-1979. Season 8 was in 1981, Season 9 was in 1983 and Season 10 was in 1985. I imagine Bannister didn't want to sit around and wait for them to decide if they were actually going to do Seasons 8-10, so he opted to leave the show.

He also didn't rejoin when they did the sequel in 1992-93. So maybe he was over it all by then.

IMDB says this about Bannister leaving the show.

[quote]He left Are You Being Served? (1972) in 1979 because he had been offered a long-running part in a stage play, Middle Age Spread. He asked the BBC whether they would change the recording date for Are You Being Served so he could appear in both, but they refused.

[quote] So maybe he was over it all by then.

The show didn’t ride up with wear.

Are you being serviced?

The funniest character on the show in my opinion. Arthur English as Mr. Beverly Harman, head of packing.

"MR. HARMAN HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ON THE FLOOR AFTER OPENING HOURS"!

I read Mr. Humphries gave everyone on the show the Herp.

TOO MUCH TALK OF P U S S Y.

Mrs. Slocombe speaking to her neighbor on the phone.

"Mr. Akbar, this is Mrs. Slocombe. Would you do me a favor? Would you please go to my front door and look through the letter box, and if you see my pussy would you throw a sardine through it.:"

Mrs. Slocombe on having to come in 30 minutes early.

"I can't tell you what this early opening is doing to my pussy:".

Seasons 3-5 are the best of the show’s run, post-Mr. Mash, pre-Mr. Tebbs.

Trevor Bannister ended up on one of my favorites British TV shows "Last Of The Summer Wine" for the last 7 years of that show's run.

Joanna Lumley was on one of the early episodes as the "His & Hers" girl. Brought in to set up a counter to "sell scent".

Later on she came back as the wife of an old German man who came into the store to make a purchase on a day they were featuring German goods.

Fast forward to 3:20.

"I'd like to see something in medium underpants."

"Who wouldn't?"

Jr. Granger: "Silly bull necked kraut"! LOL

There's lots of episodes on you tube. I watched a couple but then got sidetracked by Up Pompeii, which is also well represented.

It was a huge scandal.

R1 I love it when people come here to lecture us and are completely wrong with everything they state as a fact

Trevor Bannister's acting career was launched by Arthur Brough (Mr. Grainer on AYBS) in the late 40's with 'The Arthur Brough Players'.

As series 7 drew to a close there was a big question about whether there would be another series. Bannister's stage career was taking off and he opted to take the lead role in a touring production. When series 8 was green-lit, he tried to make an accommodation with the BBC to record his scenes in such a way that did not interfere with his already-committed stage work. The BBC couldn't come up with a schedule that suited all the actors and the needs of the production team, so his character was simply absent without explanation for the series. By series 9, I suppose they had become used to his absence, and he was fired in-story.

Bannister put his job on the line at the beginning of the show, after the BBC saw the pilot and wanted Inman's character cut. Bannister said that if Inman was removed, he would not appear either. This stance was echoed by other cast members and the writers, and Inman stayed. Bannister and Inman remained good friends long after the show had been consigned to the scrapheap.

I saw a clip of it on Youtube a year or two back. Watching with the clear vision of hindsight, I realise how excrable it really was.

"May I sat what a pleasure it is having your son on the floor!"

John Inman reprised his character when the Australians decided to do their version of the show.

I love the show. And "Grace & Favour" as well. They dumbed down the title of G&F to "Are You Being Served Again" for idiot American viewers. The shows are just very comforting and sweet. I can see how young people wouldn't care for it, but I'm far from young.

^ I thought "Mavis Molterd" was a fabulous name.

[quote]They dumbed down the title of G&F to "Are You Being Served Again" for idiot American viewers.

The producers actually said that was a good idea and they should have done it for British audiences because the name was already familiar and they wouldn't have had to spend as much time publicizing G&F if they already had a brand name in place.

A little taste of 'Grace & Favour'. They're all older, young Mr. Grace has died while scuba diving with his secretary, and they've acquired and moved into a country house hotel owned by their retirement fund. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that Mrs. Slocombe stopped coloring her hair in different garish colors every episode.

So you're saying, all the cast minus Mr Lucas was on Grace and Favour? Who in the hell thought they could take a cast from one show and move the entire concept to the same cast minus one running a hotel

Mr Lucas was OLDER than Mr Humphries

No not all the cast. Just the primary stars. Captain Peacock, Mr. Humphries, Mrs. Slocombe, Miss Brahms, & Mr. Rumbold. They did ask Mike Berry (Mr. Spooner) to be on the show but he declined. All the other cast members on G&F were new. It was a wonderful show. I like it even better than AYBS. It lasted 2 seasons.

R41, one of my favorite lines in the 2nd series is when they are trying to hide Mrs. Slocombe from he ex-husband and Mr. Molterd is talking in a very loud voice and Mrs. Slocombe says "Mr. Molterd, will you please keep it down!". He replies, "That's hard to do with you about."

Apparently they had had an affair years before during the war.

[quote]No not all the cast. Just the primary stars. Captain Peacock, Mr. Humphries, Mrs. Slocombe, Miss Brahms, & Mr. Rumbold.

By the time the last season of Are You Being Served? broadcast in 1985 (and certainly all during the sequel), Wendy Richard (Miss Brahms) had begun starring in (and was an original cast member of) the popular soap EastEnders.

Yes, Mrs. Slocombe and Mr. Moulterd were young lovers when they were evacuated during the war, to a farm in Tiverton, in Devon. In those days Mrs. Slocombe was known as "Rachel Yiddle". She was also known as "the Tiverton bicycle" because every man got a ride on her. As Mr. Moulterd said at least once "oh yes, she'd have a go at anything".

[quote] In those days Mrs. Slocombe was known as "Rachel Yiddle".

But wasn't her first name Betty in AYBS?

Her full name was Mrs Mary Elizabeth Jennifer Rachel Abergavenny "Betty" Slocombe née Yiddell.

Did the actress who played Mrs. Slocombe ever say why she dyed her hair weird colors?

I read years ago that she came up with the idea and suggested it to the director. She thought it would add to the humor, and she was right. And they were wigs.