Oh No! John Inman has left us! (off-off topic)

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Shane,

I guess "Are You Being Served?" is before your time. It was very popular in the 70's. Or was it the 80's? Anyway, the show was best in the first version. Later on the characters were spun off from the department store to running a bed and breakfast, but it wasn't nearly as funny and entertaining as the store shenanigans.

For its time, the show was quite daring... what with Mr. Humphries' infatuation with measuring inseams, and Mrs. Slocum going on and on about her "pussy" (her cat, apparently)... Several catch phrases became famous for a while... in addition to "I'm free", there was also "Don't worry, it will ride up with wear" (usually spoken to a gent who has just been sold a pair of pants that drag on the floor or a jacket with sleeves that cover his hands).
 
They used to show BBC comedies later at night on the PBS station in Minneapolis. Not sure if they do here or not, or if we even have a PBS station, but I'm guessing we do. I think my cable has some sort of BBC station, I wonder if it might be found there. It is a wonderful show if you get a chance sometime. It was made primarily in the 70s though I think it ran into the early 80s.

John Inman played one of my favorite characters.
 
Some PBS stations do, and some don't

Here in the Cleveland area, Channel 25, WVIZ didn't carry any of the Britcoms, just "Masterpiece Theatre," "Mystery," and the like. I was very surprised when they carried "1900 House."

Channels 45/49, WEAO/WNEO do carry the Britcoms.

"Are You Being Served" is very funny, though not a particular favourite of mine. John Inman, however, was hysterical.

"As Time Goes By," "May to December," "Keeping Up Appearances," are favourites of mine.

I've tried to get into "EastEnders," but I find the accent hard to penetrate.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
So Sad...

I had the privilege of meeting Inman at a PBS fundraiser here some years ago. A very nice man, much like Mr. Humphries in some ways, but with an even more wicked sense of humour.

Those of you who like "Keeping Up Appearances" might like to know that Josephine Tewson (nervous next-door-neighbour Elizabeth) is John's cousin. She's currently working in "Last of the Summer Wine", in episodes that haven't been shown here in America yet.

I'm happy that "Are You Being Served?" still enjoys such great popularity thirty years on; being remembered is the best tribute any actor can have.
 
Menswear

This is so very sad. John Inman's absolutely brilliant portrayal of Mr. Humphries help make "Are you being served?" become one of my all time favorite shows.

Mrs Slocombe's ever changing hair colors, the various catch phrases, the eccentric characters, I could go on and on. They just don't make shows like that anymore. On either side of the pond.

Thanks for the memories -- and the laughs -- Mr. Inman. RIP.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/a/areyoubeingserve_7770355.shtml
 
For those who don't get what they want from their local PBS stations, even over cable... There's something called FTA or Free To Air satellite service. All you need is the right dish and receiver, and you can get various PBS stations via satellite for free, as well as a lot of other stuff. It's not the same as commercial cable TV, but it is free.
 
Brit Wit.

Although I am barely a quarter-century old, I do enjoy British humor. Are You Being Served is a favorite of mine, along with Keeping Up Appearances, Waiting for God, and of course all things Monty Python. John Inman's acting was always good, his part was well written, and he will be missed.

Saturday Night just lost a shepherd,
Dave
 
Louis....

I have heard of "The Last of The Summer Wine," but haven't seen it. In fact, I watch very little television at the moment, preferring to be on the internet, read, or watch dvd's. To me, watching television alone is just unappealing, for some reason.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
I love the Britcoms! "Are You Being Served" was hilarious! I think what made it even more comical was that painfully 70's set and costuming! John Inman was a hoot as the Menswear employee! His tongue-in-cheek remarks were delivered with perfect comic timing. Who was the saleswoman whose hair would change colour every week?

I believe "Keeping Up Appearances" continues to run, in the afternoons, on satellite tv. It is definitely one of my favourites! The follies of Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Boo-kay) has had us laughing for years! I never knew that her poor, nervous neighbor Elizabeth was John Inman's cousin. Thanks for the trivia!
 
catching up now...

I love AYBS, one of my favorites, as is "Keeping up Appearances" and "The Vicar of Dibley"
How could anyone not love Mr. Humphries or Mrs Slocombe or Hyacinth?
When I was in college in Nebraska the PBS station from Lincoln ran Brit-coms every Sunday afternoon, including one I have yet to see again called "Fresh Fields" or maybe it was "French Fields" It was not as funny as the others, but just as endearing.
That NE station also ran re-runs of the old "Lawrence Welk Show" man did that take me back to childhood!
 
Oh what a shame, at least we still have them all in reruns. Funny thing, you might look at that Mrs. Slocombe character and think her hair colors were overdone just for the tv show but plenty of older woman in the UK back in the 70's dyed their hair like that, it was so odd looking when I was there in 72.
 
ROLMAO!!

I don't know what I'm laughing harder at...her hair or her comments!!

Thanks for making my eyes water!! :-D
 
Laughing hysterically here!

The writing! The acting! The comic timing!

Great show, great cast!

Thanks for the good laughs!

Mike
 
Speaking For Myself, & I Am Unaimous

Will greatly miss Jon Inman. Such a great talent and all around wonderful person. Still hard to believe he was 71.

AYBS is one of my all time Britcom favourites, though seems so dated by today's standards. Just Jon Iman's walk alone would set me laughing. Found his character much more developed in the sequel to AYBS "Grace and Favour", but he still had that wonderful way about him.

Am a fan of "Last of The Summer Wine" from way back! Foggy chasing Nora Batty (Heyup Lass!). Howard always trying to snogg with the village bike Marina (and Pearl hot on his trail), not to mention the ladies having coffee discussing their favourite methods for keeping the men in line (Yorkshire men can be a difficult lot *LOL*). And of course Edie Pegdin's famous line to her daughter when the later is too nosy about "grown up things" "Drink your coffee"!

L.
 
The memories, the memories..

What a hoot! For those of you interested in a little bit of 'did you know'...

AYBS was THE best comedy show of the mid seventies. As far as I can recall, it was on a Sat night at 6pm on BBC1 in the days of 3 channel tv. Thats right America, 3 TV channels! There was BBC 1, BBC 2 and ITV. The BBC was, and still is, state run. (In Ireland, we also had our own national TV station called RTE 1, thus giving us a whopping choice of 4 to choose from!).

As the BBC was, and still is commercial free, it derived its funding from the proceeds of the TV licence that is still compulsory purchase by anybody who happens to own a tv set today. Not having to please paying advertisers gave the BBC a certain freedom to try and spread its appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Sure there were a lot of documentaries and current affairs programs and other stuff that kids like me considered boring at the time, but in hindsight, you actually learned something during the hour or two that you were allowed watch the box before going to bed. There was a regular routine to it all..thurs was 'Tomorrows World' followed by 'Top of the Pops'...Sat was 'Doctor Who' and 'AYBS'. This was quality TV, bourne out of the fact that, despite our maturing tastes, we still find shows such as this just as hilarious today.

John Inmans character was the first (and only) example of a 'supposedly' gay man on popular peak time tv for many years. Just like Mrs Slocombe and her famous pet, the humour was very much nudge nudge, wink wink. There were some boundries that were never broken, and we certainly never heard mention of Mr Humphries would be boyfriends, or anything that pointed to him being nothing more than an effeminate straight man. Every Saturday night, my brothers and I were dragged upstairs for a bath, and afterwards were allowed downstairs in our pygamas to watch the show. We would sit by the fire and laugh our heads off at the very mention of Mr Humphries being 'big in the trouser dept' or 'handy with a measuring tape', and we loved to see him camping it up with his 'I'm free' catchphrase. If truth be known, we were only joining in with the laughter of our parents and the audience, and still half expecting to see a funny looking feeline making a surprise tv appearance!! Innocence days indeed....

Thanks for the laughs John, you live on in the memories of youth for so many of us.
 
BBC comedy

AYBS was/is one of my favorites too. Does anyone remember a comedy called "Good Neighbors"(or something like that)? It as about a young couple trying to be self sufficent and run a farm in thier very upscale neiborhood and the trouble with neighbor Margo. It was very funny also.
 
Britcoms, or "The Boo-KAY Residence, the lady of the ho

Sorry to hear about John Inman's passing...I ran into "AYBS?", "Keeping Up Appearances," "As Time Goes By," and "The Vicar of Bailey" on the St. Louis PBS affiliate...

I loved Mrs. Slocombe...it was fun to see her hair change color every week...and Wendy Richard was fun to watch no matter what hair color she wore...but the way Mr. Humphries reacted under any situation was what made "Are You Being Served" terrific fun...

We still get "Keeping Up Appearances" and "As Time Goes By" on Thursday nights...and Patricia Routledge is probably my favorite Britcom actress...I relate to Richard's predicaments, too!

Judi Dench had star power even in those early days of "As Time Goes By." (By the way, Geoffrey Palmer played opposite Dame Judi in one of the Pierce Brosnan James Bond films--what a bonus!)
 
For stateside folks, Grace and Favour=Are You Being Served Again. I know that only because I saw some of the actors interviewed one time. Grace Bros. had closed, and the gang buys a hotel, bed and breakfast or some such thing and the show revolves around their adventures there.
 
Grace & Favour -

Story line went that "Old Mr. Grace" had pretty much spent the pension fund of his workers on women and good living (the young snooty woman who moved into the estate with the "AYBS" gang,"Miss.Lovelock", with the manor being all that was left. The gang come up with the idea of running the manor as a hotel so they can all live off the profits. Turns out there isn't much money in the kitty to even hire staff, so the gang is pressed back into working, even though they are retired.

Much of the laughs come from Mr. Humphries (Jon Inman), sleeping in the same bed with the young and very pretty cook/estate farmer's daughter, who as it turns out develops quite a crush on our Mr. Humphries. Apparently she is oblivous to his not being the marrying sort of man. It turns out that the young girl also slept in the same bed with one of the previous workers. Now before anyone gets any ideas about this sort of arrangement, it was VERY common for servants, and indeed everyone else but the very wealthy to sleep more than one to a bed, especially in the country. Simple reason was a lack of central heating, and the cost of coal for fires. Anyone who has been to the English/Scottish/Wales countryside can attest to the fact it is COLD there, sometimes even during summer months. Mind you the sexes would not have mixed, girls would be with girls and boys with boys. This is where the phrase ".... to warm my bed" comes from. The wealthy could afford central heating/coal and or lots of eiderdowns to keep warm at night.

L.
 
"Good Neighboors"

Was called "The Good Life" on the UK side of the pond and is one of my all time favourite Britcoms. Before there was Hyacinth Bucket there was Margo Ledbeder; a woman one simply did not cross except at one's own peril.

L.
 
Inman was present at a KQED pledge week in SF a few years back. As I recall, it was revealed that Mrs. Slocombe's hair was initially her real hair, but dyed. She said it was a real problem, because the dye was difficult to apply and wash out. I think perhaps she had a bad So eventually she went to wearing different colored wigs, instead, which worked out much better for her.
 
Launderess, thanks for refreshing my recollection re Grace and Favour. I have seen it, but far less so than the original show. Guess I was kind of on the right track though!
 

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