Are You Being Served? Again - A Review
The Staff of Grace Bros. Return in This Mid '90's Sequel
Oct 28, 2009
Grace Brothers was the setting for the classic 1970's Britcom Are You Being Served? which focused on the sales staff of the men's and women's departments of a London department store. The comedy was camp and broad, full of double entendres and sexal innuendo. While quaint by today's jaded standards, the show still provides laughs and its constant airing on local PBS stations attest to the show's popularity, despite its sometimes-dated humor.
Once the sitcom ended in 1985, the cast went on to do other work, but were reunited in 1992 for the sequel, Are You Being Served? Again! - known as Grace & Favour in its native UK. The core cast - John Inman, Mollie Sugden, Frank Thornton, Wendy Richard and Nicholas Smith all returned to reprise their iconic roles. Instead of standing at their sales counters, the staff members learned that their pension has been sunk into a country Tudor manor which has been run as a B&B. Forced to preserve their savings, the ladies and gentlemens from ready wear, have to roll up their sleeves and run the place themselves.
To most US audiences, this sequel is probably going to be obscure as it rarely is aired in the US (it wasn't particularly successful in the US, running only two seasons), but probably due to the original show's rabid fan base, the second series got a full-two season DVD release.
Older but Not Necessarily Wiser
The almost-intact original cast has aged well, considering that most of the actors were pretty long-in-the-tooth at that point. Inman, the original series' most popular cast member is back as the effeminit Mr. Humphries. His character is known for the appallingly broad flamboyance at which he is portrayed - in the 1970's it was rather shocking; in the 1990's, homosexuality wasn't all that surprising anymore, and as such a lot of the old-fashioned gay jokes fall a bit flat - this has nothing to do with the enthusiastic performance of Inman, who picks up on his patented mugging right where he left off.
The show's other breakout star was Sugden, who played Mrs. Slocombe, the head of the ladies department. During the run of the original, she was portrayed as a shrewish battleax, with a trademark penchant for hair tints. Seven years later, Mrs. Slocombe ditched the henna, but still commands with her overbearing personality. No longer clad in the polyester uniform, it appears that Mrs. Slocombe prefers chiffon, lace and pearls, and often bears a striking resemblance to the Queen Mother.
Thornton returns as the stuffy and pompous Captain Peacock, who still believes he's a ladies man. Richard, who at the time was playing a frumpy hausfrau on the British soap, Eastenders, glams up a bit and slips back into the girlish witty Miss Brahms, despite the actress's advanced age. Smith also does well settling in fine as Mr Rumbold, the petty micro-manager, who still fancies himself a big boss.
An Enthusiastic, if Not Superfluous Supporting Cast
The supporting cast - particularly Fleur Bennett and Billy Burden as country yokels - does decent work, though most of the minor characters don't stray too far away from lazy stereotypes. In particular the depictions of country folk in the show is rather lazy and easy.
As the late Mr. Grace's personal secretary, Joanne Heywood gets to continue the patented tradition of having beautiful bimbos work as secretary to the department store owner. Heywood's Miss Lovelock isn't as stupid as the secretaries in the 1970's sitcom, but a huge share of the comedy is derived from her physical attractiveness.
Not All the Jokes Work Anymore
The jokes on the show share a lot of the simple sex gags of its parent show, and there's physical humor, as well - though at times, the actors' ages often make it a bit hairy to see the performers go through pratfalls - Sugden's character has a notable propensity for getting into physical scraps such as playing cricket, gettting her girth lodged in the door of a chicken coop or hilariously commandeering a horse-drawn buggy that lands her in jail for theft.
Inman's campiness seems a touch stale and the tongue-in-cheek manner of his performance often makes his acting seem showy and fake - it's too stylized at this point and at his age, this sort of limp-wristed minstrel act often grates.
Is Class Still a Question
A large part of the 1970's show relied on the class issues of the characters - each staff member was relegated to his or her station in life and work. What is interesting about the sequel is that the class issues have been warped a bit: Miss Brahms, for instance was formerly the most junior member of the staff, and coupled with her working-class background gave her the lowest rung on the ladder at Grace Brothers. On the show now, despite her Cockney accent and salty, down-to-earth humor, she raises to be equal to her former superiors; Miss Brahms' elevation is interesting because even though she was seen as the most common member of the staff, her sensible wit and frank practicality often showed a sly intelligence that proved her underrated by her colleagues.
Even though Miss Brahms is no longer a junior, class is still a question - mainly with the country staff versus the former sales staff - the show takes on an Upstairs, Downstairs theme, where the working staff are expected to follow certain social rules and mores. As with the original, the owners of the manor sometimes get their comuppence, and the program still continues the particularly British theme of class differences.
A Good Complement to a Collection
Are You Being Served? Again! isn't a great Britcom, nor would it be considered a classic. It's a cozy, well-acted show, with some decent writing, and proves a good distraction for a rainy Sunday afternoon - it's also a must for purists of the 1970's show, who want to find out what happened after Grace Brothers finally closed its doors.
