The sitcom proved a ratings hit with UK audiences, and gained international recognition when broadcast across several English-speaking countries, including Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the Republic of Ireland, and the United States; the latter gaining it a loyal following when PBS television stations began airing reruns in the mid-1980s, along with other British sitcoms.

The sitcom focused on the staff dealing with various issues such as frictions between each other, ideas to improve sales, and the effects of local events that impacted the store's running.

A key humorous base of the series was a parody of the British class system, which permeated a range of relationships and interactions between the show's characters, such as conversations between the maintenance men and sales personnel or management.

The sitcom featured humour based on sexual innuendo, misunderstanding, mistaken identity, farce, and occasional slapstick.

The idea for the show came from Lloyd's brief period in the early 1950s working at Simpsons of Piccadilly, a clothing store which traded for over 60 years until its closing in 1999.

[3] The inspiration for the store has also been credited to the former Clements of Watford where the concept of the floor walker character Captain Peacock was devised.

[4] The pilot episode was created as part of the Comedy Playhouse series, although the BBC had originally chosen not to broadcast the programme.

The pilot was used as a filler during the 1972 Summer Olympics when the coverage of the games was interrupted by the Munich massacre on 8 September 1972, leading to a full series being produced.

Although the first series was aired in the same timeslot as Coronation Street on ITV, consequently receiving relatively little attention, the repeats shown later in the year were much more successful.

Of the original cast, only Frank Thornton, Mollie Sugden, John Inman, Wendy Richard and Nicholas Smith appeared in all 69 episodes.

The theme tune, written by the show's co-writer David Croft and composer Ronnie Hazlehurst, consists of an imaginary lift girl, voiced by Stephanie Gathercole, also Mr Rumbold's first secretary, (r.n.

A remix of the theme was released in 1996 by a dance act calling itself "Grace Brothers",[8] and featured vocal samples of John Inman and Frank Thornton.

A lugubrious version of the theme tune is featured on the album The Ape of Naples by the experimental music group Coil.

Pop singer Jamelia's song "Window Shopping" (from her 2006 album Walk with Me) begins with a sample of the familiar cash register sound effect as well as Mrs Slocombe's voice inquiring, "Good morning, Mr Grainger; are you free?"

followed the staff of Grace Brothers taking a package holiday together while the store is closed for redecoration, a loose adaptation of the play version from the year before.

Set in the fictional resort of Costa Plonka, in Spain, the entire cast of the television series reprised their roles in the film.

"[13] Buoyed by the huge success of the series in the United States, BBC America commissioned a special straight-to-VHS compilation in 1992.

Running at 78 minutes, The Best of Are You Being Served featured newly shot scenes of Mr Humphries reminiscing with his elderly mother, Annie, about his time working at Grace Brothers.

The additional sequences were filmed in America, when John Inman was in Phoenix, AZ to promote the show on the local PBS channel, and directed by Don Hopfer.

The new series followed the characters after Young Mr Grace's death, when they are forced to run a hotel in a dilapidated manor house that was purchased using their pension fund.

At the time, Americanised versions of British series, including Three's Company, All in the Family, and Sanford and Son were doing well in the ratings, and Marshall hoped to capitalise on this with his script for the production.

The one significant difference was that the Rumbold character was replaced by "Franklin Beane" (George O'Hanlon, Jr.), the young nephew of the proprietor who has recently been put in charge of the department.

star John Hillerman as Mr Peacock, Charlotte Rae as Mrs Slocombe, Lorna Patterson as Miss Brahms, Tom Poston as Mr. Beane (the Mr. Grace equivalent), Larry Bishop as Mr. Lucas, Morgan Farley as Mr. Grainger, and Don Bexley as Mr. Johnson (the Mash/Harman role).

in the Netherlands, invited over the key faces of the original cast twice to reprise their characters on Dutch television (albeit not for a full, half-hour episode).

First in 1976, Dutch comedian André van Duin entered a shop and ran into Mr Humphries, Miss Brahms and Mrs Slocombe.

This time, the search was for a replacement for Mrs Slocombe, with Mollie Sugden, John Inman, Frank Thornton, Wendy Richard, and Trevor Bannister all reprising their roles.

[26] The series gained much of its popularity with TV viewers by "pushing the envelope" through its deliberate-yet-subtle use of risqué visual gags, innuendo-infused dialogue and cleverly-disguised sophomoric humour.

Despite this, Inman pointed out that Mr Humphries' true sexual orientation was never explicitly stated in the series, and David Croft said in an interview that the character was not homosexual, but "just a mother's boy".

By the early 1990s, it had gained such a loyal following that American viewers of the show formed fan clubs and were in large attendance wherever cast members made guest appearances.

Players moved round a board resembling the shop floor to purchase one item from each of the four counters and leave the store, before their opponents and without going over budget.