Are You Being Served? The Complete Series (DVD)

“Are You Being Served?” is one of my all time favorite Britcoms even if I think the creators should have had the good sense to quit while they were ahead instead of dragging it out for as long as they did. The first seven seasons feature the show at its very best with one classic laugh-out-loud episode after another full of hilarious jokes and clever sight gags. By the eighth season, however, too many key actors had left, the remaining cast and new additions didn't have the same energy, and the writers were clearly running out of ideas. There are still some good episodes in the last three seasons, but the show was undeniably past its prime. This boxset contains the entire 69 episode run of the show on 14 DVDs, the first 12 for the episodes, and the last two for the extra features which include two biographical documentaries about Mollie Sugden, and one each for John Inman and Wendy Richards. I would have liked similar biographies for the other cast members, but apparently the BBC only produced ones for those three, although you can find text-only features on the episode discs covering the other actors. Then there’s an entirely superfluous “The Best of ‘Are You Being Served?’” feature showing a disjointed collection of clips covering the show’s ten seasons (I imagine this played better on syndicated television in the days before people could buy entire shows on home media), and, finally, the first episode of the sequel series called “Grace & Favour” in England, and, more sensibly, “Are You Being Served? Again!” in the United States. The case containing the DVDs holds them securely so they don't get damaged by spinning and banging against each other, although they are somewhat difficult to remove from their spindles. On my set, the first episode on the first DVD skips partway through, but there were no faults on the rest of the DVDs. The discs have closed captions but no subtitles, so you'll need a DVD player with a closed caption decoder to take advantage of it. In summary, this is a treasure for any fan of “Are You Being Served?” that I can highly recommend.

Bought this for a friend who loves old sitcoms. He was thrilled to be able to own this on DVD.

*Looks Around* I'm freezer! If you've seen this show, you can hear this review. This show is old school amazing and classic British television. Buy this. Make a drinking game out of it. Worth every penny!

If you know you know

Great TV series. Will enjoy watching these episodes whenever I want. Thanks.

Delivery time was amazingly good, and no problem with seller. I have not reviewed all the discs yet but the first one looks fine. Someone mentioned that their number four disc did not work mine does so far but I just did a quick check. “Are you being served?” is about the funniest show you will ever see on television!

The DVD discs themselves are a bit flimsy so it might be better to keep them stored in a CD shell but they play perfectly and there’s no problems with the image/sound quality.

This is a fun series. I have enjoyed seeing some episodes I haven't seen before. DVD packaging is good.

Arrived in playable condition! Excellent memory lane stuff right here!!

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Are You Being Served(AYBS)which ran from 1972 to 1985,certainly has to go down as one of the BBC's biggest television sitcom triumphs ever.This rather ordinary setting in an old style English department store was populated with some of the most eccentric but lovable characters you would ever find on TV anywhere. Mrs Slocombe(Mollie Sugden)whose hairstyle/colour changed as often as the weather.Her catch phrases were,among others,"weak as water",when referring to the men.When she wanted to emphasize a statement she would say"...and I am unanimous in that...". Miss.Brahms(Wendy Richards)was Mrs.Slocombe's assistant in the womens wear department,whose cockney accent and less than stellar mind,would sometimes rate an admonishment from Mrs.Slocombe in the form of"That will all,Miss Brahms". Mr.Peacock(Frank Thornton)whose pompous attitude and sarcasm/stares as the stores floorwalker were something else to behold.He was always berating the maintenance staff for being on the floor during open hours. Mr.Grainger(Arthur Brough)was the oldest and most crotchety man on the floor and senior salesman in the mens wear department.He seem to be doing a constant reprising of Winston Churchill.If trouble arose for him it was always"...a glass of water for Mr Grainger". Mr.Humphries(John Inman)was the effeminate/mama's boy who never left home.He was second behind Mr.Grainger.When Capt.Peacock would glance his way with"Are you free,Mr.Humphries",an inevitably alone Mr.Humphries would respond"Yes,I am free" and do his famous quick walk over to the Captain. Mr.Lucas(Trevor Bannister) was the young assistant to Mr Humphries,and he always had a comeback,especially towards Mrs.Slocombe. Mr. Rumbold(Nicholas Smith)was the Mickey Mouse eared boss of all(next of course behind the young Mr Grace,the owner).He would steal others suggestions for his own and was sometimes hard to get a point through to;in other words,pretty thick. This cornucopia of characters,along with so many other memorable ones,with all their foibles and quirks were quite lovable and one could easily empathize with them as they all had their feet firmly based in reality;the cornerstone of good comedy. Technically speaking the shows(all 69 eps on 14 discs,two in one slip case)have been transferred wonderfully.The only glitch in the set that I found was on the ep "Pop Star".During the beginning music it suddenly stalls(stuck on one note)for two or three seconds then continues.The film itself is still moving so it is either a glitch from the original film master or something from the transfer.Along with the 69 eps are the original pilot.Also are some wonderful extras on the two end discs.They contain featurettes on three of its main stars,the best of AYBS,a AYBS special starring Inman playing Mr Humphries and his mother and ep#1 from Grace and Favour,the sequel series to AYBS.Along with many of the earlier eps comes some trivia about each and each ep features a lead in from a closing and opening elevator door,with the title of the ep being spoken.There is a lexicon of sorts included for those who don't quite get all of the English phraseology. All in all a highly recommended box set of one of the funniest BBC shows ever to air.Some of the funniest double entendre's,farce and even slapstick will have you laughing out loud as you watch them.Highly Recommended. FYI- Out of most of the main cast only Frank Thornton(Mr Peacock) and Nicholas Smith(Mr.Rumbold) are still with us as of this writing.

I have been a fan of this show since it first aired here in the mid 1970s. I watched it regularly when it was a weekly staple on PBS during the 1990s. However, it was about 15 years from the time I last watched it on TV and watched it on the DVD set I bought earlier this year. As I recalled, the latter seasons were not at all funny with so many new cast members and the plots that were ridiculous beyond belief. I was wrong. While the latter seasons are clearly not as funny as the earlier seasons, they are not as gawdawful I had remembered. They too are funny, not as funny as the older shows but still worth seeing and guaranteed to make you laugh. Because of my negative perception of the show's latter seasons, I refused to purchase the set until this year when I stumbled upon an amazing deal on this site. I was more than pleased with the purchase. The set is also well packaged, so no worries about damaging the disks from frequent viewing. This set is not lavished with extras, but those that are included are informative and enjoyable. One of the extras is the first episode of "Are You Being Served Again?" This is a series starring largely the same cast that was made a few years after the original show ended. I had seen this show on PBS years ago and hated it, but seeing the series opener a few months ago, I again call into question my memory as the show was quite funny. It certainly has made me interested in obtaining the series, which only ran for a single season. For younger viewers who have never seen the show and were weaned on "Little Britain," check out "Are You Being Served" and then you will better understand the sketches that reference Mollie Sugden and understand the reverence the two lads have for her.

What a great show. Funnier the more you watch, British humour that’s ahead of its time