Trivia

During 1970’s and 1980’s Are You Being Served? was 2nd in the ratings only to Coronation Street one of the longest running soap series in history.

All episodes were filmed in colour, but the only copy of the pilot is in black-and-white.

There was a short-lived Australian version of AYBS? in the early 80’s starring John Inman with an Australian cast which ran for 2 seasons.

The series is based on Jeremy Lloyd’s experiences at Simpson’s in London’s West End.

Are You Being Served? continues to be aired by PBS and BBC America in the United States and by UK Gold in the United Kingdomas well as many other stations around the world.

One of the BBC’s most popular shows.

Are You Being Served? aired in the UK for 10 seasons (from 1972-1985, skipping 2 years).

There was an attempt of an American version of the series with Charlotte Rae as Mrs Slocombe and John Hillerman, (Magnum PI fame), who played Captain Peacock called “Beanes of Boston”. You can see the full clip here. Produced by Gary and Penny Marshall. It failed to be a series.

In the 1990’s, several original cast members reunited for Are You Being Served? Again (AYBS?A or Grace and Favour in the U.K.) which for the first time, took them out of Grace Brothers and put them to work as the staff of a quaint bed and breakfast in the English countryside. AYBS?A ran for 3 seasons.

AYBS?’s theme song with the voice of Stephanie Gathercole-one of the secretaries in the series-was used from a track from Pink Floyd’s “Money”. Written by David Croft to eliminate the need for expensive union musicians, Musical accompaniment was arranged by Ronnie Hazlehurst who also worked for the Benny Hill Show.

Are You Being Served? was launched on PBS via 24 channels in the summer of 1987.

There was an international fan club in Texas that Marcia Richards ran in 1992 for a few years. She passed away a number of years ago.

NEW ADDITIONS

First broadcast on September 8, 1972 on the BBC for the series Comedy Playhouse. They needed to fill in the gap in programming caused by the 1972 Summer Olympics Munich massacre. Reaired on March 14, 1973 to start of the rest of the series.

A color version of the pilot episode existed at one time, but has been lost although there are some reports of the color version being found. UPDATE: Color version was created a few years ago.

An American version of AYBS was attempted-“Beanes of Boston”. Cast “almost” included Frank Thornton and Robin Williams, as well as John Hillerman from “Magnum P.I.” fame, and Charlotte Rae from “The Facts of Life” fame. Some interesting trivia about this series.