Are You Being Served?

[Ignatius_S]

There was an excellent BBC documentary about the series about ten years ago. Can't find it online, but this C5 one is pretty solid:

[Glebe]

Pilot episode's on Gold in about an hour if anybody's arsed.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Ta Glebe. I've put it on to record.

[Glebe]

*thumbs up*

[Dr Rock]

Bloody hate this rotten show. Was it one of the ones that used to say '... and you can currently see Trevor Bannister in Whoops There Goes My Faucet' in High Wycam's Playhouse Theatre'

Well most viewer are hundreds of miles from High Wycam, what are we supposed to with that information? It's all very class-based too isn't it, like Hi-De-Hi (also utter shite).

[dontpaintyourteeth]

my pussy

[Lapsedcat]

Never liked Mr Harman. Mr Mash was far better

[jamiefairlie]

Bloody hate this rotten show. Was it one of the ones that used to say '... and you can currently see Trevor Bannister in Whoops There Goes My Faucet' in High Wycam's Playhouse Theatre'

Well most viewer are hundreds of miles from High Wycam, what are we supposed to with that information? It's all very class-based too isn't it, like Hi-De-Hi (also utter shite).

All BBC comedies seemed to do that in the 70s. I'd never heard of any of those places.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

Whoops There Goes My Pussy In High Wycombe

[dissolute ocelot]

I assume it was in the stars' contract? "BBC will promote any shit pantos the star appears in". Rather than being the BBC trying to be helpful and present useful info to the viewer.

[Dr Rock]

I assumed that also, however at some point they stopped doing it.

[Gurke and Hare]

Probably part of a standard Equity agreement that later expired. They used to say if someone was a member of the RSC too - Nicky Henson got that shout out at the end of his Fawlty Towers episode. It was parodied on the end credits of As Seen On TV:

v/o: Patricia Routledge is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Victoria Wood isn't.

VW: I don't want to be. You can't park in Stratford.

[Lapsedcat]

I assumed that also, however at some point they stopped doing it.

They were still doing it in 1991, promoting Edmondson & Mayall doing Godot over the closing credits to Bottom

[TheMonk]

The Australian version is fascinatingly shit. Difficult to switch off and atrocious at the same time. The early 80's version of a Trump rally.

[Noakes]

i remember from one of the documentaries that the pay was rubbish, and bannister left because a few stage shows paid what he'd get for an entire season of are you being served.

there was also some very sad stuff about how they used to hear wendy richards being knocked about by her boy friend in the dressing room. her begging for him not to hit her in the face

the bbc doc is here, but it's not a great copy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBc7raUPY38&ab_channel=IsiahMerritt

[Ignatius_S]

i remember from one of the documentaries that the pay was rubbish, and bannister left because a few stage shows paid what he'd get for an entire season of are you being served.

there was also some very sad stuff about how they used to hear wendy richards being knocked about by her boy friend in the dressing room. her begging for him not to hit her in the face

the bbc doc is here, but it's not a great copy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBc7raUPY38&ab_channel=IsiahMerritt

That was the BBC one I mentioned - not a good copy as you say, but the content is very good. Some of the footage/interviews from it are in the C5 one I posted.

Bannister left because he had signed on for a touring stage show and when he later got the schedule for the next series, there was a clash. He did mention that it paid a lot more, but some of that would be due to the length of the engagement - about two months compared to several. He wouldn't quit the play - I have a feeling it was partway through the tour - so they replaced him. Something to factor in is that if he suddenly pulled out of a long-term commitment because he opted to another series of ABYS?, that likely could affect other offers Bannister got.

I'm pretty sure that he said that after doing the series for the best part of a decade, there wasn't much else they could do with the character. Personally, I think that's fair and the way that Lucas fit into the series had changed. Also, the show was repeating a lot of the same beats so not a bad time to move on.

Something that was mooted was the clash came down to a breakdown of communication between the people doing the series and his agent - but that's quite a breakdown and personally, I felt it was pretty shabby treatment. Something that comes across in the docs, is that despite it being a big hit with audience, it was always a relatively last-minute decision whether there would be another series. In that basis, it's not surprising that Bannaister took another job.

Re: Richard - yes, that really was shocking and was something covered in the C5 doc.

[dissolute ocelot]

i remember from one of the documentaries that the pay was rubbish, and bannister left because a few stage shows paid what he'd get for an entire season of are you being served.

there was also some very sad stuff about how they used to hear wendy richards being knocked about by her boy friend in the dressing room. her begging for him not to hit her in the face

the bbc doc is here, but it's not a great copy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBc7raUPY38&ab_channel=IsiahMerritt

BBC sitcoms seemed to have paid a pittance; they discuss this quite a bit on the British Sitcom History podcast. For Fawlty Towers, Andrew Sachs reportedly got £150 per episode for the first series rising to £350 per episode for the second series. Not sure what you'd get for 8 performances a week in the theatre in a starring role, but probably a lot more than that.

[Glebe]

That's awful stuff about Wendy Richards.

Bloody hate this rotten show. Was it one of the ones that used to say '... and you can currently see Trevor Bannister in Whoops There Goes My Faucet' in High Wycam's Playhouse Theatre'

Well most viewer are hundreds of miles from High Wycam, what are we supposed to with that information? It's all very class-based too isn't it, like Hi-De-Hi (also utter shite).

Oh come on, that's a bit harsh! I have a particular fondness for Hi-De-Hi! and enjoy the Gold reruns. But speaking of 'currently appearing in':



Bit of a coup getting Keith Richards involved!

BBC sitcoms seemed to have paid a pittance; they discuss this quite a bit on the British Sitcom History podcast. For Fawlty Towers, Andrew Sachs reportedly got £150 per episode for the first series rising to £350 per episode for the second series. Not sure what you'd get for 8 performances a week in the theatre in a starring role, but probably a lot more than that.

It's weird that Sachs plays the Spanish hotel manager in the AYBS? movie. Came out  in '77, two years after FT began.

[dr beat]

^ Barry but no Yvonne?

[Glebe]

She probably had bigger fish to fry!

[Matthew Dawkins Jub Jub]

I seem to remember the character of Mr Lucas having some dubious attiudes to consent. Was there one episode where he told the other staff he removed the door handles from the inside of his car so the girl with him could not get out? I'm sure those attitudes were sadly common in the 1970s but it seems pretty grim now (although I'm sure there are still quite a few Mr Lucases out there).

Although I have Are You Being Served on DVD, I haven't watched it for a few years so I might be wrong.

Tee hee hee hee! You'll never get me in the slammer!

[kalowski]

I'm always amazed to think that Simon Cadell smoked 80 cigarettes a day! Where did he find the time?

[FredNurke]

He used to smoke five at the same time.

[Pavlov`s Dog`s Dad`s Dead]

He used to smoke five at the same time.

Bloody hell, did he take after Anne Boleyn?