Are You Being Served? is an Australian sitcom that is based on the British sitcom of the same name; it was produced by Network Ten. A total of 16 episodes were produced in two series, which aired in 1980 and 1981. The draw-card was the presence of actor John Inman reprising his role of Mr. Humphries from the original series. The other characters were all directly based on the regular characters in the show's original British version, but were all given new names. hence there were no other returning original actors. In comparison to the original series, Inman described this version of the series as "tighter - there's less padding." For the opening theme, Inman himself performed vocals.
Premise
Audio samples of Are You Being Served?
Mr Humphries is sent to Australia by Mr. Grace to work temporarily for his Australian cousin Mr. Bone at Bone Brothers. Apart from the new setting and Australian rather than British characters, the characters and situation are almost identical to that of the original series, as are the set design and layout and even the costuming. Menswear and ladies apparel share a floor of a large citydepartment store and the departments came into regular conflict. The staff on the floor are the pompous floor-walker Captain Wagstaff, crusty senior salesman Mr Mankowitz, randy sales junior Mr Randel, strident older sales woman Mrs Crawford and attractive but brassy and common younger sales woman Miss Buxton. Basil Clarke portrays the store's owner Mr Bone, Reg Evans is the obnoxious cleaner Mr Cocker, Kerry Daniel plays the nurse, and Tracey Kelly is Bone's attractive secretary.
The first series was produced at the ATV-0 studios in Melbourne in the early months of 1980. It was the first television role for opera singer June Bronhill. John Inman said, "It's amazing to think this is her first television role, she's a natural." Bronhill discussed the role with TV Week magazine. "I'm delighted with the way my character has turned out. Mrs Crawford tries to be very refined but sometimes the ocker in her slips out. The British version of Are You Being Served? has always been my favourite comedy series. And I loved Mollie Sugden's performance as Mrs Slocombe, my counterpart." For the second and final series, produced in late 1980, original regular cast members Judith Woodroffe, who was Mrs Crawford's attractive junior Miss Buxton, and Peter Collingwood who had played the Mr Rumbold-like store manager Mr Dunkley, were unavailable. To replace them, Christine Amor was the new, brassy young female retail assistant Miss Nicholls, and Ken Fraser came in as Mr Fenwick. Christine Amor said of the series that "Are You Being Served? is one of the few TV comedies we are making in Australia and that's sad. In the days of My Name's McGooley, What's Yours? we had real Australian humour. But we have been very much influenced by overseas countries. Are You Being Served? is popular because people identify with a department store. It has no Australian idioms and it is a take off of the English series, but there is this sort of colonial thing where people enjoy English humour. I've always enjoyed it. I like English comedies, I think they're far superior to American comedies." It was Amor's first acting job before a live television audience. "I look at John Inman because he's been doing TV comedy for 10 years and been a comedian for 25 years. He's got it down to a fine art. But it is an accomplished skill which you keep on learning. I've learned a lot from John. The basic hint he gave me was to enjoy it and to have a rapport with the audience." Actress Abigail guest starred in one episode as a perfume company sales woman installed on the shop floor, whose presence disturbs the head of men's wear and the head of ladies' wear. Abigail's character then does a strip tease to reveal a skimpy costume. Abigail said of the guest spot that "I took this role because I very much wanted to work with John Inman and I have a high regard for the series itself. Besides, I thought it would be a fun proposition."
The series never ran outside of Australia and thus was not seen in the UK or other countries where Are You Being Served? was popular, such as Ireland, the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. The series has not been repeated on Australian television since the late 1980s. In a recurring joke on the radio show Get This, it was stated that only the loss of the master tapes for the series is preventing its release on DVD. The National Film and Sound Archive does in fact contain copies of each episode in its vault. Most of the episodes are available on YouTube.
