Talk:Are You Being Served?

John Inman song called Are You Being Served Sir
Worth a mention in the article I think;

John Inman song - Are You Being Served, Sir? (Not related to the series theme tune other than the title).

It reached number 39 in 1975 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FT0hSDOfCY

The Best Of VHS compilation
The text presently reads: "Buoyed by the huge success of the series in the United States, BBC America commissioned a special straight-to-VHS compilation in 1992."

How'd they do that, when BBC America didn't exist until 1998? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.247.21.65 (talk) 00:44, 11 July 2020 (UTC)

Fourth wall
(Mr. Humphries) often breaks the fourth wall by talking directly to the television audience . Did he really?--92.201.178.61 (talk) 16:12, 8 February 2021 (UTC)


 * @92.201.178.61 this incorrect, however the camera did sometimes focus on his facial expressions 90.249.6.186 (talk) 06:14, 9 April 2022 (UTC)
 * In the Fifty Years On episode, he directly tells the audience "We're not going to tell you what it is." (in relation to Mrs Slocombe's birthday gift), by which he does break the fourth wall. In the episode Grounds for Divorce, he looks directly into the camera and says "Have I missed something?", which can also be interpreted as talking directly to the audience. I believe there are a few more occasions where something like that happens. I agree that he definitely doesn't break the fourth wall often, but at least once or twice he does break it. Don't know if that's worth mentioning, though, but it isn't incorrect. ViktorieB (talk) 16:00, 5 February 2023 (UTC)

Mr. Granger
Is it worth mentioning that Mr. Granger joined Grace Brothers on the day Baldwin resigned, 28 May 1937? PatGallacher (talk) 23:17, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

Merger Proposal
I propose merging List of Are You Being Served? characters into this article. As it is, the list is basically in-universe cruft and all pertinent points are adequately covered in the Characters and Casting section of the main AYBS article. Just Another Cringy Username (talk) 19:35, 2 August 2022 (UTC)

I rather reluctantly oppose. Although I wasn't particularly a fan of the series, we do have similar articles on other popular long-running series e.g. List of Dad's Army characters. "Cruft" is open to interpretation. PatGallacher (talk) 21:18, 2 August 2022 (UTC)

In fact we have a whole pile of similar articles, see the category: "Lists of British sitcom television characters". PatGallacher (talk) 21:22, 2 August 2022 (UTC)


 * Maybe it's time to start getting rid of some of those too. WP:LISTCRUFT is a thing. Just Another Cringy Username (talk) 22:20, 2 August 2022 (UTC)
 * No it is not. Listcruftn is just an essay reflecting someone's POV. As with most Wikipedia essays, tit is practically worthless. Dimadick (talk) 06:39, 4 August 2022 (UTC)
 * No it is not. Rillington (talk) 12:24, 4 August 2022 (UTC)

I'm totally against this merger proposal. As said, there are other similar articles for other popular long-running sitcoms. Rillington (talk) 12:24, 4 August 2022 (UTC)
 * So keep because WP:OTHERSTUFFEXISTS? Just Another Cringy Username (talk) 02:07, 12 August 2022 (UTC)

Costumed numbers
There is an offensive number in one of the shows. The staff are dressed up in blackface. I do not remember the episode but there it is for posterity. I didn’t know what to make of this when I watched this. How should one suggest a heads up for viewers, but as a U.S. citizen where our history is so fraught with slavery misinformation now and demonstrations not too long ago about removing Confederate statues, this seems an important issue to present to readers of this article on “Are you being served?” Pmtwilly (talk) 17:40, 26 February 2024 (UTC)