Product Details

• Actors: Mollie Sugden, John Inman, Frank Thornton, Wendy Richard, Nicholas Smith
• Directors: Jeremy Lloyd
• Writers: Jeremy Lloyd, David Croft
• Producers: Mike Stevens
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: BBC Warner
• DVD Release Date: August 27, 2002
• Run Time: 180 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000069HXE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,434 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Are You Being Served?, Vol. 1" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

ARE YOU BEING SERVED V1 - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To "knee" or not to "knee", January 2, 2004

By 

mwreview "mwreview" (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Are You Being Served?, Vol. 1 (DVD)

This volume is not as solid as volume 2 of the AYBS? set, but it still represents some of the best AYBS? episodes. It starts with the b&w pilot episode that has the ladies department moving onto the floor that has belonged exclusively to the gents ready-made department for the last 25 years. Such intrusion creates much tension between the two sides in the first few episodes but, as the staff get used to each other, the problem is not brought up as much and, after Mr. Grainger leaves, is no longer a problem. Mr. Lucas plays a bigger role in these early episodes (Trevor Bannister having second billing to Mollie Sugden) with Mr. Humphries playing more comedy relief. John Inman will, of course, become the main star of the show later on.

After the ladies move in, Mr. Lucas has his eye on Miss Brahms in "Dear Sexy Knickers." This is the famous episode where the "kneeing" trousers trick is introduced. When trousers and ladies underwear are down, the staff must discuss sale ideas after hours in "Our Figures Are Slipping." In "Camping In," the staff is stranded due to a transport strike and must spend the night in tents in the department. The best part of this episode is when Mrs. Slocombe tells Capt. Peacock that her inflatable mattress takes "puff after puff after puff" and Mr. Humphries peaks out from his tent to ask, "Can I help anybody?" Classic!. The gents and ladies finally ban together to take on an outside perfume saleswomen who is intruding on their sales in "His and Hers." Finally, in "Diamonds...," a customer offers a big reward for the recovery of a diamond she lost in the store and it appears every staff member finds it. The menu pages are very creative with rotating photos of Mrs. Slocombe. A lift conductor's voice even takes you to each episode! Of course, every fan will eventually want the entire 2 sets of this hilarious series, so go buy them now!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Are you free?", February 17, 2004

By 

Sebastian Fernandez (Tampa, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Are You Being Served?, Vol. 1 (DVD)

If the answer to the question most asked in this series is yes, then watching this hilarious British sit-com about the "misadventures" of a group of salesmen in Grace's Brothers department store is as good a choice as any. This DVD includes the series' pilot, in black and white, and the first five episodes of the series, all in color. During the first two or three episodes most of the jokes are based on double-entendres and in a few cases the authors seem to go as far as overkill. Nevertheless, in the last couple of episodes in this set, the approach changes, and while maintaining the characteristic mentioned, other humorous concepts surface.

The main attraction of this sit-com is its characters, they conform a colorful array of personalities and each has his/her own very distinctive appearance. Mr. Lucas is the junior salesman in the men's department, who has a hard time closing sales, is always on the verge of being fired and has a libido that never ceases to pop up. Mr. Humphries is always picking on Mr. Lucas and always knows the best way to "fix" things for their customers. He knows all the tricks in the business and is clearly attracted by his same gender. Mr. Grainger is the head of the men's department; he is a prude who is shocked frequently by the acts of his two underlings. In the women's department, which shares the same floor with the men's, there are two employees, Mrs. Slocombe who is the one in charge and her subordinate Miss. Brahms. Mrs. Slocombe is the typical middle-aged divorced lady, extremely willing to get involved with any worthy candidate for her affection. She brings in variety through her hair color, which is different in each episode. Miss. Brahms is the "sexy chick", who is always preyed upon by the male personnel, excluding Mr. Humphries, and who tries to get advantage of every possible benefit she can obtain through her looks. Finally, Captain Peacock is the floor manager, a middle-aged man, extremely strict with the employees, but who also likes to flirt with any available woman, doing no distinctions between employees and customers.

Although as I mentioned before some of the jokes are repetitive you can have a really good time watching this series. An example of the repetitiveness is the line "Are you free <name>?" which is used over and over and over and...It will give you the incentive though to continue watching and see if at any point the answer will be "No, sorry". I am not going to spoil it for you, so if you want the answer, you will have to get the DVD!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best of British humour, July 23, 2002

By 

Deborah A. O'reilly "debfromoz" (Thornbury, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Are You Being Served?, Vol. 1 (DVD)

The passing years have not taken the shine from this great British sitcom. Set in a department store in the 1970's (the fashions add to the fun), it features the combined staff of the ladies and gentlemens clothing departments. Many of the comedy situations come from the interactions of these varied and often eccentric characters. The usual situation involves various ploys by the management to try to increase the profitibility of the department and the hilarious results which occur when the staff attempt to put these ideas into practice. While occasionally mildly risque (by '70s standards anyway) it could be enjoyed by almost anyone without too much offence.