Customer Reviews

Are You Being Served? Giftset (Volumes 1-7 plus Best of) [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Again, do not buy this box set if you think you will get all the "Served"'s. I love "Served" - I still watch the episodes when they come on TV! Some I have recorded and I watch them when I can; I still love the "ignamonious" and cat and "board room level" (look up) jokes (my son loves it when Mr. W.C. Humphries answers the phone in a deep voice by saying, "Men's ware." BUT, I don't have all the episodes, so I thought I would ask for this box set for my birthday, thinking I would complete my own collection. WRONG! Each video, 7 in the collection, only covers three episodes each. The eighth video covers more episodes but only in snippets. That's it! Bogus buy! Better for you to watch your PBS station and wait for the episodes to come on than to waste your money buying only a few episodes. Or better still, go to the DVD section and consider buying all the episodes at a larger price (if you loved the "Served's," it's worth the price).

What do you get when you get a pink haired lady who makes her own marmalade, a fun-loving ambigious man, a cocky former "captain" and the high jinks of a young stud who is in love with revelry? You get "Are You Being Served?" the wonderful collection of PRIME English comedy. It's subtle. It's terrificly witty. It's just so darn funny. Set in the 70's and 80's we follow the life and times of the gang in menswear and "womens apparel" at Grace Brothers. It's tradition vs. modernism. It's the "old school" vs. the young brash. I love Mr. Humphries! I adore Mrs. Slocumb. Watch this vintage show. They sure don't make comedies like this any more. Lucky we have them on tape.

Anyone looking for 21 of the funniest episodes of this series will be very pleased. All of the shows you remember are here, including "Dear Sexy Knickers", "German Week" and "The Erotic Dreams of Mrs. Slocombe" plus many more that I'm sure true fans will cherish. I'm a huge Brit-com fan and I had to have this show in my collection. If you're a fan also please buy this set for your collection too. Someone mentioned in their review that the "Best of" video, which is included here, isn't as funny when scenes are viewed out of context but if you're familiar with the series, you'll completely remember each scene shown!

This is a wonderful series that still has me in fits of hysterics whenever I watch it. How fabulous then that there is now a compilation of videos available to buy for us die-hard fans.

Who can forget Mollie Sugden as Mrs. Slocombe, a member of the blue rinse brigade always talking about her cat but in the most inappropriate way and doing her best to show everyone how well bred she is. She is also a frustrated spinster and one of the best episodes is when she pretends to loose her memory and then proceeds to chase after Captain Peacock, she being resplendent in a little girl's outfit, looking something off the top of a Scarecrow's Christmas tree.

Then there is the talented actor John Inman as Mr. Humphries, is he gay, or is he not? You're never quite sure, though surely he must be but then there is the episode where he drags Miss Brahms under the seats in the opera house, after she keeps tickling his hand and making him feel very frisky. Frank Thornton as Captain Stephen Peacock is a delight, absolutely stuffy, totally English and in reality never a Captain, he was actually a Corporal in the Food Corp during the war as one episode of the series tells us.

Wendy Richard is a delicious delight as the young Miss Shirley Brahms, uneducated, coarse, and as brassy as they come, her best scenes are when she spars with the cast of young men that appear throughout the series.

Nicholas Smith as the lower management icon Mr. Cuthbert Rumbold shows us his colors when he is talking to the wonderfully lecherous Young Mr. Grace, played to perfection by the actor Harold Bennett, owner of the department store Grace Brothers. This is an absolute gem of a comedy series, stuffed full of English irreverence to authority, management of all levels and the British class system in general.

It is a comedy that will leave you crying with laugher as the jokes and innuendo flies thick and fast through every episode. Look out for the Japanese Tourist episode, the Cafeteria episode and the camping out in the shop because it's snowing a storm outside episode, they are the creme del la creme in hilarity.

This won't be the cheapest purchase you ever make, but it will be worth every single cent, just remember this, you can break ribs laughing (I should know) so watch it in stages, it can be seriously BAD for your health!

And I must say I definitely fancy this box set of "Are you being served". I have been a devotee of the show for many years after seeing it for the first time on PBS in America. This box set puts some of the best episodes together for over 11 hours worth of side-splitting laughter. If you're a fan of other British comedies such as "Keeping up Appearances" or even "Absolutely Fabulous" (you can even see a younger Joanna Lumley in a couple of episodes) then this is a must. And even if you are usually not so inclined to watch such a show, I still suggest checking this series out. From Ms. Solcombe (Mollie Sugden) and her poor pussycat and double entendres to Mr. Humphries (John Inman) and his ambiguous sexuality, you will thoroughly enjoy every moment of this great ensemble. All the action takes place in the Grace Brothers Department Store, think of an upper scale department store staffed by middle class attitude, and you get the idea. Insults, attitude, hair color, inside legs, and Ms. Solcombe's underwear are but few of the jokes that occupy these episodes. Sit back, relax, have an ale or hotpot, and be prepared to be served up a hearty chuckle. And remember to drop a sardine on the mat if you really enjoy the show!!

Are you being served? is the best brit-com ever! I already have all the episodes on tape at home and I would suggest this giftset to everybody! I have never found a show this hilarious, one great joke follows another, the characters are amazing each in their own little way, I just can't imagine someone who wouldn't laugh watching these episodes! My friends all thought I was old-fashioned for loving this show so much, I asked them to watch it a couple of times with me and now they like it! Of course it's very british, and that's what I like about it. Here in Canada it plays everyday on tv, but for those of you who can't watch it, buy this set and you won't regret it!!

love the shows British comedy is so good It's clean not vulgar you laugh at what is really funny in life. Would love to live over there.

The earlier reviewer is confusing this DVD set with the video collection, which does only have three episodes per tape. As stated in the description, this set has 34 episodes of the 69 that were made. I know that the videotapes are a big improvement in picture quality over taping off television, so I would think that DVD quality pictures will be unbelievably clear.

This series ran and re-ran on public television interminably, and I always loved it. There must have been hundreds of episodes, and I think I saw each a couple of dozen times. I never tired of them. This set includes some of the best of them, and I guarantee that they will give great pleasure and endless laughs.

Anyone who loves British humor will love this series. If you have not seen them, I envy you because it is still in front of you.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre,

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

I can watch the gang from grace brothers over and over again... they are a real funny group of people... try and see are u being served,again...it is very good...*****