Are You Being Served? The Complete Series (DVD)

“Are You Being Served?” is one of my all time favorite Britcoms even if I think the creators should have had the good sense to quit while they were ahead instead of dragging it out for as long as they did. The first seven seasons feature the show at its very best with one classic laugh-out-loud episode after another full of hilarious jokes and clever sight gags. By the eighth season, however, too many key actors had left, the remaining cast and new additions didn't have the same energy, and the writers were clearly running out of ideas. There are still some good episodes in the last three seasons, but the show was undeniably past its prime. This boxset contains the entire 69 episode run of the show on 14 DVDs, the first 12 for the episodes, and the last two for the extra features which include two biographical documentaries about Mollie Sugden, and one each for John Inman and Wendy Richards. I would have liked similar biographies for the other cast members, but apparently the BBC only produced ones for those three, although you can find text-only features on the episode discs covering the other actors. Then there’s an entirely superfluous “The Best of ‘Are You Being Served?’” feature showing a disjointed collection of clips covering the show’s ten seasons (I imagine this played better on syndicated television in the days before people could buy entire shows on home media), and, finally, the first episode of the sequel series called “Grace & Favour” in England, and, more sensibly, “Are You Being Served? Again!” in the United States. The case containing the DVDs holds them securely so they don't get damaged by spinning and banging against each other, although they are somewhat difficult to remove from their spindles. On my set, the first episode on the first DVD skips partway through, but there were no faults on the rest of the DVDs. The discs have closed captions but no subtitles, so you'll need a DVD player with a closed caption decoder to take advantage of it. In summary, this is a treasure for any fan of “Are You Being Served?” that I can highly recommend.

A long time favorite of mine. Got tired of poor copies of episodes and segments on You Tube. Bought the DVD set. One of the great all-time comedy shows.

Everyone should watch this series at some point in their life. It is so funny. You just need a British sense of humor. Very happy to add this to my collection. Now, if I could only have it in digital.

These dvds are EXACTLY what i ordered. They play great, picture clarity a10, sound works with my tv, value for my money. Definately will buy from again.

If you're buying this, you don't need my review of the show. So, I've reviewed this box set. I have the original Box Set 1 (1-7) and Box Set 2 (8-14). If you want space savings, you will save 75% replacing those with this set. It would take four of these new sets to use the space of the original two box sets and that was why I bought it and luckily it was also on a quite nice sale, $39. If you have those first box sets, I doubt you'll see much quality difference. I didn't see anything though new set says lovingly restored. Maybe the pilot was slightly better but not by much. I didn't compare every one. I did also check the first official episode. Saw no difference. I thought of giving a 4 because the stated restoration didn't do anything compared to my separate two box sets of 15 years ago, but gave a 5 because for space savings and quality (even if the stated restoration didn't do much for me), the quality of all color episodes looked quite good. So, as a nice easy to store set with good quality given its age (40-50 years), still worthy of a 5. I would have bought even if the stated quality was the same as I was out for saving space. Others may not. If you don't have the set at all and like British humor, you'll likely enjoy if it is your first time and can get this full set at a nice price. Double Entendres forever. Great characters especially first five years.

A great, classic series with loads of extras! I highly recommend it!

The DVD discs themselves are a bit flimsy so it might be better to keep them stored in a CD shell but they play perfectly and there’s no problems with the image/sound quality.

My all time favorite Britcom... I've seen them a hundred times, and have never stopped loving them! I used to keep them on constant rotation in my DVD player and simply follow the last disk of the series with the first again... I've not found the series available online, and am Glad to know I've got the set on hard copy myself! I watched the show every time I found it online, but found the complete series interesting in the ability it gave to see the slow progression of characters as the series went on... some people go after years, some people are only there for a short time... I mostly liked seeing how Mr Harman began as a side character, and eventually grew to be a replacement for the original character, lost after a very long run... I enjoyed the variations and amazing diversity of story they managed to pull off in a show where they NEVER DO ACTUALLY LEAVE THE STORE!! and the double entendre never really loses its cheeky smirk-inducing qualities... Interestingly, tho I'd seen it on PBS for years, there were a couple of episodes I had NEVER Seen on this Dvd set... for obvious reasons eventually... and it's interesting to see how, what is really a very progressive show, still had its moments of situational prejudice... (you think rather a lot after watching it an 'undred times...) A classic, I will enjoy watching well into my dotage... And the disk set is small and thin, so it fits on the shelf better than other boxed sets (emphasis on the BOX!)M

Are You Being Served(AYBS)which ran from 1972 to 1985,certainly has to go down as one of the BBC's biggest television sitcom triumphs ever.This rather ordinary setting in an old style English department store was populated with some of the most eccentric but lovable characters you would ever find on TV anywhere. Mrs Slocombe(Mollie Sugden)whose hairstyle/colour changed as often as the weather.Her catch phrases were,among others,"weak as water",when referring to the men.When she wanted to emphasize a statement she would say"...and I am unanimous in that...". Miss.Brahms(Wendy Richards)was Mrs.Slocombe's assistant in the womens wear department,whose cockney accent and less than stellar mind,would sometimes rate an admonishment from Mrs.Slocombe in the form of"That will all,Miss Brahms". Mr.Peacock(Frank Thornton)whose pompous attitude and sarcasm/stares as the stores floorwalker were something else to behold.He was always berating the maintenance staff for being on the floor during open hours. Mr.Grainger(Arthur Brough)was the oldest and most crotchety man on the floor and senior salesman in the mens wear department.He seem to be doing a constant reprising of Winston Churchill.If trouble arose for him it was always"...a glass of water for Mr Grainger". Mr.Humphries(John Inman)was the effeminate/mama's boy who never left home.He was second behind Mr.Grainger.When Capt.Peacock would glance his way with"Are you free,Mr.Humphries",an inevitably alone Mr.Humphries would respond"Yes,I am free" and do his famous quick walk over to the Captain. Mr.Lucas(Trevor Bannister) was the young assistant to Mr Humphries,and he always had a comeback,especially towards Mrs.Slocombe. Mr. Rumbold(Nicholas Smith)was the Mickey Mouse eared boss of all(next of course behind the young Mr Grace,the owner).He would steal others suggestions for his own and was sometimes hard to get a point through to;in other words,pretty thick. This cornucopia of characters,along with so many other memorable ones,with all their foibles and quirks were quite lovable and one could easily empathize with them as they all had their feet firmly based in reality;the cornerstone of good comedy. Technically speaking the shows(all 69 eps on 14 discs,two in one slip case)have been transferred wonderfully.The only glitch in the set that I found was on the ep "Pop Star".During the beginning music it suddenly stalls(stuck on one note)for two or three seconds then continues.The film itself is still moving so it is either a glitch from the original film master or something from the transfer.Along with the 69 eps are the original pilot.Also are some wonderful extras on the two end discs.They contain featurettes on three of its main stars,the best of AYBS,a AYBS special starring Inman playing Mr Humphries and his mother and ep#1 from Grace and Favour,the sequel series to AYBS.Along with many of the earlier eps comes some trivia about each and each ep features a lead in from a closing and opening elevator door,with the title of the ep being spoken.There is a lexicon of sorts included for those who don't quite get all of the English phraseology. All in all a highly recommended box set of one of the funniest BBC shows ever to air.Some of the funniest double entendre's,farce and even slapstick will have you laughing out loud as you watch them.Highly Recommended. FYI- Out of most of the main cast only Frank Thornton(Mr Peacock) and Nicholas Smith(Mr.Rumbold) are still with us as of this writing.

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What a great show. Funnier the more you watch, British humour that’s ahead of its time

Arrived in playable condition! Excellent memory lane stuff right here!!

This was exactly what I wanted! It has not been remastered, so it looks like it did years ago on tv, all discs were there, case was good, shipping was fast, just glad to have this set as I have many fond memories with this show, a simpler time in a less chaotic world! Cheers!