Alicia I love this movie so much

Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

mark.waltz Twenty five years ago, a former roommate (who was from London) introduced me to this classic British sitcom which he happened to discover was on PBS. Being in customer service at the time, I loved its sometimes acidic view of life behind the counter. It was also a crash course in British slang which became a part of my lingo and over the years has made me seem a bit of an eccentric. The regular characters here were certainly all a bit eccentric, but in quite different ways. From store owner Young Mr. Grace (the delightfully adorable and seemingly much older Harold Bennett) all the way down to the cockney handymen who were constantly being ordered off the floor by the imperious Captain Peacock, resulting in a delightful insult at his expense, these characters became a part of my TV history memories, as memorable to me as Lucy and Ethel, Laverne and Shirley, all the Golden Girls & Designing Women, and many, many others.The heart and soul of the show and oft' scene stealers were Mollie Sugden's Mrs. Betty Slocum, the "Get Stuffed!" spouting senior clerk "for the ladies' department" who was always complaining about something in regards to her "cat" (utilizing a word which gave quite a different impression of what she was talking about) and John Inman's very gay Mr. Humphries who would answer the phone in a very butch manner ("Men's Wear") then respond to Captain Peacock's "Are You Free?" with a very high pitched "I'm Free!". The characters argued quite a bit as most co-workers who work together for a long time do, but it is obvious that they couldn't imagine working with anybody else. Wendy Richard's Miss Brahams is a "dead common" working class girl anxious to be a little more high class, but when she took elocution lessons, she ended up sounding like she was making fun of an upper class customer. Mr. Lucas over in Men's Wear had fun flirting with Miss Brahams in a very un-PC way and insulting Mrs. Slocum in an even more delicious manner. The gay references from the other characters towards Mr. Humphreys were never homophobic, and came off often as endearing like a friendly little slap on the butt rather than something you'd compare to a hate crime.Then, there was "Jug Ears", Mr. Rumbolt, the prim and proper department manager who often got confused as to the on floor misunderstandings and usually made it out to be something more than it was. Trying to be a peacemaker, he usually ended up causing more trouble. Then, when Mr. Grace made suggestions for the department, "Jug Ears" would turn the suggestion into a big production which usually put the staff in campy costumes and over the top situations that kept the audiences in stitches. One example was a store commercial with Mrs. Slocum wearing over-sized eye lashes that kept getting stuck and Mr. Rumbolt wearing the wrong wig which seemed more appropriate for Liza Minnelli than the character he was playing. The show did utilize American references so that when it did come to American T.V., it ended up being as acceptable to them as it was to the BBC audiences.Replacements for various actors were necessary (usually due to the older cast member's sudden deaths) but they weren't as successful as the original. "Old Mr. Grace" didn't have the cute quality of "Young Mr. Grace", and Mr. Spooner just seemed a pale imitation of Trevor Bannister's Mr. Lucas. Fortunately, the majority of the cast remained the same and the quality of the writing never changed its patterns. 40 years later, the series is as fresh as ever and proves to us American audiences that the humor of the British doesn't have to be droll or "stiff upper lip" and that they can get as down and dirty (in fact even dirtier) than the unfortunate political correctness of American TV has taken over the years. Censorship didn't stop this show from being delightfully witty and even with its slightly obscene insinuations, there is absolutely nothing to offend anybody.

Paul Evans I'm now 30 years of age and grew up watching Allo Allo, 2.4 Children, Only Fools and Horses, One foot in the Grave etc, all of which I have wonderful nostalgic feelings for. I've always felt Brits make the funniest sitcoms, maybe i have an inbuilt British humour. Only in the last 2 years i bought series one of this to see what all the fuss was about, without any shadow of a doubt this is the funniest sitcom ever, no matter what mood i'm in i can put one of these on and laugh out loud, to the people who moan that the jokes were repeated i'd like to remind them of how many years this ran for and just how successful it was and still is. The movie was horrible, why did they make it!! However the sitcom all the way through was hilarious, Mollie and John i think made the series but all the cast were wonderful, especially young Mr Grace. There was an innocence about the series hidden deep amongst all the double entendres. High points for me were from the episodes Camping in, Oh what a tangled web and Friends and Neighbours. Maybe the show dipped a bit at series 9, but series 10 was a class act.

bravesfan35 I don't understand how anyone could bash this show. Yeah, there were a lot of sexual references in it, but it's not near as bad as some of the shows we see on TV these days. There are other Brit-coms like Monty Python that show actual nudity. AYBS does not. I could never get tired of this show. Frankly, I've been a fan of it for years and I hate that it's not currently on our local PBS station. Thankfully, I have taped episodes from when it did air so that if I feel like watching a real comedy, I can just pop in a videotape of AYBS and laugh away. This is an outstanding comedy and I highly recommend it for anyone who wants a good laugh. To all the people who have left nice comments about the show, all I can say to you is "You've all done very well."

buddhadan-1 Another poster here managed to remember in more detail than I probably could had I seen an episode yesterday, but I shall strive to provide you my opinion with the fuzzy memory that serves me still.Let me start by saying that as an avid fan of British comedies for as far back as I can remember, 'Are you being served?' counts to me as one of the best ever created.As a young child, I would sneak from my room late at night to enjoy the ribald comedy of Benny Hill, then later in life the silliness of Monty Python and then even later, the more serious humor of Good neighbors and butterflies.Are you being served is by far one of the funniest overall continued series that I've ever seen, whether it's American or British, mostly due to the nature of the characters and the unique situation in which they all work. The one liners and the double entendres help to make this better than most other shows of it's time and even now.If you've never seen this series, give a few of them a try and I'm sure that you'll fall instantly in love as I did.