Are You Being Served? Again! - The Complete Series (DVD, 2004, 2-Disc Set)

Although many reviews pan this series, I enjoyed it. The core cast from the British comedy series "Are You Being Served" now owns a manor house in the British countryside after Mr. Grace of Grace Brothers frittered away their retirement account on wine, women & his yacht before the store failed and Mr. Grace died. In order to provide income, they open a hotel and become the staff aided by a dirty old man who remembers snuggling with Mrs. Slocum during her war days as a land girl & his pretty daughter who is the cook and just happens to sleep in the manor. Problem is Mr. Humphreys has been assigned to her room and she just decides not to move lodging so into his bed she goes which startles and confuses Mr. Humphreys enormously. This series gives the former department store staff a chance to broaden their setting and their comedic antics.

The dysfunctional sales staff of Grace Brothers is back funnier than ever in this series that takes place after the death of Mr. Grace. The staff is told their much counted on pension has been invested in a quaint country inn and there is a clause which forbids the sale to lay claim to any money! Mr. Humphries, Mrs. Slocombe,Captain Peacock, Miss Brahms and Mr. Rumbold try to make the best of things by turning the inn into a money making venture. Mr. Rumbold has a bit of trouble trying to live equally with the rest of his former staff and Mrs. Slocombe finds that the local farmer(Billy Burden) is a man from her past as a land girl....one she would like to forget and pretends to at every opportunity. Mr. Humphries must share a bed with Mavis, the farmer's daughter(Fleur Bennett), who use to share the bed with the former cook. All quite innocent but eyebrows are still raised by the other cast members as certain words can have two meanings! Thrown in for good measure is the sexy, young ex-secretary(Joanne Heywood) of old Mr. Grace who resides above the stables. This gives Captain Peacock(now divorced) a chance to show what a ladies man he is but alas...all is in vain. There are 12 episodes and I have watched them several times over, never tiring of seeing the cast once again. They are older, but I am not sure wiser, but they are a great deal funnier! If you loved "Are You Being Served?"....you will absolutely go wild for this series.

I had been looking for this collection for quite some time - it is the sequel series to the "are you being served" series and includes the cast that ran Grace Brothers department store from the original series.

Since there were so few episodes in the sequel series I never expected it to be made into a DVD and had checked many sites in the past including the BBC. Incidentally, make sure you get the region 1 DVD for north america.

The quality is excellent, the collection completes my Are you being served collection, amongst other Britcoms such as Fawlty Towers.

What can I say ? It's a very funny British sitcom, a must have.

The show picks up with the death of Mr Grace. It puts most of the original cast back together along with a few new characters. The setting is on a farm of sorts in the country. It is a great series filled with the zany behavior we all came to love from the Are you being served? series. The characters remain the same ole loveable people. It is interesting to see what they will do when approached with new surroundings and adventures. I wish it would have been a longer series. It leaves you wondering even more about the mystery of Mr Humphries and we all finally get to see Mr Slocombe. Most of all, It keeps you laughing and wanting to see what they will think of next.

The show should have ran for many years in my opinion. The cast had proven in the long long run of "Are You Being Served" that they were the right combination for good comedy. The Manor set's are outstanding and the outdoor scene's give the show an extra boost of interest. It appears the original airing of the show in England was called "Grace & Favour" instead of "Are You Being Served Again" which might have helped in its early demise. The stories are silly as they should be and each episode is uniquely different. I feel fortunate to have the series in my DVD collection to enjoy along with "Are You Being Served".