Are You Being Served? (Mr. Humphries/Vintage Rock Tee Style Graphic/John Inman)

Are You Being Served? — Vintage TV Tee

Few television shows managed to get quite as much mileage out of department-store counters, double entendres, and Mrs. Slocombe’s pussy as Are You Being Served?

Premiering in 1972, the British sitcom followed the increasingly dysfunctional staff of the ladies’ and gentlemen’s clothing departments at the fictional Grace Brothers department store. What should have been a fairly ordinary workplace became thirteen years of sexual innuendo, class jokes, ridiculous costumes, malfunctioning displays, and employees doing almost anything except selling clothes.

The cast was perfect: Mollie Sugden as Mrs. Slocombe, John Inman as Mr. Humphries, Frank Thornton as Captain Peacock, Wendy Richard as Miss Brahms, Trevor Bannister as Mr. Lucas, and the eternally ancient “Young” Mr. Grace. Everyone had their role, and everyone knew exactly how far to push it.

For queer audiences, Mr. Humphries was especially unforgettable. Flamboyant, quick-witted, and completely comfortable being the most fabulous person at Grace Brothers, John Inman turned “I’m free!” into one of British television’s great catchphrases. The character came from a very different era of gay representation, but Inman’s performance also made Humphries enormously beloved by gay viewers.

The show ran until 1985, becoming a cult favorite well beyond Britain through reruns, especially on PBS in America. It remains wonderfully, unmistakably British—and gloriously stuck in a world of changing-room curtains, tea breaks, union meetings, and jokes you knew were dirty even when you were too young to understand why.