Are You Being Served?: Shedding the Load

Are You Being Served?: Shedding the Load
BBC
6 December 1978
Sitcom
VHS
B-

This has a much bigger cast than, for instance, Man About the House, so here are the AYBS regulars:

• Trevor Bannister as Mr. Dick Lucas
• 79-year-old Harold Bennett as Young Mr. Grace
• Arthur English as Mr. Beverley Harman
• James Hayter as Mr. Percival Tebbs
• John Inman as Mr. Wilberforce Clayborne Humphries
• Penny Irving as Miss Bakewell
• Vivienne Johnson as Mr. Grace's nameless Nurse
• Wendy Richard as Miss Shirley Brahms
• Nicholas Smith as Mr. Cuthbert Rumbold
• Mollie Sugden as Mrs. Betty Slocombe
• and Frank Thornton as Captain Stephen Peacock

With the exception of Hayter (who only appeared that series), the performers are well settled into their roles in this fourth episode of the sixth season.  So watching them snipe at and then defend each other adds an extra layer, when it looks like economy cuts mean one of the staff will be sacked.  I would've gone with a B, but a lot of the references went right by me.  (There is one to President Carter though.)  Note that a couple of the lines here imply that Mr. Humphries is bi rather than gay.  And, yes, we hear about Mrs. Slocombe's missing "pussy."

Creators Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft co-wrote this episode, as it seems they did all or most of the show.  This is one of thirteen episodes directed by Bob Spiers, who, among other things, would go on to the movie Spice World.