last night's reboot of "Are You Being Served?"

[williammcgregor]

What are the forum's thought's on last night's reboot of "Are You Being Served?"

I'll be kind for nostalgia's sake and say it was a nice try; but to me it did'nt succeed

On the plus side I thought Roy Barraclough was very good as Mr Grainger.

Jason Watkins was good as Mr Humphries

Sherrie Hewson also good as Mrs Slocombe

John Challis also good but did'nt quite pull off the role of the abrasive/detached Captain Peacock

Arthur Smith as Mr Harman (not bad) but did'nt pull off the old world janitor type of character we all remember

Niky Wardly as Miss Brahms (anonymous to me) not the same chemistry between her and Mrs Slocombe as in the original series

Biggest mistake: Kayode Ewumi as a character called Mr Conway for 1988 was this for the P.C. brigade? (Why not just a straight replacement for Mr Lucas? who was always one of my favourites of the original series.

Justin Edwards as Mr Rumbold (sorry did'nt work for me)

Matthew Horne as young Mr Grace's grandson (did'nt work for me, his acting came across as a young Del Boy type)

Jorgie Porter as typist Miss Croft (ok as she's not going to have a big role anyway)

Script: Was always going to be predictable and over reliance on Mrs Slocombe's running "girl thingy" gag (yawn)

[Dale Rumbold]

I just about stuck with it for the half hour, which is more than I managed for the dreadful new Porridge that followed!
I also liked Barraclough and Hewson, but thought Watkins was poor : a pastiche of a character that was already a pastiche!
As for Mr Rumbold ... well I'm still here waiting for the call ...
Overall, I hope very much this is a one-off and not turned into a series (or more) like they did with the awful Still Open All Hours, canned laughter and all.

[Stephen Byers]

Appalling - actors trying to copy actors trying to be actors. Doesn't bode well for the Alf Garnet repro.

[stevehoare61]

I enjoyed it, though Captain Peacock wasnt right, i simply accepted it as a tribute rather than a copy and then it worked. With some changes and thought, there could be a great series there.

[Dale Rumbold]

Following on from those 2, tried the remake of Till Death Us Do Part last night ... for less than 2 minutes before the wife and I both said "No way" and switched it off. Ghastly beyond belief : long expressionless pauses followed by wooden delivery. The worst thing I've seen since I watched 2 minutes of that awful Crow thing.

[John Green]

I believe the various 'lost sitcoms' are coming out on DVD soon?
Haven't seen the new TDUDP yet,but it's possible that before they to 'til death do you part?',in fact when they get to "if anyone knows any reason why these people should not..." I could be leaping up.

(Been working on that one.In fact,it'd almost be worth not liking the show,if I can use it...).

[Simon Collis]

The idea of Mr Conway kind of fit with the show, as didn't Lucas change a couple of times over the run? The idea of having a new charatcer / outside is a fairly standard storytelling gimmick, though, so I'm guessing it didn't work well by the sound of it...

[Stuart Douglas]

Aug 29, 2016 7:38:36 GMT williammcgregor said:

Biggest mistake: Kayode Ewumi as a character called Mr Conway for 1988 was this for the P.C. brigade? (Why not just a straight replacement for Mr Lucas? who was always one of my favourites of the original series.

Sorry I'm lost here - in what way wasn't he a 'straight replacement' for Mr Lucas? And in which way was the role 'for the P.C. brigade'?

[RWels]

Aug 29, 2016 7:38:36 GMT williammcgregor said:

Biggest mistake: Kayode Ewumi as a character called Mr Conway for 1988 was this for the P.C. brigade? (Why not just a straight replacement for Mr Lucas? who was always one of my favourites of the original series.

Oh come on, don't overreact, can't they put one non-caucasian in there without being accused of PC gone mad? After all, this IS 1988! It sort of gives a wrong impression the way you write it.

[Richard Marple]

Sept 19, 2016 9:51:08 GMT RWels said:

Aug 29, 2016 7:38:36 GMT williammcgregor said:

Biggest mistake: Kayode Ewumi as a character called Mr Conway for 1988 was this for the P.C. brigade? (Why not just a straight replacement for Mr Lucas? who was always one of my favourites of the original series.

Oh come on, don't overreact, can't they put one non-caucasian in there without being accused of PC gone mad? After all, this IS 1988! It sort of gives a wrong impression the way you write it.

Some people here are getting a bit "tabloid zombie" here so expect posts like this.