Are You Being Served? remake given mixed reviews by viewers
CRITICS and viewers were left unimpressed with the BBC’s remake of Are You Being Served?
The legendary British sitcom, which was set in a department store, was revived – with a new cast – on Sunday night.
Written by Derren Litten, the creator of ITV’s Benidorm, the show featured Sherrie Hewson as Mrs Slocombe, John Challis as Captain Peacock, Roy Barraclough as Mr Grainger and Justin Edwards as Mr Rumbold.
But viewers were not keen on the BBC1 show, which was followed by a one-off Porridge special as part of the BBC’s sitcom season.
James Bailey wrote on Twitter: “The BBC have tried to improve Porridge and Are You Being Served? and failed. What’s next in this Beeb fad for retro remaking? Jim’ll Fix It?”
Carole Matthews wrote: “BBC1 is this the best you can manage? I would like a refund on my licence fee.”
Andrew G-H added: “Can I have my licence fee back? #AreYouBeingServed”
Joolz Denby wrote: “If Brexit has brought us ‘British Culture’ in excruciating form of a sad rehash of truly ghastly Are You Being Served? I’m staying in Crete.”
And @Brendan_Surrey wrote: “Commission an original comedy pilot? No. Let’s reheat a much-loved comedy and ruin everyone’s fond memories of it #AreYouBeingServed”.
But there were some satisfied viewers.
Cameron Yarde Jnr wrote: “Thought reviving Are You Being Served? was mad. I saw the cast and set, then I watched it. I laughed. It’s going to be a series isn’t it?”
James Max wrote: “Are You Being Served? was splendid!”
Willy Nelson added: “Am I alone in really enjoying the remake of Are You Being Served?”
The Daily Telegraph’s Michael Hogan only gave the show two stars, saying it was a “turgid, interminable halfhour” which made “Mrs Brown’s Boys look like PG Wodehouse”.
“It wasn’t so much that the humour was un-PC or especially offensive. It was just tired and limp, like an iceberg lettuce long past-itssell-by date,” he wrote.
“There was a lazy reliance on lavatorial humour and casual misogyny.”
The sitcoms had been “dusted down decades later to look like lumbering dinosaurs,” he added.
Chortle’s Steve Bennett wrote “they should have let sleeping pussies lie” – referring to one of the jokes from the original sitcom.