Are you being served rubbish?
Viewers slate BBC sitcom rehash
YOU’VE all done not very well... The BBC’s remake of Are You Being Served? has been panned by viewers.
The new show, written by Benidorm creator Derren Litten with a cast led by Loose Women’s Sherrie Hewson as catloving battleaxe Mrs Slocombe, failed to impress as it went out on Sunday night.
Steve Bennet of comedy site Chortle said: “They should’ve let sleeping pussies lie.”
Viewer Joolz Denby called it an “excruciating sad rehash” of a “truly ghastly” show.
Fellow viewer Carole Matthews asked the BBC: “Is this the best you can manage? I would like a refund on my licence fee.”
And Brendan Surrey added: “Commission an original comedy? No, let’s reheat a much loved comedy and ruin fond memories.”
Five million tuned in for the departmentstore sitcom, but it was beaten in the ratings by ITV drama Victoria, which got 5.4million.
But viewers were happy to have second helpings of Porridge, which went out later and got just 4.4million viewers.
The prison comedy starred Kevin Bishop as the cyber-hacking grandson of jailbird Fletch, played by Ronnie Barker in the 1970s series, and was written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, the team behind the original.
Viewer Trish Shuker said: “Bishop was great. Not laughed so much in ages. Do hope BBC make a new series with those actors.”
Karen Fraser said: “Was disappointed to see it was only a one-off. Please can we have a L-O-N-G series.” And Andrew Stone added: “For half an hour on a Sunday night, Britain could sit down as a family, and laugh.”