Diamonds are a man's best friend, Are you being served?, Tuesday Flashback Feature

This is part of my Tuesday Flashback Feature. We reminisce about classic TV shows usually from the 1950s-1970s where gemstones or pieces of jewelry featured prominently in the storylines.

Are you being served?
Diamonds Are a Man's Best Friend
April 18, 1973

A customer loses a diamond in the department and offers a reward. It's payday and everyone is wishing that their pay packets held more. Staff members conspire to find the diamond & get the reward money for themselves. 

Even after they think they've found the diamond, some of them pretend to keep looking just for the sake of appearance. It turns out that the same day, several artificial stones had fallen off of a shipment of beaded dresses that was just received. 

Most of the diamonds that staff members found were really these sew-on beads. The actual diamond is found amidst all the rhinestones. When the reward is about to be handed out, young Mr. Grace arrives and comes up with an idea to divert the funds.

The innuendo-laden comedy, Are You Being Served? is a British Sitcom that ran from 1972-1985. It was set in the Ladies' and Gentlemen's clothing departments of London's Grace Brothers Department Store.

Mrs Slocombe (Mollie Sugden), who had a different hair color every week, was the head of Ladies' with Miss Brahms (Wendy Richard) as her assistant. The mainstay at the Gentlemen's counter was the flambouyant Mr. Humphries (John Inman). 

Over the duration of the series, others who worked alongside Mr. Humphries came and went, including senior assistant, Mr. Grainger (Arthur Brough), and junior, Mr. Lucas (Trevor Bannister).

Snooty floorwalker was Captain Peacock (Frank Thornton). and the head of the department was Mr. Rumbold (Nicholas Smith). 'Young' Mr. Grace (Harold Bennett) is the store's owner.  Mr. Mash (Larry Martyn) worked in Maintenance.

A send-up of the British class system was often an undertext of the interactions between the characters. The show spawned catch phrases, particularly "Are you free?" primarily asked by Capt Peacock. Staff members, were often free, meaning available to wait on a customer.


A spin-off series called Grace and Favour came out in 1992, though in the U.S, it was named Are You Being Served? Again! The show lives on in reruns on many PBS stations throughout the US. 

A DVD set, Are You Being Served? The Complete Collection, is available at Amazon.com and elsewhere.

You've all done very well!

Each Tuesday, we featured a different show, often a US sitcom. Information, including spoiler plot outlines come from various sources & will be as accurate as possible. When available, a show photo will be included.

I'm always interested to hear your memories. In the interest of supporting fellow artists, I'll be featuring a few shops where the pieces tie into the general theme of the featured story.

Related Page of Interest:

I had a short blog post about Mollie Sugden when they announced that she'd died this past July.

If you're reading this on my Facebook Fan Page, you may also want to check out my blog.

William Powell and Jean Harlow, A Diamond Ring, Carole Lombard 

[Please write/post a comment for information on any of the jewelry you see on this page images and designs (c) ImagineMDD]

Image from The Grace Brothers Multimedia Dept