When fans of Are You Being Served? waved goodbye to their beloved sitcom in 1985, no one could have dreamt that the cast would resurface seven years later in Grace and Favour. For Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, however, it was always an intention to retain the characters but change the setting. 'We never wanted to lose the cast,' David ;explains. 'Their time had expired as far as the store was concerned -there was no more we could do in that set. In fact, we probably did about two series too many. We always had it in our minds to do something with them again and, with no Young Mr Grace, the idea for Grace and Favour was an obvious development.' Within the rustic setting of Gloucester shire, the cast reltindled their friendship, and with the injection of some new blood, Croft and Lloyd's latest comic creation began.

Whereas Are You Being Served? had been a series, Grace and Favour was written as a serial, with story-lines overlapping into subsequent episodes. 'The trend for sitcoms was heading that way; if you had a group of people there was bound to

be a serial element in the story;' says David. 'Even with Are You Being Served?, although one couldn't regard that as a serial, there was always a hangover from previous episodes; it was inevitable.'

David Croft can be regarded as the doyen of British sitcoms: he's written or been involved in many of the country's top shows, but rates Grace and Favour as one of his favourites, even though it only ran for two seasons. 'I liked it very much,' he says. 'One of the aspects I enjoyed was being able to develop Mr Humphries: no sooner had he moved to the country house than he found a girl who was not only mad about him, but kept nipping into his bed.'

The country home that doubled as Millstone Manor was Chavenage House, an Elizabethan property near Tetbury, Gloucestershire. David Lowsley-Williams, who owns the house, was over the moon when the BBC picked his property as the setting for the sitcom, although it wasn't the first time it had been chosen for location filming. The house and its grounds have been used for The House of Eliot~ Charity, The Comedy of Ferrous and other productions. 'It was great fun having the crew and cast around. They were all very nice. Wendy Richard even bought a puppy from the daughter of a woman working here.'
David Lowsley-Williams recalls meeting Fleur Bennett, who played Mavis Moulterd in the show. 'I heard the doorbell go one day, and there was fleur Bennett covered in manure. She had just filmed a scene and asked whether she could have a shower, and I agreed. Then she looked down at herself and said: "I can't come through the house covered in all this muck, so if you look the other way I'll strip off and run up to your shower." And that's what she did.'

Fleur remembers the scene well. 'The dresses I wore were all period, and the costume department couldn't find material to match the print; there wasn't enough time to make another dress, so I ended up with just one. We did the scene twice, with me falling back into what was supposed to be cows' muck, and afterwards I rushed off to have a shower. The stuff was everywhere: up my nostrils, in my eyelashes - so having a wash was very welcome.' David also remembers an incident involving Mollie Sugden that later resurfaced on it" Be Aright on the Night. 'Mollie was given a leg up by John Inman into a little pony trap, and she sat Confiding in Mavis about his drearily childhood brings tears to Mr Humphries eyes down rather heavily, breaking the seat of the trap. She fell over backwards with her skirt and legs everywhere, frightening the little pony in front, who galloped off with Mollie still in the trap!'

Grace and Favour concentrated on the characters' lives post-Young Mr Grace, who bit the dust while scuba diving with his nurse Miss Lovelock. When her bikini top popped off, so did the ancient owner of Grace Brothers department store.
Mr Grace left most of his fortune to his favourite charity; a home for fallen women, while investing the company's pension contributions in some dodgy enterprises. He al50 bought property, and as the staff of the ladies' and Gentlemen's Ready-to-Wear departments were the sole survivors on the final day of the closing-down sale, they were made beneficiaries of the pension find and allowed to use Millstone

Manor for their own purposes. But there was one drawback: Mr Rumbold was running the place as manager, a welcome distraction for Irirn since his wife ran off with Mr Prentice of Tools and Hardware.
All the actors enjoyed reuniting for the show, especially as it involved location shooting. Nicholas Smith was looking forward to working with the cast again, but wondered whether the professional rapport they'd built up during the years at Grace Brothers would automatically click into being. As soon as we read the first script and started rehearsals it was as though we'd recorded the last Are You Being Served? the day before - it was extraordinary~'
Nicholas even felt Grace and Favour was better than Are You Being Served? 'We were given a larger budget, and consequently could afford to go on location; this gave it an additional dimension with lovely farmyard and country scenes - it wasn't restricted like Are Thu Being Served?
Another reason I preferred Grace and Favour was that the scripts contained a little pathos and realism.
ABOVE Discovering the remains of an 18th century cat in the attic brings a run of bad luck to the staff at Millstone Manor

OPPOSITE Sharing his bed with friendly Mavis (Fleur Bennett) was never on the agenda when Mr Humphries moved to the country!

There's a lovely scene when Mr Humphries explains what a ghastly childhood he's had. Admittedly, the scene is quickly brought back to comedy, as it must be, but that element of sadness worked well.'
The change of setting also opened up the scope for costumes, something else Nicholas liked. 'In Are You Being Served? there was little opportunity to appear in anything but work clothes, while in Grace and Favour the characters were also seen in their off-duty outfits.'
Producer Mike Stephens, who'd previously worked with David Croft on a series of Hi-De-Hi!, and with Jeremy Lloyd on Allo, Allo felt the locations brought a freshness to the production. 'The

world they were living in was totally unreal: it was an idyll that couldn't really exist, but it was a warm, sunny, cosy world that audiences liked. The locations afforded the chance for more practical humour, and broadened the horizons as far as the production was concerned.' Mike had great fun matting the ~how It was terrific,' he enthuses.

The introduction of some new faces was also welcomed by everyone involved in the show ~Fleur Bennett was excellent, says Nicholas Smith, ~and Billy Burden and Joanne Heywood were very good as well.'

Fleur, who played country-girl Mavis Moulterd, was excited to be offered the part, particularly as she'd watched Are You Being Served? as a child. ~It was an institution in my family, and we watched it for years,' she says. ~Every week my family visited my great grandmother, and after tea we'd watch Are You Being Served? before going home to bed.'
She remembers her audition well: with the character of Mavis being described as buxom, Fleur was determined to match the requirements. ~I decided to wear a padded bra,' she smiles, 'and I remember thinking: "Oh well, that's as buxom as you're going to get.
Fleur must have impressed at the audition, because she was invited back for a second interview, and was asked to read another scene. 'It was where Mavis shared Mr Humphries' bed for the first time,' she says. 'I was sitting in the chair, so I said the lines and turned around in the chair as if I was in bed. Jeremy Lloyd then threw his glasses down on to the table, and this apparently so he told me afterwards - was the sign that I was right for the part. When I was offered the job I nearly fell off the chair, I was so excited.'
In her early twenties when she joined the cast, Fleur felt at home playing Mavis - who was a perfect foil for John Inman - and found it easy adopting the country accent, having been brought up in Cornwall. 'I had to change some of the vowels because my father in the show, played by the lovely Billy Burden, came from Tiverton. But it worked well.' Billy died in 1994, while Fleur was holidaymg in the Maldives. She'll never forget receiving a worrying phone message. 'I was on an island in the middle of nowhere and got this message saying:
Call Wendy Pichard urgently." She broke the sad news to me. Billy and I were very close; I couldn't believe it when I heard he'd died.'
Fleur found the cast good to work with, particularly John Inman. 'He was very giving, and would always offer advice on how I could play the part better - it was a good learning ground for me.
Just like its older relation, Grace and Favour is popular in the States, and she receives letters every
k from American fans. ~I get a lot of books sent to me about baking bread!' she laughs. 'Because Mavis was always in the kitchen cooking, people feel I might find a copy useful.' She also receives more unusual presents and requests. 'Somebody sent me a pair of knickers, I don't know why, and another person sent a lock of their hair and wanted a lock in exchange - it's quite ftinny, really.'
Another addition to the team was Joanne Heywood, who'd worked for producer Mike Stephens in the series first of the Summer 'Fine and an episode of The Brirtas Empire. Playing Jessica Lovelock in Grace and Favour, she was the glamorous nurse whose bikmi mishap brought on the death of Young Mr Grace.

~Grace and Favour was great fun, and I enjoyed working for Mike again,' says Joanne, who learnt how to ride a horse for the show. ~I hadn't ridden a horse before, so I needed a few lessons beforehand; thankfully, the production crew made me look more competent than I was.' The character was also keen on motorbikes, but a stunt double stepped in for any scenes involving the bike. ~It was too heavy for me on my own,' Joanne explains.

It was Jeremy Lloyd who suggested the title Grace and Favour, but David Croft wasn't so enthusiastic. ~I didn't want the show to be called that,' he says. ~I tried to get it altered to Are You Being Served? Still' or Are You Being Served? Again! which is what it was called in America, but to no avail.'
But both writers enjoyed working together again. ~Everyone was happy returning to their characters,' says Jeremy, and we had great fun. David and I thought the two series were good, and many viewers felt the same way but the BBC didn't pick us up for another run. We were all disappointed.'

David was very surprised a further season wasn't
commissioned. ~We offered to do more, but it was the beginning of a new era in sitcoms and, in my view, the BBC was against the popular Carry On element that existed in Are You Being Served? and obviously carried over into Grace and Favour.'
Producer Mike Stephens agrees with David. 'Without being snobbish, Are You Being Served? and Grace and Favour contain a very working-class style of humour: an ordinary, accessible Carry On style and, possibly, the BBC wanted more alternative comedy than anything else - it's all about fashions. But I think the public are yearning for something like it again.'
The success of recent Are You Being Served? repeats has astonished everyone, including the BBC, and David Croft believes Grace and Favour could be just as successftil. 'I think we could see it repeated in the future, and I'm confident it would be another big hit.'