MovieChat Forums > Are You Being Served? (2016) Discussion > Watched it last night... It was badly w...

Watched it last night... It was badly written...


I never laughed once. The jokes were poor attempts at innuendo. It's just so badly written. The sets and characterisation was actually pretty well done, but the script was awful. I pity the actors who had to work with this lousy script. The BBC are a joke now. They won't show the original show because it isn't PC enough, and yet they show this rubbish with offensive crude humour. The writer must be a complete moron, if this was the best he/she could turn out. I suspect a new graduate might be responsible for this muck. As a writer myself, I would be ashamed to put my name to rubbish like this and if I wrote rubbish like this I would tear it up and start again. If I still couldn't write something better at that point, I'd go down the Jobcentre and look for another job! The original show was never rude, crude, or refered to things like semen. BBC you suck, best you stick to what you know now shows about old grannies buying modern junk guising as antiques and dodgy builders flipping houses, because you can no longer do comedy! Seriously though, I could have knocked up a much better script than this effort in an afternoon. There seemed to be very little research of the original show, which still makes me laugh! Worst characters were the token black guy, and the Cockney Young Mr. Grace. Who thought that would work?

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'They won't show the original show because it isn't PC enough'

They will not show the original as it is too dated being around 30 to 40 years old. It does not have the nostalgia of the Dad's Army repeats.

In fact PC has nothing to do with it. The reboot was jammed full of smut and innuendo. Some of it was very funny.


'Worst characters were the token black guy'

Of course we should had a cast of 10 white people and not even a token ethnic minority!

It's that man again!!

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Jammed full of smut and innuendo has nothing to do with political correctness,or actually makes it funny, as a matter of fact it was garbage. If that's what made you laugh then you are a moron. None of it was funny. None of it. It was poorly done. As for the token black guy, if you and the BBC feel there must be a token ethnic minority then it is neither honest or less racist. In fact, adding a token black person is completely racist since it shows very clearly that he is the token black guy, and only being added because the BBC have to make themselves appear ever so politically correct. If ethnicity didn't matter to them, then there would be no need to pretend that it didn't, by adding a token ethnic person. No doubt you also argued a case for Guinivere being black in yet another example of the BBC's political correctness... Get lost.

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I imagine that someone of your mental capacity was in fits of laughter when the black guy talked about putting his finger up a dogs bottom. Revolting and not funny.

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I imagine that someone of your mental capacity was in fits of laughter when the black guy talked about putting his finger up a dogs bottom. Revolting and not funny.


Exactly the problem, Croft and Perry may have alluded to things like fingers up bottoms or Intimate feminine wipes but it was up to the viewer to put the pieces together that's what innuendo is about, not about being blatant but giving the viewer the pieces of the jigsaw and letting them put it together.

Mrs slocombe: Miss Brahms can you give the counters a wipe down, the last thing we want is customers getting dirty knickers.

Miss Brahms: Yes Mrs Slocombe.

Mrs Slocombe turns away and fiddles with a display, Miss Brahms reaches under the counter and pulls out a packet of intimate feminine wipes.

Miss Brahms: shall I use these wipes Mrs Slocombe?

Mrs Slocombe (still looking the other way): yes Miss Brahms just make sure you do a thorough job, Mr Grace is coming down later, I don't want him thinking ladies wear is filthy.

Miss Brahms: (reading packet): For use on sensitive skin and intimate fem....

Mrs Slocombe (spinning round): Not those Miss Brahms! (snatches the wipes away) they're for my pussy. Tiddles has such delicate skin, I use those to clean her after her weekly treat.

I'm no writer but I think that's sort of how croft and Perry would have done innuendo about intimate feminine wipes.

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You say you are 'no writer' but you handled that better than the so-called writer. He clearly doesn't get it. It annoyed me that the token black character had to actually explain the jokes. Mind you the BBC audience has gotten a lot more stupid over the years. A couple of decades of shows about doing up houses, and dodgy people flogging antiques does that to people. Only funny thing the BBC has done in years is 'Still Game' from BBC Scotland. Only funny stuff is coming out of the regional stations now, they've totally lost it in PC London...

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Agree completely. It was awful. And Jason Watkins took Mr. Humphries way off the mark with being "out" - Mr. Humphries used to sparkle with a bit of a knowing wink, but he wasn't so offensive.

Not sure if I have to blame the actors or the director, but the well rounded characters just weren't present. Molly Sugden was regal and we bought her "I am unanimous in this!" without blinking. Frank Thorton could infer so much the way he would theatrically open his eyes and his controlled body language.

Not good, not good at all. The suggestive jokes used to be like a finger laid on the side of the nose with a knowing glance, not out-and-out sniggering smut.

BAD BAD BAD

Samantha
Nail polish addict who buys acetone in the gallon jug.

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they have shown the original several times, it is still popular. and this new episode was particularly absurd because it was supposed to be set in 1988. grace brothers was already very old fashioned in the 70s, it was stretching credulity too far to imagine it would still be the same in 1988.

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This is a good point, I though the same, it wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't keep hammering home the fact it was the 80's, the way the original worked was the time period was quite general and mostly not really specified and many people still remembered when department stores were like that. and as for two young guys buying jeans there, in the 80's they wouldn't have been seen dead buying clothes somewhere like that!

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The original was repeated on an afternoon not long ago. Couple of months.
Brilliant. Un P.C as ever and out there repeated ...

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