'A Change Is As Good As A Rest'

'A Change Is As Good As A Rest'

Last night's video was recorded pretty late after we'd come home from shopping and we hadn't given much thought as to what we should actually do. But talk about what you know, they say, so we grabbed the first five seasons of 'Are You Being Served?' and burbled about what we could remember from the stories.

We were surprised how long the piece went on for (nearly 14 minutes!) but we need to correct a few errors, due to being slightly tired after humping cat litter about... Possibly nobody noticed, but our training on 'Round The Archives' means that any mistakes sit at the back of our heads annoying us until they are dealt with.

So... Martin Cochrane is in 'Sit Out' (from Season 8) as a Fireman; he's not in 'Fire Practice'. The Firemen in 'Fire Practice' are Hamish Roughead and Ken Barker...

Also, 'The Hold Up' is Season 10, of course! Having talked and written about it enough, we really should have got that right!

Doing this, a couple of episodes really stood out as being particularly memorable for one reason or another. (Incidentally, I must apologise for my dreadful OTT impression of being on a waterbed, as inspired by the later scenes in 'Is It Catching?'). Lisa in particular is very fond of the episode 'Take-over' and it gave me another chance to do a quick inpression of Mr Grainger...

From memory, 'A Change Is As Good As A Rest' always seemed to be the one that got repeated., which is a little odd as it removes the regulars from their Department altogther. Summoned to a meeting at (raises eyes to Heaven) boardroom level. Sneaking a look at a folder on Young Mr Grace's desk leads to the mistaken conclusion that the whole Department is to be replaced and Mr Grainger resigns in protest.

In truth, the idea is that everyone in the store would benefit from working in different areas, so the Ladies & Gentlemen are to spend some time in the Toy Department, with Mr Humphries and Mr Lucas being promoted accordingly with the loss of Mr Grainger, who now realises the consequences of his rash action.

Mr Grainger immediately reapplies and is accepted - in the now vacant Junior position that used to be filled by Mr Lucas...

Come Monday morning, the new set has been built and Mr Harman makes an enthusiastic entrance on a bicycle wearing a policeman's helmet. Which is, of course, a funny thing for a bicycle to wear...
Captain Peacock is not in the best of moods, having been dragged in on Sunday for training about the product line and Mr Grainger flags up his dislike of children, so we are not off to the best of starts.

We get to visit the exciting world of The Wibbly-Wobblies and their Playground, although the see-saw does not work as well if you only involve one Wibby-Wobbly as Miss Brahms points out...

Mister Lucas introduces a note of horror when he uses a terrifying glove puppet spider going by the name of Spencer to gobble up poor old Roger Wibbly-Wobbly.

Thankfully this does not become part of the sales routine as there is little to be gained from frightening the potential customers to death...

Mechanical toys include tanks and robots, which are rather more exciting and even Mr Grainger starts to enjoy himself...

There are a large number of toy dogs available, but inevitably Mrs Slocombe thinks one potential

market is being neglected...

We have all sorts of dolls including the intruigingly-named Funtime Freddie...

Stink bombs bring back some fond memories for Mr Grainger of the times he used to let them off in the choir...

There's also a mechanical moneybox that makes one think of Thing from 'The Addams Family'...
Overall, the scheme to shake things up a bit seems to be working out fairly well...

Mr Humphries gets to wear a silly hat and pays a visit to the Wendy House, which Captain Peacock is demonstrating to a potential tenant...

Mr Rumbold presents Captain Peacock with a whimsical novelty, but Young Mr Grace seems confused as to its actual function...

There is some question of demarcation as to who gets to play with which toys...

But thankfully, things calm down and Mr Grainger finds his true vocation racking up multiple sales of an elaborate model railway set. He might not like children, but he likes trains...

In fact, everyone is having such a good time that they're still at their positions two minutes after the bell goes...

With the experiment over, Mr Grainger is offered his old Senior position in Menswear, though he has mixed feelings...

Still, just time to play with his trains once more...

(By Andrew Trowbridge