Cold Store

Cold Store

It's got a two-word title, but there's a lot going on with those two words and I can think of at least four levels of meaning....

There's the literal meaning of a large walk-in fridge, of course, which has almost no bearing on the episode. Though Lance-Corporal Jones does own one in 'Dad's Army', which at least gives us a David Croft connection, and Mrs Fox does turn up later with a drooping derriere...

The plot concerns the effects of the common cold on the staff of Grace Brothers, whether that cold be real or invented.

Associated with this is the possible signs of an infection and you only need to drop the letter 't' to arrive at the phrase 'cold sore'.

But the cleverest is the idea of the uncaring attitude that management adopt whenever anyone is feeling below par.

Mister Lucas is feigning illness, trying to simulate its effects with an onion and some soap, but Mrs Slocombe has got the real thing. Rejecting the option of injections adopted by Miss Brahms, Mrs Slcombe is fighting her cold with as much alcohol as she can muster.

Mister Humpries has got a bad back and Mister Grainger spends most of his time either running for or in the loo as his gastric trouble flares up. This is even extended into the end credits, as we just get a shot of the door to the Gents, which made me smile.

Miss Brahms and Mister Lucas swap positions, leading to a lovely moment where Miss Brahms admits to a fear of 'the unknown' when asked to measure an inside leg.

We seem to have settled into a schedule of doing 'Are You Being Served?' on a Wednesday night, uploading it Thursday morning, which is vaguely appropriate. Season Three was part of a confident Thursday line-up that included 'Tomorrow's World' and 'Top Of The Pops'.

Next week, then, is 'German Week' and Lisa is already looking forward to this one!

Our video about 'Cold Store' can be seen here.

(Written by Andrew Trowbridge)