Good Bye Mrs. Slocombe

[Martin]

Mollie Sugden, who played the fisty Mrs. Slocombe on the popular British sitcom "Are You Being Served", has died. She was 86. More Info

Mollie Sugden
July 22, 1922 - July 1, 2009​

 

[Crabtownboy]

I was sorry to hear of her death. Though this was not my favorite British sitcom I did enjooy watching it occasionally and enjoyed her antics.

 

[Joseph M. Smith]

Not sure why this is posted on BB, but I'll chime in too to say that I enjoyed her character. There was also another show of which she was a part, not as funny as AYBS.

I enjoyed most, I think, the episode in which she was hit by a golf ball and "became" a little girl again. Or did she?

 

[Martin]

Not sure why this is posted on BB, but I'll chime in too to say that I enjoyed her character. There was also another show of which she was a part, not as funny as AYBS.

I enjoyed most, I think, the episode in which she was hit by a golf ball and "became" a little girl again. Or did she?

==Mollie Sugden, like so many British actors, played so many roles in sitcomes (etc) that it is hard to tell which roll you might be talking about. In 1992 and 1993 the AYBS cast re-appeared for "Are You Being Served Again?"( USA title) "Grace & Favour" (UK title). Many people do not like that show as much as the original. I love both.

 

[sag38]

Very funny show. I also like "Keeping Up Apperances."

 

[thomas not doubting]

I liked the show to some extent as well but some of the double entendres (sp?) that Mrs. Slocombe said...yikes! a little too far for me.

I did like the crazily colored wigs her character used to wear on all the different episodes (at first they dyed her hair those non-hair colors but reverted to wigs when they had trouble getting the color out. I am sure aqua is not an easy color to remove!)

Keeping Up Appearances was a good show. Believe it or not the lady who played "Rose" on that show was a born again Christian (there were two women who played the role, this was the second one who was the younger of the two and wore the short, short skirts). I read where she used to hold bible studies in her dressing room and everybody would come because of the respect they had for her as an actress. She died about 1998 (cancer that the British healthcare system missed until it was too late.)

Other Britcoms I have enjoyed are: George and Mildred, Ever Decreasing Circles, No Honestly, A Fine Romance and After Henry. There is an Australian sitcom called Mother and Son which is a laugh riot.

 

[Martin]

I liked the show to some extent as well but some of the double entendres (sp?) that Mrs. Slocombe said...yikes! a little too far for me.

==Mrs. Slocombe was a bit on the looney side of things. But it was all in good fun. The character, at least, did not mean anything by what she called her cat. The funny part was watching other's faces.

Keeping Up Appearances was a good show. Believe it or not the lady who played "Rose" on that show was a born again Christian (there were two women who played the role, this was the second one who was the younger of the two and wore the short, short skirts). I read where she used to hold bible studies in her dressing room and everybody would come because of the respect they had for her as an actress.

==I had never heard that about her. But I did know she died of cancer a few years after the show ended. Very sad indeed. I love Keeping Up Appearances as well.

I was thinking about the cast of AYBS. Of the original major characters only the following are still alive...

Trevor Bannister..."Mr. Lucas" (72 yrs old)
Frank Thornton..."Captain Peacock" (88 yrs old)
Nicholas Smith..."Mr. Rumbold" (75 yrs old)
Mike Berry..."Mr. Spooner" (68 yrs old)

All of the other main characters are dead...

Mollie Sugden..."Mrs. Slocombe" (d. 2009)
Wendy Richard..."Ms. Brahms" (d. 2009)
John Inman..."Mr. Humphreys" (d. 2007)
Arthur Brough..."Mr. Granger" (d. 1978) My Favorite: The show was never the same after his death.
Harold Bennett..."Young Mr. Grace" (d. 1981)
Larry Martyn..."Mr. Mash" (d. 1994)
Arthur English..."Mr. Harman (d. 1995)

Many of the others are dead as well. Including all the "replacements" for Arthur Brough, the second Mr. Grace, etc.

 

[Joseph M. Smith]

Now you can enjoy Frank Thornton on "Last of the Summer Wine". When I say "now" I mean that shows made as recently as 2001 or so are being shown on Maryland Public Television. He is "Truly of the Yard", a retired police detective in the mix of loony old men wandering about a Yorkshire town. Love the show, which has been going for more than thirty years.