Grace and Favour Season 2

Grace & Favour is the sequel to the long-running series Are You Being Served?. It only aired for 2 seasons from 1992-1993. It brought the main cast from Are You Being Served? back minus Mike Berry (Mr. Spooner, the junior partner) and Arthur English (Mr. Harman, the janitor). It did bring in some new faces to the cast and it showed some extra character development.

The Cast:

• Mollie Sugden – Mrs. Betty Slocombe
• John Inman – Mr. Wilberforce Clayborne Humphries
• Wendy Richard – Miss Shirley Brahms
• Frank Thornton – Captain Stephen Peacock
• Nicholas Smith – Mr. Cuthbert “Jug Ears” Rumbold
• Fleur Bennett – Mavis Moulterd
• Joanne Heywood – Jessica Lovelock
• Billy Burden – Maurice Moulterd
• Michael Bilton – Mr. Thorpe
• Shirley Cheriton – Miss Prescott
• Gregory Cox – Mr. Frobisher
• Andrew Barclay – Malcolm Heathcliff
• Diane Holland – Celia Littlewood
• Andy Joseph – Joseph Lee
• Eric Dodson – Sir Robert
• Maggie Holland – Mrs. Cleghampton

The Episodes

1. The Gun – While answering an invitation from his old Army buddies, Captain Peacock finds a revolver in a desk drawer in Millstone Manor’s office. The police are called in to dispose of the gun, but it gets mucked up as the police blow everything out of proportions.
2. The Cricket Match – Millstone Manor holds a cricket match against the local team, Tender Bottom. We also meet a new recurring character, Malcolm Heathcliff, who is in love with Mavis and doesn’t want Mr. Humphries to have her. He spends most of his time threatening Mr. Humphries. The Millstone Manor team wins the match after Mr. Humphries accidentally knocks out Malcolm.
3. Mrs. Slocombe – A new guest checks into the Manor house, Mr. Slocombe, Mrs. Slocombe’s former husband that ran out on her over 40 years ago. He stays a week to check out the house and grounds as he is an investor looking to purchase the property. If he does buy Millstone Manor Mrs. Slocombe would end up working for her ex. In order to help Mrs. Slocombe keep Mr. Slocombe from buying the property the staff dress up as local farm hands to discourage him from buying a property with such a large staff.
4. A Mummified Cat – While fixing up one of the attic rooms for Miss Brahms, Captain Peacock finds a mummified cat in the wall. They donate it to the local museum, but when they get home they find out the cat was meant to bring good luck to the Manor. The first evening with the cat gone brings bad luck to all. The staff are finally spooked and get the cat back.
5. The Mongolians – Mr. Thorpe pays Millstone Manor another visit to discuss a booking from a group of Mongolians. At the time they paid for the stay at Millstone Manor the Mongolian currency was 200 to the pound. Unfortunately, their currency fell to 500 to the pound, but the staff is still contractually obligated to provide cultural entertainment. Having a lack of talent from the locals, the staff decide to perform themselves. Mrs. Slocombe and Captain Peacock sing a little opera, Miss Brahms recites Shakespeare, and Mr. Humphries and Miss Lovelock dance a little ballet.
6. The Darts Match – The staff get fed up with how Mr. Rumbold treats them and have it out with him. As a result he spends the entire episode being extra nice to everyone. Millstone Manor’s farm sells some sheep to the neighbors and the local pub extends an invitation to the staff of Millstone Manor to a game of darts. They happily accept and head down to the pub. They head to the pub and run into Malcolm Heathcliff and his father, the neighbor who purchased their sheep. The teams get into a pushing match and Mr. Rumbold and Henry Healthcliff, Malcolm’s dad, end up taking it outside. Neither has the guts to throw a punch until Mrs. Slocombe comes outside and starts wailing on Henry. Back at the Manor, Mrs. Slocombe realizes the little sheep they sold are going to be killed, so they decide to rescue them. It all ends in disaster and they don’t get the sheep in the truck. Happily, the sheep followed them home!

I was incredibly sad they didn’t make more seasons of Grace and Favour. I did some research and it looks like after some of the cast members (Billy Burden and John Inman passed away the next year before any more filming could be done. The entire original cast is gone now. They will be greatly missed, but at least we shall have “Are You Being Served?”, “Grace and Favour”, and there other works to remember them by. I shall content myself by watching reruns of my favourite Gentleman’s and Ladies’ Ready to Wear Department staff.