No longer being served

It's already been a grim few weeks for celebrities, and it was with sadness that I read yesterday of the death, at the grand old age of 97, of Karl Malden, the bulbous-nosed star of, amongst other things, The Streets Of San Francisco, although I must admit that Mr Malden did fit into the 'I didn't realise he was still alive in the first place' category. TSOSF was one of the first 'grown-up' shows that I can remember watching, and today I learned that one of the stars of another favourite show of my youth had also gone to the great studio in the sky.

Mollie Sugden was an iconic figure on British TV back in the seventies and eighties, and for Brits of a certain age she will always be remembered as Mrs Slocombe from Are You Being Served?, a true gem of British television comedy. I know that the show managed to achieve something of a cult status over here - hi, Vikki! - and it is actually still shown from time to time on Canadian television, but nowadays you have to search the more obscure cable channels at even more obscure times of the day - or, more usually, the night - if you want to watch it.

Are You Being Served? was a wonderful show, stacked full of double entendres that I never understood as a child, and when you watch it today you wonder how they got away with a lot of it in a show that was always broadcast in an early evening timeslot. There was always something up with Mrs Slocombe's pussy - Mollie Sugden's indignant, deadpan delivery of her lines always made the situations even more comical - and it is with great fondness that I present to you now this wonderful tribute to Mrs Slocombe (and her cat!):



Mollie and Karl, you will both be sadly missed.