Mr. Humphries is never elaborated upon. Though Mr. Humphries exhibits many of the behaviors typical of a gay stereotype, his true sexual orientation is never explicitly confirmed in the series. The reticence was a necessity given prevailing attitudes at the time the series was produced: after the first five episodes of "Are You Being Served?", a senior BBC executive ordered David Croft to "Get rid of the poof" from the show – Croft declined, saying: "If the poof goes, I go." Many jokes throw Mr Humphries into heterosexual clinches. At one point he is asked to fill in for Mrs. Slocombe at
Captain Peacock pilot episode Mrs. Slocombe mentions annoyance with Peacock's posh "Royal Signals Corps voice". Although Peacock later brags about being in the Royal Engineers and his experiences fighting Rommel in North Africa, Mr. Mash likes to tell the staff that Peacock served in the NAAFI instead, and probably didn't ever leave England. Although Peacock usually talks as if he were a member of an elite Commando unit, on two occasions he admits he was in the Royal Army Service Corps (logistics) - in addition, throughout the series he wears the RASC tie. Mr. Goldberg, who blackmails Peacock into hiring him to