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
Are You Being Served? from Grace Brothers to work for Old Mr. Grace's cousin, Mr. Bone at his department store, Bone Brothers. Renamed versions of characters from the original series rounded out the cast including June Bronhill as Mrs. Crawford, a copy of Mrs. Slocombe, and Shane Bourne as Captain Wagstaff, a copy of Captain Peacock. Jeremy Lloyd adapted episodes for the show from his own scripts from the British "Are You Being Served", drawing from the then-new episodes of the seventh series for series one of the Australian version, and a selection of older episodes for series two. Lloyd would later say he