Are You Being Served? sharp-tongued, witty responses, along with his trademark catch-phrase "I'm free!", were enthusiastically embraced by many audience members, and the character evolved into a gay icon in popular culture. Despite this, Inman pointed out that Mr Humphries' true sexual orientation was never explicitly stated in the series, and David Croft said in an interview that the character was not homosexual, but "just a mother's boy". In an episode of the spin-off "Grace & Favour", the character is further described as neither a "woman's man" nor a "man's man" and as being "in limbo". The characters (Mr Humphries especially) sometimes broke the
Are You Being Served? (film) wanted to visit his beleaguered underlings, but could not find a taxi. In a contemporary review, John Pym of the "Monthly Film Bulletin" gave the film a negative review, stating that "The humour consists mainly of withering selection of patent British puns; an inflatable brassiere, some let's-insult-the-Germans jokes and a rickey thunder-box which bolts from the outside are thrown in for good measure." In a retrospective review, DVD Verdict's Michael Stailey as a film that is "guilty of violating almost every law of comedy and film." The film is widely considered to be lacking in originality, plot, and focus. At