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? 60 years until 1999. The inspiration for the store has also been credited to Rossiters of Paignton department store from the time Lloyd and Croft spent there, and the former Clements of Watford. The pilot episode was created as part of the "Comedy Playhouse" series, although the BBC had originally chosen not to broadcast the programme. The pilot was used as a filler during the 1972 Summer Olympics when the coverage of the Olympiad was interrupted by the Munich massacre on 8 September 1972, leading to a full series being produced. This first episode was repeated at the beginning of