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
British sitcom successful of all British sitcoms, began in 1981 and was the most durable of several series written and created by John Sullivan. Other hits included the political satire "Yes Minister" (1980–84) and its sequel "Yes, Prime Minister" (1986–88), Esmonde and Larbey's suburban sitcom "Ever Decreasing Circles" (1984–89) and the sci-fi-comedy "Red Dwarf" (1988–). Other shows such as "'Allo 'Allo!" (1984–92) were reminiscent of 1970s sitcoms such as "Are You Being Served?" and "Dad's Army" unsurprising in light of the fact that all three involved the writer/producer David Croft and two were co-written by Jeremy Lloyd. Also worth mentioning is the