Are You Being Served? the first series on 14 March 1973. Although the first series was aired in the same timeslot as "Coronation Street" on ITV, consequently receiving relatively little attention, the repeats shown later in the year were much more successful. The show became a ratings hit, and after a successful 13-year run, "Are You Being Served?" came to an end on 1 April 1985. Of the original cast, only Frank Thornton, Mollie Sugden, John Inman, Wendy Richard and Nicholas Smith appeared in all 69 episodes of the programme's 13-year run; these five later featured in the sequel sitcom, "Grace & Favour" (also
Are You Being Served? known as "Are You Being Served? Again!"). The cast performed in character for a stage sketch on the BBC1 programme "Variety" on 19 June 1976. Although the pilot was produced in colour, the videotape was wiped in the 1970s leaving only a 16mm black-and-white film telerecording, which was made for international syndication to countries where colour television broadcasts had not been adopted. In 2009, the pilot episode was restored to colour using the colour recovery technique previously used for the "Dad's Army" episode "Room at the Bottom". The restored colour version was first shown on BBC2 on 1 January 2010