A Labor Day salute to the employees of Grace Brothers Department Store

In the United States, Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement, dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country. While the holiday weekend also tends to […]

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Is ‘Brittas Empire’ set for reboot?

Ok, so I might be in the midst of a mild case of ‘good old days’ syndrome when it comes to British comedy but there are days that I look at the current comedy output from the UK and long for the days when a new season of As Time Goes By, Keeping Up Appearances, […]

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Jeremy Lloyd and the World of ‘Captain Beaky’

Even though the Are You Being Served and ‘Allo ‘Allo co-creator/writer passed away in December of last year, friends, family and colleagues gathered last week at a memorial service to celebrate the life and work of Jeremy Lloyd, share their stories and read poems and stories by the writer including excerpts from The Woodland Gospels […]

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R.I.P. – Jeremy Lloyd

Jeremy Lloyd, the co-creator/writer of such British comedy classics as Are You Being Served? and ‘Allo, ‘Allo, passed away on 23 December at the age of 84. These are getting harder and harder to write and, sadly, they seem to be coming around more frequently in recent years. This one, however, had an added level of […]

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Is this Heaven? No, it's Humphry Slocombe!

While they didn’t say ‘are you being served?’ when I finally hit the front of the line yesterday at Humphry Slocombe in San Francisco’s Ferry Building, the evidence as to the influence on owner’s Jake Godby and Sean Vahey’s craft is clear.

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BBC revives Comedy Playhouse with 'Over to Bill'

This Spring will see two brilliant returns to the telly. Not so coincidentally, brilliance will collide when Doug Naylor’s Over to Bill launches as one of three pilots scheduled for the revival of the BBC’s Comedy Playhouse strand. Comedy Playhouse began in 1961 and ran until 1975 as an anthology series which served as the […]

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A Labor Day salute to the employees of Grace Brothers Department Store

In the United States, Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement, dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country. As we settle in for the […]

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A tearful goodbye to BBC Television Centre…

As of today, the infamous BBC Television Centre is no more. It has ceased to be. It has gone on to meet its maker. Bereft of life, the Centre rests in peace! It is…an ex-Television Centre. On Monday, 18 March, a host of BBC stars bid farewell to the famous Wood Lane building for a […]

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R.I.P. – Frank Thornton (a.k.a. Captain Peacock)

Sadly, this is getting all-too frequent these days. Most recently was the passing of Richard Briers and, now, the passing of the great Frank Thornton at age 92. Known to us all as simply Captain Peacock and, more recently, Truly Truelove in Last of the Summer Wine, Frank Thornton rivaled Richard Briers for who had […]

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Jeremy Lloyd awarded OBE for British comedy brilliance

Doing a bit of new years ‘catch up’, we ran across some brilliant news regarding Jeremy Lloyd, co-creator and co-writer with David Croft of Are You Being Served and ‘Allo, ‘Allo. Seems as though Jeremy Jeremy Lloyd was awarded an OBE, which is short for Officer of the Order of the British Empire, in the […]

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