Miss Brahms
| Miss Brahms | |
|---|---|
 Wendy Richard as Miss Brahms | |
| Are You Being Served? and Grace and Favour character | |
| Portrayed by | Wendy Richard |
| First appearance | Are You Being Served? (1972) |
| Last appearance | Grace & Favour (1993) |
| Created by |
Jeremy Lloyd David Croft |
| Profile | |
| Occupation | Saleswoman |
Miss Shirley Brahms is a fictional character from the BBC1 comedy show, Are You Being Served?. She was played by Wendy Richard.
Role[edit | edit source]
Miss Brahms is the junior ladieswear assistant. Known for her Cockney accent, Miss Brahms is sometimes unintelligible to the person with whom she is speaking, but often puts on her best voice when answering the telephone. Under Mrs. Slocombe's guidance, she becomes a more useful assistant throughout the series, though the hierarchy of Grace Brothers is such that she would have moved up only when Mrs. Slocombe left, if ever. Attractive and voluptuous, she is sometimes (but usually not) receptive to the advances of Mr. Lucas. Despite this, she considers herself to have standards. In one incident, when she was approached to participate in a store-wide Holiday Girl contest with the assumption that she would easily win, Miss Brahms refuses, mainly because one of the prizes is a vacation aboard the yacht of old Mr. Grace, who had previously made lecherous advances toward her.
While she is proud of her working-class roots, she bemoans her present existence and yearns for a more glamorous and exciting life. Her largest sale occurs when Mrs. Slocombe, who had temporarily replaced Mr. Rumbold, is not by her side.[1][2]
Miss Brahms often makes reference to her swinging social life and the mores of the times (such as not wearing a bra and sleeping in the nude), usually to the disdain of Mrs. Slocombe and the immediate interest of either (or both) Captain Peacock and Mr. Lucas. It is stated at times that she is considered the "prettiest" girl at Grace Brothers, with Young Mr. Grace at one point considering her as a strong candidate to be one of his secretaries. Miss Brahms' legs are displayed quite often to the members of staff, either innocently (as she attempts to fix a suspender or show off a ladder in her tights) or on purpose (such as when Mr. Lucas triggers an air vent under her skirt, Marilyn Monroe-style). Although she is picked to be the public face of Grace Brothers (in the episode "Closed Circuit") due to her good looks, her high-pitched Cockney accent proves to be unsuitable (and ultimately cost her a chance at romance, as a Lord falls in love with her voice, which is actually dubbed on by Mr. Grace's blonde nurse).
Although Miss Brahms resents being viewed as nothing more than a pretty face, she does on a couple occasions use her feminine wiles to charm Captain Peacock when she wants something.
Grace and Favour[edit | edit source]
Wendy Richard reprised the role of Miss Brahms for the spin-off show, Grace & Favour, in 1992.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ "I'm Free! - The Complete Are You Being Served?". Orion Books. 1999.
- ↑ "Founder's Day". Are You Being Served?. Season 5. Episode 3. 1977-03-11.
External links[edit | edit source]
- Are You Being Served? at BBC Online
- Are You Being Served? at the British Film Institute
- Miss Brahms at the BFI's Screenonline
- Miss Brahms at Internet Movie Database
| ||||||||||||||
