Mr. Grainger
Ernest Grainger (Arthur Brough) (series 1–5)[edit | edit source]
Ernest Grainger (Arthur Brough and then Roy Barraclough) was the original senior of the menswear department; he had been with Grace Brothers for over four decades. He resented being forced to share the floor with the Ladies Department. He vaguely resembled Winston Churchill, in both appearance and demeanor, and had done impressions of him during the war while in ENSA. Mr. Grainger often fell asleep at work, and failed to wake up when called, unless Mr. Humphries asked him "Mr. Grainger! Are you free?" When flabbergasted or grumpy, Mr. Humphries would often come to his aid and call: "Glass of water for Mr. Grainger!" Little is known about his personal life, except his marriage, an illegitimate child from the 1950s with "a girl from haberdashery" and a sister.
Unlike his successors, Mr. Tebbs and Mr. Goldberg, who only lasted one series, and Mr. Grossman and Mr. Klein, who only lasted four episodes, Mr. Grainger lasted five series, and was thus the longest-serving menswear senior. Like Mr. Rumbold, he was bald. He was 65 in 1974, so was born in 1909.
Although he generally got along well with the others, Mr. Grainger was sometimes cranky and bad-tempered and would protest and become resentful whenever the menswear department had to share valuable space with the ladies, or when Captain Peacock would nonchalantly mention a perk he had earned despite having served less time at the store than Mr. Grainger (such as a visit to the company boardroom). Once he had the opportunity to fill in for Mr Rumbold who was away for a one-month conference (this was a nice gesture, as it entitled Mr. Grainger to a slightly bigger pension) but the position went to his head: he took advantage of all Mr. Rumbold's perks (in particular the liquor cabinet and cigars), but imposed strict discipline on the rest of the staff: he threatened to make an adverse entry in Peacock's personnel record and he actually sacked Mrs Slocombe (however, he did repent his ways by the end of the episode). His character left when Arthur Brough passed away on 28 May 1978, while the sixth series was in pre-production. He was being written into the scripts at this time.
