With her ever-changing hair colour and affection for her feline companion, much humour was wrung from Mrs. Slocombe’s cat.

Aired on the 8th of September 1972, Mollie would continue to portray Mrs Slocombe from “Are You Being Served?” up until 1993.

“Are You Being Served?” ran for 10 series with 69 episodes in total, a film, and a spin-off show “Grace & Favour”, which produced 12 episodes in 1992 & 1993.

Before becoming a household name as Mrs Slocombe, Mollie Sugden appeared in many television shows, including “Benny Hill“, “Hugh and I” with John Inman, “Jackanory”, “Z Cars”, “Just Jimmy”, “Steptoe & Son”, “Oh Brother!”, “The Goodies”, “The Liver Birds”, “Coronation Street“, “Up Pompeii!” with Frankie Howerd, and “For The Love of Ada” with Irene Handl.

After the fame that “Are You Being Served?” brought, Mollie later appeared in “Cluedo” with Lewis Collins and David McCallum, “Little Britain”, “My Husband and I”, “Come back Mrs Noah”, and “That’s My Boy”.

Written by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, Joanna Lumley‘s first husband, who made his screen debut in the classic British comedy “School For Scoundrels“, “Are You Being Served?” was one of the most popular television shows of the 1970s which led to a film version of the same name.