Revealing mistake: At the beginning of the Scottish dance when Captain Peacock is demonstrating the sharpness of the swords, he first cuts through the center of a newspaper page held up by Mr. Spooner. However, you can see that, just before the sword makes contact, Spooner actually tears the paper apart down the middle.
Are You Being Served? (1972)
1 revealing mistake in Roots?
Starring: Frank Thornton, John Inman, Mollie Sugden, Wendy Richard
Genres: Comedy
German Week - S3-E6
Revealing mistake: When Mr. Humphries and Mr. Lucas make their toast with the German mugs, Mr. Lucas' mug breaks but Mr. Humphries' does not. A moment later, when Mr. Humphries notices the mug has not broken, you can see that he crushes the mug with his hand.
Mr. Humphries: I'm free!
Trivia: Frank Thornton, Mollie Sugden, John Inman, Wendy Richard and Nicholas Smith are the only actors to appear in all 69 episodes of the show.
Question: Does anyone know why Wendy Richard (Ms. Brahms) is the only one not wearing blackface for the musical number at the end of the episode?
Answer: In Britain, there was the show Black and White Minstrels which was very popular until the late 70s. The men were all blacked up, but the women weren't - hence Black and White Minstrels. It's been a while since I saw the episode to know if Mrs Slocombe was blacked up as well, but technically she shouldn't have been.
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Answer: In minstrel shows there was also a stereotype of black men preying on white women, so that's probably why she was not in black face. Also, Mrs. Slocombe is in blackface because she is an older, stout woman and she fits the "mammy" stereotype.