Jorgie Porter reveals how she never thought playing a secretary in Are You Being Served? could be so sexy

IT was one of Britain’s best-loved sitcoms, famous for its sex-obsessed staff.

Now Are You Being Served? is back — and promises to be bawdier than ever, with I’m A Celeb babe Jorgie Porter playing an all-new saucy secretary.

Working for Mr Rumbold, manager of fictional department store Grace Brothers, Jorgie, delivers the episode’s most titillating moments.

Although she admits it took her a while to get used to the role, which sees her sporting an Eighties-style mullet, the former Hollyoaks star admits she felt “strangely sexy” in her retro office suit.

She tells The Sun: “I actually had a mullet cut in my hair. I went all-out — short on top and long on the bottom, like Pat Sharp.

“All the girls were saying they used to have their hair like that and they’d flick it all out. I’d be like, ‘Really?!’

“As soon as I finished ­filming, I had extensions put in.

At first I didn’t feel it but playing a secretary is strangely sexy.

"And I still got a few smiles from the boys on nights out with it.”

The original series ended in 1985.

But in one new scene that could have come straight from its predecessor, Jorgie, 28, is seen bending down in front of her boss to plug in a computer — while the live studio audience laughs along.

Mr Rumbold — first played by the late Nicholas Smith, now by comic Justin Edwards — quips: “No, Miss Croft, it’s not long enough to go in there.

“Don’t keep tugging at it so hard, you’ll end up pulling it off.

“It’s no use sitting there with your mouth open. I need to get the thing up and running.

"Sorry, Mr Peacock — me and Miss Croft are just struggling with my hardware.”

The original show spanned ten series from 1972 to 1985 and at its peak pulled in an incredible 22MILLION viewers.

The new episode, which airs on Sunday for the BBC’s Landmark Sitcom Season, picks up the story three years later in 1988.

Jorgie binge-watched the original on YouTube to get up to speed.

She says: “I remember Only Fools & Horses and that sort of thing but I had no idea what this show was.

“My mum loved it, so she realises how big a deal it is.”

Jorgie’s character was brought in by screenwriter Derren Litten, whose previous credits include ITV’s Benidorm and The Catherine Tate Show.

She says: “When I first read the script, I didn’t have a speaking part. But when we got to the read-through, everyone stopped and stared at me.

I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got lines!’

“It was filmed in front of a live studio audience. I loved it, that immediate response. I wasn’t nervous at all. I love the buzz of it.”

I had no idea what this show was but my mum said she loved it

All the major members of the original cast have died since the show ended.

Gavin & Stacey star Mathew Horne joins as “young Mr Grace”, grandson of the store’s owner, originally played by Harold Bennett.

He is determined to drag Grace Brothers into the future but finds his staff stuck in the past.

The formidable Mrs Slocombe, first played with impeccable comic timing by Mollie Sugden, returns — pussy jokes and all — in the form of Benidorm and Loose Women star Sherrie Hewson.

Sherrie sports a fatsuit to emulate her predecessor’s curves.

Mr Humphries, the part made famous by John Inman, is played by Bafta winner Jason Watkins, with Only Fools & Horses star John Challis as Captain Peacock and Niky Wardley taking on Wendy Richard’s role as Miss Brahms.

Kayode Ewumi comes on board as Mr Conway, only the second black character ever to appear on the show.

Bosses are said to have been keen to avoid accusations of sexism and homophobia.

Even so, the new version kicks off with Captain Peacock mocking the famously camp Mr Humphries about being a keen measurer of gentlemen’s inside legs.

Sherrie says: “It’s a new beginning. Kay is fantastic and changes everything. Jason is brilliant as Mr Humphries.

“He has a gayness about him which is totally different, not overly camp.

"It was 1972 when it started and I understand the PC brigade.

"You have to understand not to offend people but you can’t take offence at this.”

The show’s most infamous gag remains Mrs Slocombe’s frequent references to her “pussy” — meaning her pet cat.

Yet the part took its toll on Sherrie, 65, who broke down during filming before the studio audience in March.

She says: “I was so nervous about taking on Mrs Slocombe.

“I kept thinking, ‘Are they going to shoot me down because I wasn’t like her and I wasn’t good enough?’

“I was so worried about that. We all got quite uptight about it because we so wanted it to be right and for people to love it.

“I spent my whole day right into the small hours watching Mollie, watching every clip.

“When we got on to the set in costume, when the music came on, I burst into tears.

“By the time we came to the studio on the night, the fear was immense. I remember sitting behind the set and sweat dripping down my neck.”

If Sunday’s one-off special captures the hearts of the nation as the original did, a full series is likely to be commissioned.

And Sherrie revealed that the cast are already in talks to reprise the iconic roles full-time.

She says: “There’s been a chat about it. It’s now down to the BBC — but we’d all love to do it.”