who would later act alongside Brough in Are You Being Served? In those days a local repertory company would present a fresh play each week, to rival the cinemas, with a small stable cast rehearsing one play by day, whilst performing what they had rehearsed the previous week each evening, with a mid-week 'tea' matinee. Since there was a limited number of actors in the company for economic reasons, they often had to play characters far from their own age or appearance. Brough took his company on tour, and helped establish rep companies in Aldershot, Southend and Eastbourne. Television With the rise of television, Brough predicted the eclipse of repertory theatre as a viable entertainment form. In the 1960s he began seeking roles in the mass media, appearing in small roles in films and television. His daughter, Joanna Hutton, said this about his forecast of the decline of repertory theatre: "He was very astute and unsentimental about it. He realized the era was over and that he must diversify". According to Hutton, her father first found it hard adjusting from stage to screen. "He realized how hammy he was. He used to take the mickey out of himself; he'd always acted in a Shakespearean manner and suddenly realized he had to tone down his performance for film". One of the first jobs Brough did away from the stage was the film The Green Man with Alastair Sim, in which he played the landlord of the eponymous hotel. He had a minor role opposite Jayne Mansfield in The Challenge (1960), and made guest appearances in TV shows such as Upstairs, Downstairs (Episode 3.2), Dad's Army, Z-Cars, The Persuaders, Adam Adamant Lives!, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Jason King. He also continued to appear in theatrical productions, including Half a Sixpence (1967), playing a shopkeeper. The Folkestone Rep continued until 1969, before closing at the time that Brough's wife Elizabeth began to suffer ill-health. Are You Being Served? In 1972, Brough was cast as Ernest "Mr. Grainger" in the BBC sitcom Are You Being Served? by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft. Initially a pilot episode in the Comedy Playhouse slot, it was well received and commissioned for a series in early 1973. Set in a fading fictional department store, Brough played the senior menswear salesman, alongside his assistants Mr. Humphries (John Inman) and Mr Lucas (Trevor Bannister). The show ran until 1985.