In 1948, Brough formed the theatre company “The Arthur Brough Players” with his young wife, Elizabeth, using their wedding cheques. It helped launch the careers of many prominent actors, including Peter Barkworth, Eric Lander, Polly James, Anne Stallybrass, and Trevor Bannister, who later portrayed Mr. Lucas in “Are You Being Served.” Once the new Folkestone rep was established, Brough formed new repertory companies in Bradford, Bristol, Blackpool, Keighley, Leeds, Lincoln, Oxford and Southampton, to name a few. With the outbreak of World War II, Brough enlisted in the Royal Navy, where he served for the duration of the war. His service included helping with the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940, his ship returning to the rescue scene several times to bring soldiers home before the Nazis reached them at the seaport.

Following demobilisation, Brough resumed his acting career and reopened the Folkestone rep. Many prominent actors began their careers with the Arthur Brough Players, including Peter Barkworth, who appeared in The Guinea Pig in 1948: Eric Lander, later a star of the TV series No Hiding Place, in 1949: Polly James in the 1960s: and Anne Stallybrass, who started out as ASM in 1960 and went on to play Ida the maid in Pool’s Paradise by Philip King; as well as appearing in The Aspern Papers, Candida, and A Taste of Honey at the little Folkestone theatre. Others included Andrew Jack; Sydney Sturgess, who went on to marry Barry Morse; and Trevor Bannister, who would later act alongside Brough in Are You Being Served?

In 1972, Brough was cast as Ernest 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 department store, Brough played the senior menswear salesman, with assistants Mr Humphries (John Inman) and Mr Lucas (Trevor Bannister). The show became enormously popular, with an audience of 22 million in 1979, and ran until 1985.

After the show completed its fifth series in 1977, on Easter Sunday 26 March 1978, Arthur Brough’s wife of 50 years, Elizabeth, died, and the emotionally devastated Brough announced he was quitting acting. Brough stayed with his daughter for a few weeks following his wife’s death and, according to his daughter, Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft made contact to say they were writing him into the next series. However, he died just two months after his wife, on 28 May 1978, in Folkestone. Croft decided not to have another actor take over the part of Mr Grainger, so his character in Are You Being Served? was replaced by Mr Tebbs, played by James Hayter.