Upstairs, Downstairs
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Upstairs, Downstairs was a 1970s British television series set in a grand Edwardian town house in London and depicting the events of the early twentieth century as they affected the servants ('downstairs') and masters ('upstairs').
The series was originally conceived by Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins as a comedy, called Behind the Green Baize Door, about two housemaids (to be played by themselves) who worked in a Victorian country house. After approaching a development company in 1969 their ideas were expanded and developed to include the upstairs element and it became a drama known variously as Two Little Maids in Town, Below Stairs, The Servants' Hall, That House in Eaton Square and 165 Eaton Place until becoming Upstairs, Downstairs shortly before going into production.
The series was first offered to Granada Television in Manchester who passed on it as they were working on another period drama (A Family At War) but London Weekend Television liked the concept and in April 1970 commissioned a series of thirteen plays with an option for a second. Because of a technician's strike the first six episodes were shot in black and white; when colour production eventually began, the opening episode was remade in two different versions, which could be shown depending on whether or not stations broadcast the black and white episodes. The original black and white pilot is believed to have been wiped.
Upstairs, Downstairs eventually ran for five seasons totalling 68 episodes. In 1979 a 13-episode spinoff series entitled Thomas and Sarah was made.
The series won many awards, including seven Emmys and a Golden Globe. The theme tune by Alexander Faris won an Ivor Novello award. The complete series has been released on Region 2 DVD, though without any extra features. The black and white episodes, although made first, were released last together with the alternative colour version of the pilot, presumably due to public demand. Thomas and Sarah has also been released in matching packaging. There have been other video and DVD releases around the world with widely varying sound and picture quality, as detailed on the updown.org site (see external link below).
The BBC series The Duchess of Duke Street is widely seen as the BBC's answer to Upstairs, Downstairs, not least because some of the same producers and writers worked on it and it also has a theme tune by Faris.
Lady Majorie Torbut-Geri, the lovely and wilful daughter of the Earl and Countess of Southwold marries Richard Bellamy, the upright younger son of a country parson, despite her parents' objections. Mr. and Lady Bellamy set up housekeeping at 165 Eaton Place, one of several London properties owned by the Earl. They have two children, James and Elizabeth.
Richard became a politican and several plots centre around his political ambitions and conflicts arising from his desire to follow his concience and his allegience to his father-in-law's political party, the conservatives.
Upstairs, Downstairs attempted to portray life in a great house set against the major events of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The lives of the servants are integral to the story.
Servants (see the cast list below)
Hudson - butler
Mrs. Bridges - cook
There were several maids,accurately reflecting the high turnover rate of the times. The senior maids had to double as parlour and chambermaids. Recurring roles were:
- Rose
- Sarah (She left to go on the stage, had an affair with James which resulted in pregnancy but she miscarried. Sarah finally married Watkins and left Eaton Place.)
- Emily (committed suicide in 1907)
- Lily (Hudson developed an infatuation with Lily and she left Eaton Place)
- Ruby (Mrs. Bridges's long suffering kitchen maid
- Daisy Peel (Daisy was originally under houseparlourmaid; she eventually married Edward and they became butler and housekeeper to the Marquis and Marchioness of Stockbridge.)
- Note: in a wealthier household, these would have been individual positions, at 165 duties were divided, even Hudson valeted on occasion.
- Alfred ( was fired after being found homosexual)
- Edward Barnes (Edward later became chauffeur, sometimes under-butler and finally became butler to the Marquis of Stockbridge)
- Frederick
- Mr. Pearce
- Thomas Watkins (left in 1910 with Sarah)
- Edward Barnes
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Cast
Upstairs
- Lesley-Anne Down - Georgina Worsley [becomes the Marchioness of Stockbridge at the end of the series]
- Hannah Gordon - Virgina Hamilton Bellamy [later Vicountess Bellamy]
- Rachel Gurney - Lady Marjorie Bellamy (died in 1912 on the Titanic.)
- David Langton - Mr. [later Viscount] Richard Bellamy
- Cathleen Nesbitt - Lady Southwold [The Dowager Countess]
- Ian Ogilvy - Lawrence Kirbridge (married Elizabeth in 1908 then left her in 1909)
- Meg Wynn Owen - Hazel Forrest Bellamy(married James in 1912, she died in 1918)
- Nicola Pagett - Elizabeth Bellamy Kirbridge (left in 1912 with her second husband Dana)
- Jonathon Seely - William Hamilton
- Simon Williams - Captain/Major James Bellamy (died in 1929)
- Anne Yarker - Alice Hamilton
Downstairs
- John Alderton - Thomas Watkins
- Angela Baddeley - Kate Bridges
- Christopher Beeny - Edward Barnes
- Pauline Collins - Sarah Moffatt Watkins
- Karen Dotrice - Lily Hawkins
- Gareth Hunt - Trooper Frederick Norton
- George Innes - Alfred Harris
- Gordon Jackson - Angus Hudson
- Jean Marsh - Rose Buck
- Patsy Smart - Maude Roberts
- Jenny Tomasin - Ruby Finch
- Jacqueline Tong - Daisy Peel Barnes
Recurring
- Anthony Ainley - Lord Charles Gilmour
- Anthony Andrews - The Marquis of Stockbridge
- Celia Bannerman - Lady Diana Newbury
- Keith Barron - Gregory Wilmot
- Joan Benham - Lady Prudence Fairfax
- Donald Burton - Julius Karekin
- Raymond Huntley - Sir Geoffrey Dillon
- John Quayle - Lord Bunny Newbury
External link
- Info site (http://www.updown.org.uk/)de:Das Haus am Eaton Place