Positively Brilliant Television
Brainchild of actress Jean Marsh, who plays the house parlor maid, Rose Buck. Gordon Jackson is remarkable as Mr. Hudson, the butler. Set in Edwardian England, much of the story is told from the servant's POV, which makes this series unique imo. The series doesn't shy away from issues of class and sexism. You get to see the changes in this period of history; the manners, fashion, and decor... from horse-drawn carriages to "motor cars," from gas lights to electricity, from bells to buzzers, etc. And the events leading up to and surrounding WWI. Some people call it a "soap opera," but it's so much more, really.This early series eclipses the newer remake imo, and also much of the first few episodes of Downton Abbey are practically lifted whole cloth from this original series. When it began, Upstairs Downstairs was on a tight budget, and while it lacks the lavish production of Downton Abbey, it surpasses DA in substance and accuracy. I find the servants far more interesting than the bourgie or aristocracy. I love the way the meticulous labor of the servants is addressed, and how the daughter, Elizabeth rebels against the status quo and challenges social mores, albeit from her privileged position and in sometimes misguided fashion. This show is brilliant.
There is an episode where the rebel daughter Elizabeth bucks against conventions of society and takes great interest in the poor and working class, and in women's rights. I have seen no other series in the history of television address the suffragette movement, and the harsh prison punishments leveled against those women as this one. In fact, this series is sometimes a veritable history lesson re: crime and punishment and law circa Edwardian times in England.
Never seen another series that addresses the abject poverty and what was at stake for those of the servant class who were dismissed without reference from employment. Or addresses the widespread conditions of poverty for the poor and working class under an aristocracy/ monarchy/ imperialism (and can be related to today as well- the poor and working class suffering still in a world wide system that benefits the few at the expense of the many).
Season four is remarkable as well for it's serious depiction of WWI; not only addressing the futility of so much life lost, and for what, but also addressing xenophobia, prejudice, bigotry, and jingoism. It could seriously be a lesson for us today as the U.S. continues warring the globe over; and especially a lesson for the fomenting of hatred and bigotry against the victims of U.S. warfare, as we saw happen leading up to and during the "Iraq War;" many Americans ignorantly falling in line with the state-sponsored anti-Arab, anti-Muslim propaganda, while innocents abroad were being killed and bombed and displaced. In addition, the series was courageously anti-war during the Vietnam War and its ending. Even the character James Bellamy, one of the ruling elite class, is shown to have an epiphany and life-changing revelation of the extreme uselessness and destruction of imperial war. I would love to know more about other series that take this on, esp. WWI; as even the comedy Blackadder Goes Forth did so well. This series also shows how difficult life was for returning veterans.
Can't say enough about Gordon Jackson's performance as Hudson, the butler; he shines throughout and is probably one of the most beloved and endearing characters of the show, though there are many.
Absolutely of the highest caliber, this series. Golden.
score 10/10
timcurryisgod 7 August 2015
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3292596/14623
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