"What are we going to do with Uncle Arthur?"

ShadeGrenade

'Upstairs, Downstairs' was the surprise television drama hit of 1971 despite originally going out late on Sunday nights with very little fanfare. The Edwardian drama was the brainchild of actresses Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins, inspired by the immense popularity of the B.B.C.'s 'The Forsyte Saga'. Set at 165 Eaton Place, it told of the lives of the Bellamy family and their servants. Marsh played 'Rose Buck', the ever so-prim head parlour maid, with Atkins earmarked for 'Sarah a.k.a. Clemence', the cheeky Cockney girl who brings scandal and shame to the Bellamy household. When she proved unavailable, Pauline Collins ( fresh from the first series of 'The Liver Birds' ) replaced her. With all due respect to Atkins, its impossible now to think of 'Sarah' being played by anyone else. I loved the way she stood up for herself, dreamt constantly of a better life, and gave as good as she got. Gordon Jackson played the strict Scottish butler 'Angus Hudson', with Angela Baddeley as 'Mrs.Bridges', who ruled her kitchen with a rolling pin of iron. Tory M.P. 'Richard Bellamy' ( David Langton ) seemed a decent man. In addition to him, there was his elegant wife 'Lady Marjorie' ( Rachel Gurney ), their caddish son James ( Simon Williams ) and wayward daughter Elisabeth ( Nicola Pagett ).

When not working, the servants used to discuss what was going on upstairs, such as James' money troubles ( 'A Pair Of Exiles' ) or The King coming to dinner ( 'Guest Of Honour' ) or Miss Lizzie marrying an impotent poet ( 'For Love Of Love' ). One of the strongest episodes was 'I Dies From Love' in which Irish scullery maid Emily ( Evin Crowley ) hanged herself after being cast aside by a footman. To add insult to injury, we then found out that her body had been earmarked for medical experimentation despite her Catholic upbringing. There was no equality in those days even in death.

Other servants were cheeky footman 'Edward', played by Christopher Beeny, and Jenny Tomasin as dimwitted scullery maid 'Ruby'. John Alderton came aboard in the second season as chauffeur 'Thomas Watkins', a fairly straight character to begin with, but who then evolved into a devious con-artist - witness his fleecing of the Bellamy's when a blackmailer came on the scene with Lady Marjorie's love letters to Captain Hammond ( David Kernan ). Thomas and Sarah later got their own show. Poor Lady Marjorie went down on the Titanic ( funny how James Cameron never mentioned this ) at the start of Season 2. Her replacement was the tasty Meg Wynn Owen as 'Hazel Forrest', Richard's secretary. Elisabeth's successor was 'Miss Georgina Worsley' ( Lesley-Anne Down ), a vacuous deb who eventually enlisted as a nurse during The Great War. One of the great things about 'Updown' was that, as well as being top-notch drama, you got a history lesson as well. The Great War episodes were fabulous. One of the most moving scenes ever shown on television was when Edward came back from the trenches with shell-shock. Full credit should go to script-editor Alfred Shaughnessy and producer John Hawksworth, who both took all the major creative decisions. The wonderful Strauss-like theme tune was by Alexander Faris.

'Updown' caught on in America, despite five Season 1 episodes being omitted due to being made in black and white. The Americans attempted their own version, the unsuccessful 'Beacon Hill'.

After five seasons, 'Updown' ended in 1975. A lengthy repeat run then followed, and 'Guest Of Honour' was chosen as part of I.T.V.'s 'Best Of British' season in 1982. It is presently to be found on I.T.V.-3.

Sagitta Productions moved to the B.B.C. in 1976, where they did the equally popular 'The Duchess Of Duke Street'. 'The Two Ronnies' did an 'Updown' parody, as did Stanley Baxter ( filmed on the same sets used in the show! ), the 'Carry On' team spoofed it in two editions of 'Carry On Laughing', and it inspired Jimmy Perry & David Croft's last sitcom 'You Rang Milord?'. Perhaps the most inane spin-off was 'Russell Harty Goes Upstairs, Downstairs' in which the late chat-show host was seen dropping in on the residents of Eaton Place for tea and a chat.

Forty years after it first appeared, 'Updown' remains compelling, powerful ( it tackled difficult subjects such as homosexuality, adultery, suicide, mental breakdown, and the aftermath of war ), sometimes humorous, always entertaining viewing. in 2010, the B.B.C. revived 'Updown' with Jean Marsh reprising her role as 'Rose' and a new family at Eaton Place. Despite it boasting superior production values, it failed to grab the imagination the way the original did, and was axed two years later. T.V. bosses would do well to take a long hard look at the original in order to learn how to do a show of this kind. It managed to pull in big audiences without insulting anyone's intelligence.

score 10/10

ShadeGrenade 25 August 2008

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1935468/