226 Upstairs Downstairs

First  watched : 23  November  1975

This  was  a  big  favourite  with  my  Gran  and  Mum  and  my  sister  started  watching  the  final  series  in  the  autumn  of  1975. I  wasn't  interested  but  eventually  curiosity  got  the  better  of  me  after  Lesley-Anne  Down  and  Gareth  Hunt  appeared  on  Bruce  Forsyth  and  the  Generation  Game.  I  was  late  in  the  day; I  only  saw  the  final  five  episodes  before  the  series  finished. I  remember  the  final  one  was  on  the  same  night  as  we  went  to  a  Carol  service  at  Littleborough  Parish  Church, the  only  service  I  attended  there  before  my  friend's  wedding  in  1988. It  ended  with  the  cast  dispersing  and  housemaid  Rose  ( Jean  Marsh )  wandering  around  the  empty  building  and  hearing  voices  from  the  series'  past  which  Mum  enjoyed  identifying. My  interest  in  history  was  burgeoning

Mum  also  bought  the  souvenir  magazine  marking  the  end  of  the  series  and  Gran  had   kept  one  issued  after  the  end  of  the  first  series  and  I  devoured  them   longing  for  the  series  to  be  repeated. It  eventually  was  in  the  early  days  of  Channel  4  although  missing  out  the  five  black  and  white  episodes  from  the  first  series  and  I  followed  it  up  until  starting  at  university in  1983 . I  saw  those  early  episodes  through  Lovefilm  a  few  years  ago and  have  watched  repeats  on ITV3  but  I  still  don't  think  I've  seen  it  all. I  don't  remember  seeing  any  episodes  with  Lily  ( Karen  Dotrice )  in  for  example.

For  those  who  haven't  seen  it  Upstairs  Downstairs  might  seem  like  the  sort  of  heritage  television beloved  of  the  Daily  Mail  but  it   actually  was  extremely  hard-hitting  and  pulled  few  punches  especially  in  the  early  series  with  rape, homosexuality, suicide, child  abduction , adultery  and  murder all  featuring  before  the  whole  of  Series  Four  was  given  over  to  the  First  World  War  and  its  harrowing  effects  on  the  household. The  episode  I  Dies  From  Love  which  tracks  the  humiliation   and  eventual  suicide  of  the  put-upon  kitchen  maid  Emily  ( Evin  Crowley ) is  one  of  the  most  gut-wrenching  pieces  of  TV  drama  you  will  ever  see. The  highlights  are  legion. Some  of  my  favourites  were  demented  footman  Alfred  ( George  Innes )  running  off  with  a  German  baron  ( the  meaning of  Hudson  the  butler's  comment  in  the  magazine  that  Rose  saw  something  too  disgusting  to  describe  finally  becoming  clear )  and  returning  as  a  fugitive  murderer  two  series  later , Elizabeth   Bellamy  ( Nicola  Pagett ) getting  passed  to  another man  because  her  poet  husband  couldn't  bring  himself  to  screw  her, Edward  the  footman  ( Christopher  Beeny )  getting  shell  shock  and  Georgina  ( Lesley  Anne  Down )  getting  a  rude  lesson  in  how  the  other  half  live  from  a   Christmas  visit  to  Daisy  the  maid's  family.  

The  final  series  set  in  the  twenties  was  a  little  tame  by  comparison  and  the  decision  to  end  it  was  probably  right  as  well  as  historically  justifiable. The  end  of  the  series  was  set  in  stone  by  the  death  of  Angela  Baddeley  who  played  the  cook  Mrs  Bridges   in  an  influenza  epidemic  just  a  couple  of  months  later. A  spin-off  series  featuring  husband  and  wife  team  Pauline  Collins  and  John  Alderton   reprising  their  roles  as  the  titular  Thomas  and  Sarah, two  characters  who  left  at  the  end  of  Series  Two  was  broadcast  in  1979.  I  think  Mum  and  my  sister  might  have  watched  some  of  it  but  I  never  bothered. It  only  lasted  one  series  after  an  ITV  strike  halted  work  on  a  second  and  it  never  resumed.  The  series  was  eventually  revived  in  2010  by  the  BBC   with   Jean  Marsh's  Rose   the  only  linking  character  despite   being  in  her  mid-seventies. Two  short  series  were  made  in  2010  and  2012  with  Marsh  hardly  participating  in  the  second  after  a  major  stroke  and  heart  attack. My  wife  watched  the  first  one  but  I  thought  it  was  a  bad  idea.

The  cast  changed  over  the  years  with  only  five  of  the  original  cast  remaining  on  screen  by  the  end  of  the  series. They  had  varying  fortunes  afterwards. Though  she  was  never  my  favourite  character  Pauline  Collins  who  played  Sarah  is  still  a  major  TV  star  while  Lesley  Anne  Down  went  to  Hollywood , appeared  in  Dallas  and  looked  exceedingly  out  of  place  alongside  her  fellow  cast  members  in  a  reunion  picture  in  2007  , none  of  whom  had  resorted  to  Botox  in  the  meantime. Gordon  Jackson, David  Langton  and  Gareth  Hunt are  some  of  those  who've  passed  away. Most  of  the  others  still  work  in  TV  with  Jacqueline  Tong  perhaps  the  most  unrecognisable  from  her  time  as  Daisy.