Upstairs Downstairs (2010– )

A new family and their servants live at the London townhouse at 165 Eaton Place in 1936.

Creator:

Heidi Thomas

Stars:

Keeley Hawes, Ed Stoppard, Adrian Scarborough

Nominated for 6 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Keeley Hawes	...	Lady Agnes Holland (9 episodes, 2010-2012)
Ed Stoppard	...	Sir Hallam Holland (9 episodes, 2010-2012)
Adrian Scarborough	...	Mr. Warwick Pritchard (9 episodes, 2010-2012)
Neil Jackson	...	Harry Spargo (9 episodes, 2010-2012)
Anne Reid	...	Mrs. Clarice Thackeray (9 episodes, 2010-2012)
Claire Foy	...	Lady Persephone Towyn (9 episodes, 2010-2012)
Art Malik	...	Mr. Amanjit Singh (9 episodes, 2010-2012)
Blake Ritson	...	The Duke of Kent (8 episodes, 2010-2012)
Nico Mirallegro	...	Johnny Proude (7 episodes, 2010-2012)
Laura Haddock	...	Beryl Ballard (6 episodes, 2012)
Ami Metcalf	...	Eunice McCabe (6 episodes, 2012)
Jean Marsh	...	Mrs. Rose Buck (5 episodes, 2010-2012)
Alex Kingston	...	Dr. Blanche Mottershead (5 episodes, 2012)
Ken Bones	...	Lord Halifax (4 episodes, 2012)
Sarah Gordy	...	Pamela Holland (4 episodes, 2010-2012)
Alexia James	...	Lotte Perlmutter (4 episodes, 2010-2012)

Storyline

In 1936, Sir Hallam Holland and his pretty young wife Lady Agnes return from a diplomatic posting abroad and take up residence at 165 Eaton Place, formerly the home of the Bellamy family but vacant for several years. By chance, they ask Rose Buck, herself a long-time servant in the Bellamy household, to find them a suitable staff. In the end, Rose herself joins them as the Housekeeper. The 1930s are a difficult time in England. The Depression has taken its toll with high levels of unemployment. Fascism, which has become popular on the Continent in Italy and Germany, is also finding followers in the UK with Oswald Mosely's British Union of Fascists. As the new staff begin their daily work, the downstairs family begins to take shape.

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Plot Keywords:

upstairs downstairs

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Also Known As:

Arriba y abajo

Filming Locations:

35 Clarendon Square, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Cymru Wales, Masterpiece

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Unlike the real Eaton Place, the street in Leamington Spa where the Eaton Place exteriors are filmed has houses on one side of the street only (there is a small park on the facing side). For this reason, most shots have to be carefully framed to show one side of the street only. The occasional wide establishing shot is blended in post production with a reverse angle shot of the same row of houses so that the street appears to have houses on both sides.

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Connections

Featured in The Wright Stuff: Episode #17.35 (2012)

User Reviews

Surely you can't be serious

I 'm a huge fan of the original Upstairs Downstairs, and have watched it, in its entirety, three times. From this new series I've only watch one episode, and it is the last I'm ever going to watch. To start with, there's the loud musical score that's tiresomely woven throughout the entire run-time. It aims to give you a comic prelude before a comic moment, a dramatic overtone before something somber happens, and in general the impression that you wouldn't understand if people are happy or sad without some kind of a musical instrument to tell you. I bet the musical director's experience came from watching Leave IT To Beaver and Bugs Bunny.

The choice between who would play the masters and who the servants was probably made with a toss of a coin: there seems to be no difference in acting style or class between the two groups. And when I say "acting style" I use the term loosely, because I'm yet to see any acting taking place. But who could blame the actors when they are made up like wax figures, and when the producers think that name-dropping (Wallis Simpson, the King) is a good substitute for a plot? There is also no realism in the series. The chauffeur tells the master's sister-in-law that he would address her as a lady when she behaves like one (her crime was to enter the front seat of the car instead of the back seat). Can you imagine any of the servants in the previous series say that? Masters and servants seem to be palsy-walsy in this series, which makes them even harder to tell apart.

Jean Marsh should have known better than to appear in this pale melodrama and give it her stamp of approval. But then, as she is asking the audience to accept that Rose Buck aged 40 years between 1930 and 1936, I wouldn't put too much stock in her judgment to begin with.