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.

---

Plot Keywords:

upstairs downstairs

---

Genres:

Drama

---

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.

---

Connections

Referenced in Comic Relief: Uptown Downstairs Abbey (2011)

User Reviews

Modern adaptation fails

Anyone besides me notice that the recurrent theme of "Over the Rainbow" is not the version contemporaneous with the time period of the series? Not even a close imitation of Judy Garland. Else the series is worse than what passes as drama on American commercial networks ... at least there are no vampires or zombies. Just a slutty sister and a failed alcoholic recovery.

Characters are flat as a piece of paper. Percy is the only character that shows the turbulence of the age, but that is subsequently diminished by sex scandal and suicide. The cameo in the last episode of the autistic sister consoling the adulterous husband is a predictable device screenwriters use to provoke audience forgiveness.

Too bad the series put Miss Buck in a sanatorium. But that's what young screenwriters do to dispose of old themes that work.