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The All-New 'Upstairs, Downstairs'
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Lengthy and fairly interesting article in today's Mail about the relaunching of the popular period drama series and insight into the cast:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1297362/Upstairs-Downstairs-new-cast.html
Doesn't Keeley Hawes look like Rachel Gurney? :eek:
Just one thing, how many times do they have to mention that it will be 'shot through with sensuality'? :rolleyes:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1297362/Upstairs-Downstairs-new-cast.html
Doesn't Keeley Hawes look like Rachel Gurney? :eek:
Just one thing, how many times do they have to mention that it will be 'shot through with sensuality'? :rolleyes:
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It's not a remake, it's the same premise as Upstairs Downstairs, with all different characters. So, basically what you just described
Ah yes I see what you mean. I'll reserve judgement until I see it, it seems to have a good cast, so it may be good?
Look forward to seeing Ann Reid as the new cook!!
One thing the BBC are good at is period dramas, I can see this being a success!:)
having watched ITV3 repeats at weekends, I think the years Jean Marsh was in UD were 1910-1913
so Rose would have aged 30 years since she was last in it, granted this is still less time than when Jean played (but a little bit of licence can be taken)
personally I can't understand why ITV didn't do this themselves
first Auf Wiedersehen Pet, now this - why is ITV allowing it's genuinely classic shows to be revived by Beeb
The show never really kept its eye on the time clock, though, which did make things a bit ridiculous. If you take the case of Mrs Bridges, for example, she would have been in her 50's when the series started (1903) and would have been in her 80's by the time it ended (1930), but you wouldn't have thought so. She looked absolutely no different, despite the passing of '27 years', nor did David Bellamy, Hudson, Daisy, Ruby, etc., etc. The only character that seemed to deliberately age was James who started getting obvious grey streaks in his hair by the fifth series. I don't know what he'd been taking but clearly it wasn't the same water as the others at 165 Eaton Place!
A great series in it's day.
Updates/remakes are rarely ever as good as the original.
Actually, Jean Marsh was in the whole run, covering 1903 to 1930. Apparently, the only reason the show was dropped in 1975 was because the actors were decades younger than the characters they were playing and it was beginning to look as if they had taken some elixir of life!
Would you rather see a flashy updated Americanised updated Hollywood version featuring somebody black as one of the servants or a Brittish revival ( there was no racist intent or offence meant by the comment about serving staff)? Nobody could call Upstairs, downstairs racist because all the staff were white.
They may have tried. I remember a few years back there were rumours of certainly a remake with Kathy Burke rumoured to be among those considered for a part, but nothing materialised. ITV may have approached Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins (or whatever John Hawkesworth's Sagitta Productions has now become) in the past, or vice versa, and maybe something about what they wanted to do was not quite right and things went back and forth before ultimately being rejected, don't know. Obviously the BBC project sounded more desirable so they went with that and I have to say that this, together with Downton Abbey, are among the most exciting tv projects of the year as far as I'm concerned.
speaking as a black, it wouldn't bother me
I'll stick my neck out say I'm sure there were some black servants working in Britain back in the 30's
maybe I'm too pc
didn't know that, I didn't think JM was in the later series
haven't watched all of them yet
Sat's double was very good, liked the Alfred one best
There would certainly have been many - although due to social changes there were far fewer domestic servant in the 30s than before WW1.
At the end of the 'original' series Rose left to work as a Ladies Maid with Viscount Bellamy and his 2nd wife - the implications here would be that they both died because otherwise she'd have stayed there in semi retirement.
She is in the very last scene.
Walking alone through the empty house (the family and staff had gone and the removal men had just finished their work) as various sound snippets from down the years are played. She walks through tjhe front door, closes it behind her and heads off down the street without looking back.
I often wondered what age some of the characters were meant to be.
It was mentioned last Saturday that James was 30 in 1912. Assuming his father was, say, 22 years older Richard would have been 70 when the series finished (1930). If Hudson was, say, 65 in 1930 (he wouldn't have been much older as, in that situation he'd have been able retire to the Southwold Estate at that point rather than go into business) this would make him about 40 when the series first started - and he'd have looked an old 40 - same with Mrs Bridges.
The most unbelievable one of all was Sir Geoffrey Dillon who must be 50 at the start but is still there in the end looking not a day older.
Let's put it down to poetic licence.
For me the Albert episode is one of my least favourite, thought it rather over acted.
It should work well set in mid 30's. Gosford Park for instance (written by Julian Fellowes who is writing ITV's Downton Abbey) worked brilliantly. Even during the war and into the 50's households were still run like this, and there are probably still a few today.
I'll watch anything with Anne Reid though, wonderful actress