Upstairs, Downstairs
Season Two
Upstairs, Downstairs
Season Two
| 2.1 (14) The New Man 2.2 (15) A Pair of Exiles 2.3 (16) Married Love 2.4 (17) Whom God hath Joined... 2.5 (18) Guest of Honour |
2.6 (19) The Property of a Lady 2.7 (20) Your Obedient Servant 2.8 (21) Out of the Everywhere 2.9 (22) An Object of Value |
2.10 (23) A Special Mischief 2.11 (24) The Fruits of Love 2.12 (25) The Wages of Sin 2.13 (26) A Family Gathering |
After the success of the first set of thirteen episodes, London Weekend Television commissioned a second season, again of thirteen segments. A problem arose because it was deemed necessary to keep the show set within the reign of Edward VII, who died in 1910. The previous season had ended in 1909 thus giving the production team only a scant few months in which to set all thirteen episodes. In order to solve this dilemma, the production team "turned the clock back" one year to 1908 causing a temporal paradox worthy of an episode of Doctor Who as we effectively see Elizabeth and Lawrence arrive back from their honeymoon before they left for it! So that the viewer did not get confused, the idea of explicitly showing introductory caption cards giving the date of each episode was abandoned.
Most of the cast from the first season were happy to return but Simon Williams was starring in a stage play in the West End and was unable to appear in more than two episodes (although he maintains he was never approached to do more than two!) We do, however, get introduced to one of the series' best-remembered characters - Ruby, the dim-witted kitchen-maid played by Jenny Tomasin.
The season contains some real gems. Guest of Honour is the famous "king comes to dinner" episode which has probably been reshown more times than any other episode. Your Obedient Servant sees Hudson parading around London dressed as a toff in order to impress his brother, a well-known engineer. Out of the Everywhere sees Sarah doing the correct thing, for once, as she saves Elizabeth's baby from the clumsy hands of an elderly nanny.
On the other hand, both of the multi-episode sagas concerning Elizabeth's lovers (Lawrence Kirbridge and Julius Karekin) can get slightly tedious in parts as the characters concerned are not really likeable enough to interest the viewer.
The Property of a Lady is another episode of interest as it is very much a prototype of the sort of adventures that Thomas and Sarah would face in their spin-off series made six years later.
The series ends on a wonderfully enigmatic note with the younger members of the household standing on the balcony listening to the murmur of thousands of voices drifting across from the crowds outside Buckingham Palace who have gathered because of the death of King Edward.
For original showings in the USA (as part of PBS' Masterpiece Theatre), the first two British seasons were conflated into a single season of thirteen episodes (thus losing the other thirteen episodes, which were eventually shown under the banner of "The Missing Episodes" in the late eighties). These "lost" episodes are marked with a #. This combined season won an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series and an Emmy nomination for Jean Marsh as Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
For a legend/key to the episode guide click here.
Additional notes...
Most plot synopses are taken directly from the original issues of the TV Times. In addition to the listed writer/s, it should be assumed that the script-editor, Alfred Shaughnessy, also had story input into each episode to a greater or lesser extent. Shaughnessy's own scripts were edited by John Hawkesworth, the producer. All episodes (except A Suitable Marriage) were story-lined by Shaughnessy. Episodes marked with a # are those omitted from the initial US run (see above).
For episode 4 onwards, the ATV, HTV, and Westward regions (and Ulster from ep. 11) showed the episodes a day later than the LWT transmissions indicated below.
Factfiles have been added for each episode. These
detail character backgrounds, continuity points, and bloopers. Click on the 
icon on the left of each episode's entry.
Additional notes for the Factfiles...
All timings are for the UK DVDs of the show as released by Network. These will vary slightly on other releases of the show. Timings are given as mm'ss". All the Factfiile notes are drawn from what was actually shown on the screen - additional or contradictory material from the novelisations (etc) is not included. To print a Factfile, press CTRL-P. Any comments/additions for the Factfiles, please email me.
Regular cast: Rachel Gurney (Lady Marjorie Bellamy), Gordon Jackson (Hudson), David Langton (Richard Bellamy), Jean Marsh (Rose), Jenny Tomasin (Ruby), Angela Baddeley (Mrs Bridges), John Alderton (Thomas Watkins), Christopher Beeny (Edward), Pauline Collins (Sarah), Nicola Pagett (Elizabeth Kirbridge), Patsy Smart (Roberts), Ian Ogilvy (Lawrence Kirbridge), Raymond Huntley (Sir Geoffrey Dillon), Donald Burton (Julius Karekin), Joan Benham (Lady Prudence Fairfax), Jane Carr (Joan), Dorothy Frere (Mrs Fellowes), Simon Williams (James Bellamy)
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