Upstairs, Downstairs
Season One
Upstairs, Downstairs
Season One
| 1.1 (1) On Trial 1.2 (2) The Mistress and the Maids 1.3 (3) Board Wages 1.4 (4) The Path of Duty 1.5 (5) A Suitable Marriage |
1.6 (6) A Cry for Help 1.7 (7) Magic Casements 1.8 (8) I Dies from Love 1.9 (9) Why is Her Door Locked? |
1.10 (10) A Voice from the Past 1.11 (11) The Swedish Tiger 1.12 (12) The Key of the Door 1.13 (13) For Love of Love |
The first batch of thirteen Upstairs, Downstairs episodes was all made in one block but ultimately shown in two separate mini-seasons. The budget is obviously low - "bloopers" are often left in and the sets are sparse (a simple eye-level shot of an opera box stands in unconvincingly for a night at Covent Garden in Magic Casements, for example). The downstairs cast is also too fluid with several very promising and well-acted characters (such as Alfred the footman, Doris the kitchen-maid, and Pearce the chauffeur) not really being given the time or space to develop.
Some of the characters who would appear throughout the series' 5 years seem to be in prototype form during this debut season. Who could imagine the "mature" Hudson character allowing a junior servant to dance around him, taking the mick, as happens with Alfred in A Suitable Marriage? Mrs Bridges is also developing. She displays an extremely unendearing, cruel streak (bordering on the sadistic) when chiding Emily in I Dies from Love. Also Why is Her Door Locked? appears to show her emerging from her room with a hangover after a solo drinking spree - the idea of Mrs Bridges being a tippler comes from one of Alfred Shaughnessy's very early drafts of the character and would not recur in the programme.
The first episode, On Trial by now-famous novelist Fay Weldon, is a competent opening episode. However, the subsequent four episodes appear rather slow when viewed nowadays and exhibit clear signs of a series still trying to find its feet. As well as the obvious disadvantage of them being in black and white, the problems are exacerbated by them using some pretty creaky and antiquated directorial techniques. Fortunately, the sixth episode A Cry for Help - the last in black and white - is livelier and deals with a housemaid (played in an early role by Susan Penhaligon) who is made pregnant by the son of a family friend of the Bellamys.
The second half of the season is generally better. After the slow but emotional Magic Casements, we come to a candidate for the best Upstairs, Downstairs episode of all time, I Dies from Love. The episode tells the tale of Emily, the series' first kitchen-maid, who hangs herself when she is forbidden from seeing an admirer. The direction is subtly different from other episodes, with Evin Crowley (who plays Emily) singing an Irish ballad called The Butcher Boy on the soundtrack to punctuate the story, and director Raymond Menmuir employing the clever use of imaginative camera angles. The subsequent story, Why is Her Door Locked?, deals with Mrs Bridges guilt over her treatment of Emily - her tormented mind having lead her to steal a baby from outside a shop.
If a series has to have its highs, then it also has to have its lows. It is generally acknowledged that the lowest point of all five seasons of Upstairs, Downstairs was reached with The Swedish Tiger. The first ten minutes seems to consist of various characters exclaiming "Oh!" at each other. The remainder of the dialogue often causes the unfortunate few regulars who are present to visibly struggle with their lines (for example, James: "Because if Rose had seen, she'd have reprimanded Alice and had her dust never again around at all"). The plot itself deals with a complex antiques swindle and is almost impossible to follow. Viewing The Swedish Tiger is like watching an episode from a different TV series.
The last episode, For Love of Love, features the only substantial location work of this season as we see Elizabeth and Lawrence married in church. Highly unusually for the time, this shooting (and most of the other location work for the series) is done on outside broadcast videotape rather than the more common film.
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. In the UK, Season One won the Best Drama Series BAFTA.
For a legend/key to the episode guide click here.
Additional notes for the episode guide...
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).
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: Gordon Jackson (Hudson), Jean Marsh (Rose), Rachel Gurney (Lady Marjorie Bellamy), David Langton (Richard Bellamy), Angela Baddeley (Mrs Bridges), Christopher Beeny (Edward), Pauline Collins (Sarah), Evin Crowley (Emily), Simon Williams (James Bellamy), Nicola Pagett (Elizabeth Bellamy), George Innes (Alfred), Patsy Smart (Roberts), Jenifer Armitage (Henrietta Winchmore), Brian Osborne (Pearce), Maggie Wells (Doris), Joan Benham (Lady Prudence), Ian Ogilvy (Lawrence Kirbridge), Susan Porrett (Alice)
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