NEWS

Jenny Tomasin dead

18/1/12: Jenny Tomasin, who played put-upon kitchen-maid Ruby in the original show, has died of heart disease – apparently sometime around January 3rd. She was 75 (Equity says 73), and was found dead at her flat in Camden, London where she lived alone, a week or so later.

The Stage (comments from Simon Williams)

The Independent

The Mirror

The Washington Post

Inside UpDown Book

Richard Marson's definitive book on the making of Upstairs, Downstairs is now available in a new edition (the third) – a hardback (the first was also hardback; the second, softback).

There's a review of the first edition amongst the links below. In addition to a much-boosted photographic content (see example pages, below) and a much glossier approach, the new edition also features:

• Fully amended, updated and corrected text throughout with new and additional observations from, among others: George Innes, Karen Dotrice, Chris Hodson, Terence Brady and Charlotte Bingham, Jeremy Paul. Some chapters – for instance, the one about Thomas & Sarah, have significant new revelations.

• Many new images and behind-the-scenes shots, including photos and material from personal archives of cast and crew.

• The reproduction in its entirety of the script for the proposed 1972 feature film, with an introduction from its author, Rosemary Anne Sisson.

• An extensive interview with Executive Producer Rex Firkin, which has illuminated and added to the story of UpDown and is integrated throughout the book

• The story of the making of the Network DVD documentaries.

The book is available for international order at the link below, ready for immediate shipping. It will, apparently, also be available from Amazon in due course.

http://www.kaleidoscopepublishing.co.uk/books-insideupdown.html

Appendix 4, Modern Times, dealing with the new series, couldn't be fitted into the finished book due to page-count and pricing considerations. You can instead download it from this site by clicking here (right-click, save... BIG DOWNLOAD - 26MB).

By way of a preview, here are some sample pages from the book. Click for full size.

Season 2 on DVD in the UK

The second season of the revamped UpDown, which is now screening in the UK, will be out on DVD on April 23rd.

Kaleidoscope Upstairs, Downstairs Event – 3rd March

The British TV group Kaleidoscope, who released Richard Marson's book, above, are planning UpDown as the theme of one their events for this year, to be held on Saturday 3rd March in The Talbot Hotel, Stourbridge (near Birmingham). Organiser Chris Perry says: "... guests, a book signing, rare screenings, and a new re-cut documentary using unseen footage from guests who have now passed away."

Further details available from them: http://www.kaleidoscope.org.uk/