Upstairs, Downstairs
Out of Costume
After Upstairs, Downstairs 1

 
Upstairs, Downstairs met The Forsyte Saga in the BBC’s 1977 adaptation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Nicola Pagett played the title role opposite Eric Porter as her husband Karenin. Porter, of course, had given one of the all-time great television performances as Soames in the BBC’s classic The Forsyte Saga in 1967 – a serial which directly inspired Upstairs, Downstairs.

 

Gordon Jackson’s career continued briskly after Upstairs, Downstairs. Apart from the brain-dead The Professionals, he also starred as country solicitor Noel Strachen in the 1987 Australian mini-series A Town Like Alice. In the UK, the series drew audiences of more than 16 million.

 

Appearances of Rachel Gurney were rare after Upstairs, Downstairs but here she is in the 1986 stage play Breaking The Code by Hugh Whitemore. The play concerned the exploits of WWII code-breaker Alan Turing, played by Derek Jacobi. It also starred Jenny Agutter (pictured) and Michael Gough.

 

Jenny Tomasin didn't do much TV after Upstairs, Downstairs, but here she is in the 1985 Doctor Who story Revelation Of The Daleks. She played a character called Tasambeker, a worker in a futuristic funeral parlour who ran foul of Davros and the dreaded Daleks. Clive "Keeping Up Appearances" Swift also starred. Click the image for a larger version.

 

A fantastic reunion photo featuring the early set of characters from the series. This appears to be from 1982 and was part of a TV Times tie-in to the Channel 4 repeats of the time. Note that Simon Williams has his arm around an imaginary person and there is a gap on the sofa at the point. Presumably somebody (Jean Marsh?) couldn't make it to the shoot and the intention was to splice them in from another photo!
From left to right: Jacqueline Tong (Daisy), Simon Williams (James), Patsy Smart (Miss Roberts), Gordon Jackson (Hudson), David Langton (Richard), Rachel Gurney (Lady Marjorie), John Alderton (Thomas), Nicola Pagett (Elizabeth), Jenny Tomasin (Ruby), Pauline Collins (Sarah) and Brian Osbourne (Pearce).

Here, for completeness, are the other cast reunions that have taken place:

Upstairs, Downstairs Farewell - A Million Dollar Party (aka The Boston Tea Party). The cast gathered in May 1977 (a whole 16 months after the last episode aired in the UK) to celebrate the screening of the final episode on PBS. See my Documentaries page for further description and a picture gallery.
Those involved: Simon Williams, Christopher Beeny (Edward), Jacqueline Tong, Rachel Gurney, Meg Wynn Owen (Hazel), Raymond Huntley (Sir Geoffrey Dillon), Gareth Hunt (Frederick), Hannah Gordon (Virginia), Joan Benham (Lady Prudence), Anthony Andrews (Marquis of Stockbridge), Jean Marsh (Rose/Co-creator), and on film from London, Jenny Tomasin and Nicola Pagett.

Night of 100 Stars. In late 1980, the cast gathered as part of a show where old stars of (mainly) ITV programmes made appearances (out of character) in various guises. The UpDown cast were in a segment called A Tribute to Television Artists. Does anybody know if they did anything else other than walk on and bow to the camera (which is all I remember)?
Those involved: Joan Benham, David Langton, Ian Ogilvy (Lawrence Kirbridge), Rachel Gurney, Simon Williams, Patsy Smart, Jenny Tomasin, Christopher Beeny and Gordon Jackson.

TV Times photoshoot? See picture and comment above.

TV Times photoshoot? There was apparently a second TV Times UD photoshoot featuring the characters from Seasons 3 and 4. As with the first, this was to tie in with Channel 4's repeats of those two seasons.

LWT's 21st anniversary. In July 1989, the cast took part in a live interview link-up from the South Bank of the Thames to celebrate 21 years of London Weekend. Richard Marson, in his Upstairs, Downstairs book comments: "Sadly, much of the event was a shambles and the on-screen reunion amounted to a few minutes of rushed and inconsequential chat."
Those involved: Gordon Jackson, David Langton, Pauline Collins, John Alderton, Chris Beeny, Jenny Tomasin, and by satellite, Jean Marsh.

Upstairs, Downstairs Remembered. In May 1996 the cast gathered for a photoshoot to tie in with Richard Marson's documentary. Evin Crowley appeared in the photos but was not in the documentary, and Jackie Tong, who was in the documentary, wasn't at the photoshoot.
Those involved: Jean Marsh, Evin Crowley (Emily), Meg Wynn Owen, Simon Williams, Gareth Hunt, Nicola Pagett, Jenny Tomasin and Christopher Beeny.

After Upstairs, Downstairs. In July 2002, another TV documentary reunited the cast. See my Documentaries page for further description and a picture gallery, and there are also some more pictures on the The House 1 page, and the After UpDown 2 page.
Those involved: Jacqueline Tong, Jenny Tomasin, Meg Wynn Owen, Simon Williams, Lesley-Anne Down (Georgina), Gareth Hunt, Hannah Gordon and Jean Marsh.

Happy Birthday BAFTA. To celebrate 50 years of the BAFTA awards, some of the original cast took to the stage to briefly reminisce about UD. Despite pre-publicity indicating that scenes from the original series were to be re-enacted, the reunion ended up being nothing more than a few seconds of rather stagey and embarrassed pieces-to-camera using well-worn anecdotes about the show. Having said that, it was very nice to see Pauline Collins and John Alderton once more associating themselves with the series. The event took place on Sunday 28th October 2007 with a TV transmission following on 7th November.
Those involved: Christopher Beeny, Jacqueline Tong, Simon Williams, Pauline Collins, John Alderton, Jean Marsh, Meg Wynn Owen, Lesley-Anne Down and Jenny Tomasin.

 

Back-stage group photo from the 50-years BAFTA celebration event from October 2007.
From left to right: Christopher Beeny (Edward), Jacqueline Tong (Daisy), Simon Williams (James), Pauline Collins (Sarah), John Alderton (Thomas), Jean Marsh (Rose/co-creator), Meg Wynn Owen (Hazel), Lesley-Anne Down (Georgina) and Jenny Tomasin (Ruby).