Upstairs, Downstairs - Out of Costume - After Upstairs, Downstairs 2

The BBC reeled with surprise that a ghastly young popularist ITV company could produce a massive, award-winning period drama, and was amazed that they had the audacity to try in the first place! They were quick to employ the talents of UD's producer, John Hawkesworth, to produce a period drama of their own.

The Duchess of Duke Street told the tale of Louisa Trotter (played by Gemma Jones, below), the larger-than-life owner and hostess of the Bentinck Hotel in London. The series' whole premise was based on the real-life Rosa Lewis and the exclusive Cavendish hotel, which in the early part of the 1900s had become a meeting place for statesmen, artists and aristocrats - in fact just about anybody who was a name in society. John Hawkesworth actually knew Lewis personally: "She was a real old dictator. She was a terrible snob - she would only have people she liked in the hotel, and she used to throw people out. It was a unique, zany kind of place, and when I knew her she was well into her 70s and still spoke with a strong Cockney accent, and used the strongest language you can imagine."

Hawkesworth took across from ITV many of the talents involved that had made UpDown such a success - writers Jeremy Paul, Rosemary Anne Sisson, and directors Bill Bain, Raymond Menmuir, Cyril Coke and Simon Langton. The series even sported a theme written by Alexander Faris who, of course, had also written the theme to UD.
There were many familiar faces amongst the acting ensemble... nearly 30 actors who had been in Upstairs, Downstairs appeared in The Duchess of Duke Street over its 31 episodes.

The most recognisable faces from UpDown included....

Anthony Andrews (Robert Stockbridge) appeared as Marcus Carrington in Lottie's Boy.
John Quayle (Bunny Newbury) played Lord Elleston, a character accused of rigging a horse race, in A Matter Of Honour.
Joan Benham (Lady Prudence) played a small part of a lady at an art exhibition in The Outsiders
Donald Burton (Julius Karekin) played Louisa's alcoholic husband, Augustus, in the early episodes of Duchess.
Richard Vernon (Major 'Cocky'-Danby) played the grace-and-favour major-domo at the hotel, Major Smith-Barton, through the whole run of Duchess.

The Hammer studios must have had a fan of Upstairs, Downstairs as a casting director in the early 1980s, as the pair of TV horror anthologies – Hammer House Of Horror (1980) and Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense (1984/6) - manage to squeeze in five starring appearances from ex members of the UpDown cast:

Simon Williams - The Late Nancy Irving (also pictured, Cristina Raines)
Hannah Gordon - Tennis Court (also pictured, Peter Graves)
George Innes - The Thirteenth Reunion (also pictured, Norman Bird)
Gareth Hunt - And The Wall Came Tumbling Down (also pictured, Barbi Benton)
David Langton - Last Video And Testament (also pictured, Deborah Raffin)

My favourite sequence (unfortunately too murky to grab here) is from Last Video And Testament which features David Langton as the aging owner of an electronics firm who takes a high-tech revenge on his scheming wife. The episode begins and ends with Langton, in full evening dress, literally dancing on her grave, to the accompaniment of a boom box carried by his chauffeur!

Click picture 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 below.
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.