Upstairs, Downstairs
Interview with Nicola Pagett

Nicola Pagett is well known to Upstairs Downstairs fans for her portrayal of Elizabeth Bellamy – the rebellious daughter of Lady Marjorie and Richard Bellamy. Here, with grateful thanks to Stephen La Rivière for conducting the interview, is an exclusive chat from back in 2002 in which she talks about her time on the show.

Could you tell us a little bit about your early life and about what inspired you to become an actress?

Well, I played Snow White when I was about eight and I liked the feeling on stage. I've lived abroad most of my life. Acting was something I enjoyed at school and I was very lucky as I got into RADA when I was 17. So, I hadn't done much living before I became an actress.

How did you come to be cast in Upstairs Downstairs?

The usual way, I just went for an interview and I got the part. That's all I can tell you really.

So, did you know anything about the series before you began working on it?

No, nobody did. It was completely new. We had no idea it was going to be a success.

Could you tell us what the routine was for recording an episode?

Well, it was on tape. You'd have two days in the studio; you'd rehearse on the first day and then record the scenes on the second day. Sometimes it would be filming, which would be normal filming. It was more theatrical in those days you would do long scenes and there was much more dialogue. There was a little more narrative.

So, was recording done in one long take?

No you'd have takes, scenes would last sometimes four minutes or even six minutes. So, you'd always be acting, you wouldn't be chopping it up all the time. You could get a run at it.

How long before recording would you receive the script?

Two weeks. We'd have two weeks rehearsal.

So, you would rehearse for two weeks, then have one day's rehearsing on the actual set before recording?

You were rehearsing for the cameras. You weren't rehearsing for the acting content. Television wasn't so instantaneous in those days. It was more shaped.

What are your memories of your co-stars?

There weren't any stars really – that was the beauty of it. Everyone had an equal importance in the thing. The product was more important than the people in it in those days. So, if it was a success, it was a success because everyone in it was good rather than because the actor in it was well known.

Can you tell us your memories of Angela Baddeley, Gordon Jackson, David Langton and Rachel Gurney, who played Mrs Bridges, Mr Hudson and Richard Bellamy respectively – all of whom are sadly no longer with us?

Well, what can I tell you? Angela Baddeley would bring food to rehearsal. It is 30 years ago, so it's quite hard to remember! Gordon liked everything exactly right; he liked you to open the door on the word. He was a very precise actor, which did me fine as I am too. David Langton. Is he dead? He'd never been very well known till then, so he really loved being it. He made his name very late on in life. He was very happy in it. Rachel Gurney; she regretted bitterly leaving the series. She decided she'd had enough and then changed her mind, but she'd already died on the Titanic so it was too late.

Was recording the show a happy experience?

Oh always.

So, there were never any conflicts on the set?

No, there were none at all. Absolutely none.

Was there one person who you felt was more of a driving force behind the series than any other?

I always had a lot of respect for Pauline Collins. She was the one who got it off to the start. She was so electrifying in the part and she was the one who did the first story – it was her story – and it got everyone hooked. Everyone else joined in later. So, I would say Pauline really made the series.

Along with Jean Marsh, Eileen Atkins had helped conceive the series. Do you ever remember Atkins playing any significant role in the production of the show?

No, we never met.

Do any of the episodes stand out in your mind? Do you have a favourite and why?

Not really, although I quite liked doing the suffragette one [A Special Mischief]. I loved my part being so left wing and so upper crust. It was a nice conflict to play.

Were there any other characters you would like to have played?

No, I was quite happy with my part. I think maybe I should have been a bit more courageous in my career – I always play upmarket and I should have had a go at downmarket. I should have been a bit braver, but it's too late now.

In the second season, Elizabeth featured prominently with her husband Lawrence Kirbridge. Do you have your own interpretation of the nature of their relationship?

I think he was one of nature's "looker on-ers" His nature wasn't a passionate one. Passion and sex just wasn't his sort of scene. He liked poetry and theorising. She was very down to earth so they didn't really mix.

After the final episode of the second season, Elizabeth disappeared from the series with the explanation that she had gone to America. Could you tell us why you decided to leave the series?

Well, because I didn't want to be known for one thing only. It was different in those days – if you got typecast you ended up playing the same role for 10 years. I always wanted to be a classical actress as well. It's funny really in that success in those days was marked against you, especially if you were in your twenties. I wanted to keep on the move so that I shouldn't feel safe. Apart from everything else, everything interesting had already happened to me; I didn't want to stand around saying: "Bring the tea, Hudson." I'd been married, I'd had a lover, I'd been a suffragette and I couldn't see what else was going to happen to me.

Are you disappointed that Elizabeth didn't get more of a send off?

No.

So, you didn't regret leaving the series?

Not really, no.

Do you remember any details about the proposed feature film they were going to make?

Yes, I wasn't going to be in it apparently, which was one of the reasons why I did leave. They were going to get an American actress to substitute my part playing a distant American cousin to get the money in. Of course the film was never made. I found it a bit upsetting, so I thought I'd just leave.

Do you know if a script was ever produced for the film?

I don't know. I just know it was never made.

There were plans to bring Elizabeth back during Season Four, the season that concentrated on the First World War. Were you aware of these plans?

No, I wasn't.

Would you have liked to have returned to the series?

I can't answer that, I really don't know. I didn't even know it had come up.

Do you have any thoughts on what might have happened to Elizabeth after she left Eaton Place?

No, she was just a made-up character really. I haven't a clue – maybe she went to America. When a character goes, it's gone. I can't speculate on that, I'm afraid.

Aside from Upstairs Downstairs, you are also well known for your portrayal as Anna Karenina in the BBC's 1977 TV adaptation. Could you tell us what other work have you done?

I've done a lot of theatre and a series with David Jason called A Bit Of A Do. And I did a series called Ain't Misbehavin' with Peter Davison. I still act, when I get jobs.

Recently, there has been talk of a "remake" of Upstairs Downstairs. Do you feel that a remake could capture the spirit of the original?

I really don't know. You never know with these things. I think it's difficult to go back in time. I think it's theatrically better to branch out and do new things. I wouldn't want to go back.

Do you keep in contact with any of your fellow cast and crewmembers?

Yes, not on a regular basis, but yes we bump into each other. It's lovely. I worked with John Alderton on a play at the National [Theatre], I spoke to Pauline earlier in the year and I've seen Jean floating about. We're not really close buddies after all this time, we're not in and out of each other's pockets.

There was a documentary recently entitled After Upstairs, Downstairs. Was there a reason why you did not appear in this documentary?

Yes, I don't like looking back!

So, perhaps this interview isn't the best thing then!

No, I like to help. It's nice to see that people are still watching. But it's very dangerous to dwell on the past if you're an actor. The whole point of it is to create something and then destroy it. It's not done for itself, and in the profession to talk about past achievements is just not on. If other people like them then that's great, but you never think about them and you never mention them. It's just a code. It's like a writer – he doesn't want to know about his early work, all he wants to know is: "What did you think of my last book?" You want to go on, not just wallow in what's been and gone.

Finally, do you have a fondest memory of your time on the series?

Yes. There's no point in being an actor is no one has even heard of you and really I look upon it with huge affection because it was the first time I got through to the public, they knew who I was. There's only ever one job that does that – it was my break. It was my chance – I got a chance. Everything led from that really – everything. So, of course I'm incredibly fond of it.

Nicola Pagett, thank you very much.