For those who were so unfortunate as to miss Upstairs Downstairs, PBS has made the series available online one day after the initial airing. Click here to watch Episode One.
Ten points to ponder as you contemplate the first episode of Upstairs Downstairs:
1. Rose is back. She is the bridge between the old series and the new. (Jean Marsh was one of the original creators of the show.) Time has not been kind to Rose. Although only six years have passed since the Bellamys left 165 Eaton Place, the poor maid turned housekeeper seems to have aged three decades.
Rose now runs her own business
2. Co-creator Eileen Atkins was committed to another project when filming of the original series began, but she was available for this series. Her turn as Lady Maude Holland, the dowager mama does not quite rival Maggie Smith’s Violet in Downton Abbey, but unlike Maggie, Eileen was given a most interesting, very capable, quite mysterious and handsome secretary – Mr. Amanjit Singh.
Maude dictates her memoirs to her secretary
3. Few series feature a monkey or a fledgling in a nest. This one has both.
Mr. Amanjit Sing (Art Malik) and Johnny (Nico Mirallegro) place the egg in a linen closet
4. Agnes and Hallam are passionately in love. I wonder if her bitchiness when talking to the servants turns him on, or is it her thriftiness?
Passion in Eaton Place (Keeley Hawes and Ed Stoppard)
5. Like Downton Abbey, there seems to be a foreshadowing of a relationship between the chauffeur and his young mistress, in this instance, Agnes’s sister, Lady Persie, a rebellious though uneducated minx.
Harry (Neil Jackson) and Lady Persie (Claire Foy)
6. What self-respecting viewer can resist a series that features both the family jewels and a home renovation?
The Holland Jewels
7. We are given one more reason to despise Wallis Simpson.
Instead of the King, Wallis brings Her Ribbentrop (Edward Baker-Duly) to the party
8. A mystery is afoot. Will Johnny the footman, whose passion for the nubile (but very underage Ivy) has put him in the clinker, be able to highfoot it back to Eaton Place?
Ivy (Ellie Kendrick) turns out to be a tease.
9. Will we ever warm up to Pritchard and Mrs. Thackeray? Or will our fond memories of Mr. Hudson and Mrs. Bridges stand in the way? And where was Georgina (Lesley Ann Downe)?
10. Shall Episodes 2 & 3 firmly answer the question: Which series is better, Downton or UpDown? Inquiring minds want to know. Vote here.
Ivy meets Lady Holland
Click on image.
So many questions to ponder and so many days to wait until the next episode. The suspense is killing me!
We were impressed with the production – costumes and sets but we thought the plot moved along too quickly without developing the characters. The footman was a quick sketch and then removed. Wallace was tiny, not a tall imposing figure – it’s great to see her exposed as a Nazi sympathizer.
I wonder if we got a greatly truncated version on Masterpiece. It was choppy, little character development, quite dreary all in all. The acting was not convincing: either too arch (the otherwise wonderful Keeley Hawes) or too humble (Jean Marsh). Little background given to the interwar lack of servants issue, episodes such as the nest, the egg, the fledgling, the linen press, the turnbaned gentlemen who is a complete cipher of something never revealed: what did the little bird signify in this story? Are Agnes and Lady Percy nouveau riche, give that they seem incapable of acting with any sort of grace with the household staff: where and what is this castle in Wales?
Yes, lots of questions, but not thrown up by a suspenseful plot. Just questions dangling. Unlike Downton Abbey, I find I don’t actually care what happens to any of these characters.
Most disappointing.
I’m afraid that I too was disappointed. The biggest drawback was the lack of wit and character development. The maid isn’t Sarah, and Hallam appeared to be a wimp. I didn’t see any passion. There was very little to draw me back to Episode 2 except for nostalgia for the original series.
Although not as sumptuous as Downton Abbey, I enjoyed the first episode of Upstairs Downstairs. Since I never saw the original series, this one doesn’t suffer by comparison in my eyes. I agree that it seemed a little rushed and choppy, but I plan to tune in for episode 2.
I was shocked at the actor they used for the German diplomat. He looked so much like King Edward VIII it made me gasp. What a shame they didn’t save this actor to play the King.
This was a good show. I will be watching but it lacked a certain richness. The camare shots were mostly close ups of the actors, not allowing me to see the rooms or other fancy details that make period shows so fun to watch. More sweeping views of the party and better lighting would have made the show not seem so dull and cramped.
["We are given one more reason to despise Wallis Simpson."]
What is British television’s obsession with bashing Wallis Simpson, lately?
Is there something good about her that has been overlooked?
I will tune in for the 2nd episode because I’ve always heard period piece lovers refer to UD as a reference and I missed that era (was too young to appreciate it). But, at the “get-go”, I’m not nearly as impressed as I was by Downton Abbey. I hadn’t realized it until I read comments about UD but I, too, felt it was really rushed. Too many issues raised without sufficient explanations for them. And what is fueling the new mistress’s desire for economy so much that she hires 3 people to do the work of the household? She seemed ridiculously frugal. I’d hate to have had to work in that household with the expectations they would have had for their “staff”.
Since Wallis Simpson has appeared in 3 recent things I can come up with (Any Human Heart, Downton Abbey, and now UD), I think it is time for somebody, BBC or PBS, to do a program on her. I’m inclined to dislike her for a number of reasons, but perhaps I’m missing information.
I would have rather seen the original remade than a continuation from the original… too much time has gone by for this in my opinion… I loved the original series and would love to see those re-aired or remade… not interested in this new series at all. Sorry!
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I don’t know…I’m not really that disappointed in the series, although I never missed watching a single episode of the original. You must also realize that Jean Marsh is 76 years old now. There are somethings that make-up can NOT correct, so please give her a break. And as for the costumes; the 30s was not exactly a great time for fashion. Too many people stomping around, doing “heil, Hitler” in aweful brown or black, which may or may not be that flattering.
I’ve enjoyed the trip back in time, so far but then 1936 is only 10 years before my birth year.
Hi Sharon, the comment about Jean aging 30 years in 6 was meant to be ironic, not mean-spirited. It took so long to remake this series, sad to say, that Jean did visibly age.
Fashions in the 1930′s before the war could have been as striking as those shown in contemporary films (Astaire and Rogers), and as Gosford Park demonstrated so admirably.
Do you know where I can watch this show? online if possible? I live in Australia and this show hasn’t been on t.v at all and it’s really frustrating!