Arriba y abajo

Rose is supposed to be six years older than she was at the end of the seventies series. Well... It isn't easy to make 35 years look like 6. But who cares. After all, Jean Marsh is the clip between the legend and it's sequel.

I was hesitant at first to watch the new Upstairs Downstairs, knowing that it would be impossible to equal the quality production that was the original series. However, with the paucity of decent shows at present (and the fact that Downton Abbey had finished for the time being) I decided to give it a try with as little prejudice as possible, determined not to make comparisons.

Impossible of course. Although this new series is entertaining TV, pretty on the eye, fast moving (not something all that necessary in a show such as this) and relatively well cast, it just is not in the league of its predecessor, or its current "competition" Downton Abbey.

I found it hard to relate to most of the characters, of which there are way too many for comfort. Although the production falls short of using modern language, it certainly has an unsuitable modern way of depicting an era where royalty was revered, where shortcomings were either hidden or not mentioned. Instead we get a "boots and all" depiction of a class of people who would have never related to their servants the way they are shown to do and of servants who would never have behaved the way we are led to believe they might have done. Maybe if all the drama had been stretched out over a long series it would have been believable, instead of being thrown at us will nilly, one thing after the other in each and every episode.

Taken only for entertainment value, this is a watchable soap opera set a century ago - but, as the quality production it is presented as, it falls down on the job.

Oh for Mr Hudson!

The next generation of Upstairs Downstairs is excellent. The acting is superb. The scripts are superb. The Costumes are beautiful. Anyone finds fault is malcontent. Claire Foy is a great actress. Everything she does is perfect. Everyone in this series is very good. I wished this series went past two seasons. From what I read Downton Abbey was the hot thing during this time. There are few period pieces from the 1930s-1040s available. World War II dramas of the civilian life isn't out there. This was an excellent depiction of the time in England. I will research the actors and try to find their work.

Those that find fault in this program are either being too critical or stuck in the past. They want the original show, but that shows style was stuck in the TV world of 1974 and would not work today in 2010. The only reason I didn't give the new series a 10/10 was that Season 1 was only three episodes. I think the writers and producers were right to set the story in three settings (Upstairs, Downstairs, & the Events of the World both groups are effected by). I have learned more on England's pre-WW2 history from show than I did from the World @ War series. I won't give away any spoilers, but for those who haven't seen the whole series you will need some Kleenex for a scene involving Sir Hallam in the third episode, which caught me completely off-guard! For those who say 'Downton Abbey' is a better show is missing the point. They are BOTH great shows, but Downton Abbey takes place before WWI, like the original Upstairs /Downstairs series. This was 20 years before the new Upstairs/Downstairs and England after WWI mark the end of Edwardian English society and led to the changes seen in the new U/D series. Finally, I can't believe they are only going to give us 6 episodes for season #2 and not at least nine! Fortunately for those of us who LOVE the new series it has achieved great viewership rating and reviews so hopefully they will expand it in season three.

Just finished watching the Upstairs Downstairs reboot from 2010-12, which got mostly admiring reviews when it came out, some even comparing it favorably to the original series. I'd forgotten how weird and randomly plotted the second season is--the household at 165 Eaton Place gradually comes to include Sir Hallam Holland's mother's Sikh manservant (played by a heavily bearded Art Malik, so no problem there); the little daughter of a German Jewish refugee who collapses and dies shortly after getting triggered by the chauffeur's Union of British Fascists blackshirt getup (the daughter suffers from traumatic mutism for a couple of eps as well); Sir Hallam's long-lost sister, who has Down syndrome and has been tucked away in an asylum for most of her life; his mother's much younger half-sister (who was her father again?), a lesbian archeologist whose ex-lover writes a sexy novel that causes a terrible scandal; and Lady Holland sr's monkey, Solomon (looks to be a rhesus macaque), who outlives his mistress by a couple of episodes, for reasons that have nothing to do with the story as such (see below).

The Duke of Kent, a bisexual aesthete who really did exist, keeps us updated on the gathering storm in Europe, so no complaints there either. A Jewish-American millionaire (who made his fortune selling a product that sounds like Alka-Seltzer just in time for the repeal of Prohibition) conveniently opens a garment business in the East End so Lady Agnes (Keeley Hawes, always fabulous) can embarrass her husband, yet again, by posing for a sexy ad for nylons. Claire Foy, future ER II in The Crown, draws the short straw as Lady Persephone, Lady Agnes's younger sister, a Nazi sympathizer who prefers to live in Germany, like the RL Unity Mitford, and gets into all kinds of scrapes when she returns.

No surprise then that Dame Eileen Atkins, co-creator of the original series who played Lady Holland sr in S1 of the reboot, refused to have any part of S2. The cast is uniformly excellent, except possibly for Sir Hallam himself (Ed Stoppard, son of Tom), who's meant to be what the English call a bit of a stick and doesn't get much of a chance to stretch. (He spends most of the series fretting about Why England Slept and being mortified by the outré antics of his household.)

I'm not saying the show's not entertaining, just that the storyline's really herky-jerky and OTT. The writers seem to be straining to pander to current notions of diversity and inclusiveness, which, I'm guessing, may be the reason that Dame Eileen just wasn't into it. IIRC the show got clobbered in the ratings by a soapy competitor, Downton Abbey, and was canceled after the second season.