Upstairs, Downstairs

Upstairs, Downstairs was a 1970s British television series set in a grand Edwardian town house in London and depicting the events of the early twentieth century as they affected the servants ('downstairs') and masters ('upstairs').

Story

Lady Majorie Talbot-Carey, the lovely and wilful daughter of the Earl and Countess of Southwold married Richard Bellamy, the upright younger son of a country parson, despite her parents' objections. Mr. and Lady Bellamy set up housekeeping at 165 Eaton Place, one of several London properties owned by the Earl.

Related Topics:
Parson - Eaton Place - London

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Richard became a politician and several plots centre around his political ambitions and conflicts arising from his desire to follow his conscience and his allegiance to his father-in-law's political party, the conservatives. Richard and Lady Marjorie Bellamy had two children, James and Elizabeth, who are just on the verge of adulthood when the series begins in 1903.

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Time is something of an amorphous concept in this series. The first episode, "On Trial," is set in November 1903. Assuming James, the elder of the siblings, was 20 in 1903, that would mean he was born in 1883. Assuming Richard was at least 24 when James was born (married sometime between age 21 and 23), he would been born in 1860, making him 43 at the start of the series and 70 when the series ended in 1930. Marjorie is said to have been born in 1864 and would have been 39 when the show started in 1903 and 48 when she died in 1912.

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Other characters, however, don't seem to age - or age in reverse. Jean Marsh once remarked that the hairstyle of the 1920s favoured her, so that instead making her look older (she should have been at least 50 by 1930) "it youthed me." Meanwhile, Mr. Hudson and Mrs. Bridges, who were each about 50 when the show started in 1903 should have been fully retired (or dead, more likely) by the show's end in 1930. However, by the time 1930 rolled around, Mrs. Bridges and Mr. Hudson (since they were still alive) should have both been around 75, but had only aged to about 60!

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The first and second seasons are set from 1903 until 1910, during the reign of King Edward. Stories depict the lives of the Bellamys "upstairs" and the servants "downstairs". The Bellamy family comprised Richard, the politician, and his wife Lady Marjorie, and their two children, James and the rebellious Elizabeth, whom Rose calls "Miss Lizzy". The original staff was composed of Mr. Hudson, the pompous and authoritarian butler, Mrs. Bridges, the cook, Emily, the kitchen maid, Alfred, the footman, Rose, the Head House Parlormaid, Sarah, the under house parlormaid, and Pearce , the chauffeur. In 1909 Elizabeth married a young poet Lawrence, but he found sex gross and never had sex with her. Elizabeth had an affair with her husbands critic and became pregnant. She moved to America in 1910 after Lawrence divorced her. She was later said to have married a man named Dana. James and Sarah had an affair, resulting in Sarah's pregnancy and James's banishment to India. Sarah was sent to live at the Southwold Manor, but came back after she went into labour only to give birth to a stillborn infant boy. Sarah later married Thomas , Elizabeths ex-husbands valet and in 1910 moved on (into their own drama Thomas and Sarah. Emily the scullery maid killed herself over a lover who dumped her and was replaced with Ruby, a hardworking young woman with minor mental disabilities who constantly irritated Mrs. Bridges. Alfred left in 1905 after a fling with another man and was replaced with Edward Barnes.

Related Topics:
India - Labour - Stillborn - Thomas and Sarah - Scullery maid

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Tragically, Lady Marjorie died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic, her last known words being uttered to her maid - "Keep this for me, Roberts" - as she hands over her jewellery case. The episode in which Miss Roberts returns alive features a brilliant farewell (to the series) performance by Patsy Smart, as Maud Roberts. She has been refusing to let anyone touch the jewellery box, because she's keeping it for Lady Marjorie. Richard's secretary, Hazel Forrest, wins the hearts of all when she very gently persuades Miss Roberts to open the box. That means accepting Lady Marjorie is gone and she breaks down into sobs, as she cries, "I tried to save her! I tried to make them go back!"

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Soon after, James marries Hazel and she becomes "mistress" of the household. They are happy for a time but start to grow apart; this estrangement is exacerbated by a miscarriage. James serves in World War I and is seriously injured in a trench battle. He is nursed by his cousin Georgina, who was orphaned and came to live with the Bellamy's in 1912 when she was 18. Hazel has a brief affair with an airman who, like her, rose from the ranks of the middle-classes. He is killed while James is at home on leave.

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In 1918 Hazel dies in the worldwide influenza pandemic. Richard later remarries - a young widow named Virginia Hamilton. He is later elevated to the House of Lords as the Viscount Bellamy.

Related Topics:
Worldwide influenza pandemic - House of Lords - Viscount

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Along the way, from 1903 through 1930, there are various and sundry adventures had by all, as many or more by the folk downstairs as upstairs. Georgina grows up a little wild in the roaring 20's but her frivolity and merriment are brought to a quick end, first, by the suicide of a friend who protested he loved her and threatened that, if she won't marry him, he would kill himself - which he does, in the schoolroom at 165 Eaton Place, while a roaring 20's party rages below. Second, Georgina accidentally kills a working class man early one morning. He was on his way to work while she was on her way home from an all-night party. The only one of her friends to stand by her at the inquest was the seeming dull and boring stick-in-the mud Lord Stockbridge, heir to a dukedom. He is in love with her and she very quickly falls in love with him.

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As Lord Stockbridge's parents send him on a trip around the world to make sure his love for Georgina is true, James returns, in October 1929, from America - where he has visited Elizabeth and become rich through speculation on Wall Street. Then the market crashes and he loses everything, plus he had "borrowed a fair bit" that he now cannot repay. He commits suicide.

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The final episode, in 1930, finds things looking up at Eaton Place as Georgina is married to Lord Stockbridge. Mr. Hudson and Mrs. Bridges also finally marry, and Mr. and Mrs. Hudson take the hapless Ruby Finch off to the seaside with them, to run a guesthouse called "Seaview" (which has just the tiniest crack of sea view from one of the attic windows - in the house two streets over, or something like that). Lord Richard has delivered his retirement speech to the House of Lords. He and Lady Bellamy, Virginia, retire to a small villa, keeping Rose Buck in their employ. Young Edward and his wife, Daisy, are elevated to the posts of butler and housekeeper in the household of Lord and new Lady Stockbridge.

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The last scene shows Rose taking a final walk through all of the rooms and memories at 165 Eaton Place, which has just been sold to be divided up into flats to let.

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Upstairs, Downstairs attempted to portray life in a great house set against the events of early 20th century. Great events are featured prominently in the episodes but minor or gradual change is noted as well. It stands as a document of the social and technological changes that occurred between 1903 and 1930. The lives of the servants are integral to the story.

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