| abstract
| - UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS was a UK television period drama series that ran from 1971-1975 and was revived as a mini-series from 2010-2012. Both incarnations of the series was created by Jean Marsh and Dame Eileen Atkins along with John Hawkesworth and John Whitney, through Hawkesworth's Sagitta Productions, Ltd. The original incarnation was an ITV production, (produced through the auspices of LWT, London Weekend Television, London's ITV affiliate) while the 2010 continuation was a BBC production. It was shown in the United States on PBS as a mainstay of the long-running dramatic anthology series, Masterpiece Theater. Later, the 2010 continuation was also shown under the show's successor, Masterpiece Classics. again on PBS. Upstairs, Downstairs won numerous awards, both in the UK and the US, and was widely popular. Notably in the US, Upstairs, Downstairs had won eight Emmy awards. The series won the Best Drama Emmy three times in 1974. 1975, and 1977 and earned an award for outstanding limited series in 1976; while Jean Marsh won an Emmy for Outstanding lead actress for her role of house parlor maid, Rose; and Gordon Jackson won for Outstanding Single performance by an actor for the episode, "The Beastly Hun". In 1975, it won a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Series Drama. The show focused on the lives of the aristocratic Bellamy family (the Holland family in the 2010 continuation) and their servants who lived and worked together at 165 Eaton Place, a townhouse in London's fashionable and wealthy Belgravia area. The two shows span the time between the turn of the 20th Century through just before World War II. Starring in both incarnations was Marsh who played pragmatic servant, Rose Buck. Rose was originally the head house parlor maid who would later became a lady's maid during the original show's run. In the continuation, after leaving domestic service, she later opened a domestic servant agency in Belgravia, and was later brought back into service as the housekeeper in the newly appointed Holland household. The series was conceived by Marsh and Atkins after the two friends had watched The Forsyte Saga, and were dismayed at the lack of servants in that story. They saw all the finery and glamor of the costumes; and the upstairs family in that story and yet, the people who helped get them to look their finest and took care of the day to day workings of the house were not even shown. As a result of that, they produced an idea which was originally slated to be a comedy called Behind the Green Baize Door, featuring Marsh and Atkins as two maids serving a family in a country house during the Victorian era; but the comedic elements were soon dropped, although there were many instances of light comedy in many episodes of the original series. After several working titles (ie: Two Little Maids in Town; The Servant's Hall and That House in Eaton Square) and some other tweaks, it became the show that is remembered to this day. Right before the first episode was shot, it was slated to be called 165 Eaton Place named after the address of the house, but was later renamed Upstairs, Downstairs. The title was taken from the third line in the children's nursery rhyme, "Goosy, Goosy, Gander". The second line was later used for the original series final episode, "Whither Shall I Wander?" Eileen Atkins was originally slated to play the role of Sarah Moffat, Rose's assistant house parlor maid, but wasn't available, due to her portraying Queen Victoria in a stage play at that time. As a result, actress Pauline Collins took on the role of the mischievous but quite lovable Sarah. Atkins later joined the continuation for the first season, playing Maud, Lady Holland, the mother of the later owner of 165 Eaton Place. The series was also notable that six episodes of the first series (first season in US English) were filmed in black and white, due to a technician's strike which paralyzed LWT and the other subsidiaries which at that time was known as the Independent Broadcasting Authority, now known as ITV. It wouldn't be until the seventh episode, Magic Casements, when they would be filmed in color, although the first episode On Trial, would be redone in color (the original black and white episode which featured Sarah leaving out the front door, would be considered the lost pilot of the series). Episode directors of the show were Bill Bain; Brian Parker; Lionel Harris; Cyril Coke; Christopher Hodson; Joan Kemp-Welch; Derek Bennett; James Ormerod; Raymond Menmuir; and Simon Langton (the real life son of David Langton, who played Richard Bellamy). Writers of the various episodes, besides series producer John Hawkesworth (who also wrote the novelizations of the first two series; Mollie Hartwick would write the final three), included Fay Weldon; script supervisor, Alfred Shaughnessy (father of Days of Our Lives and The Nanny actor, Charles Shaughnessy); John Harrison; Anthony Skene; Julian Bond; Rosemary Anne Sisson; Terrence Brady and Charlotte Bingham; and Jeremy Paul.
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