To really like Hyacinth Bucket :)

Pearl was horrid to Howard i always wanted him to leave sour face and be with Marina.

Pearl was yorkshires answer to Cal Hockley albeit not as glam and Howard a older male version of Rose. Marina was Jack.

I loved Hetty too.

I dont think Hyacinth was a bad person. She did need to tone her enthusiasm around Elizabeth a bit to make her less nervous when inviting her round.

Nothing wrong in taking pride in yourself at all I wish I had her motivation and concentration.
I like William Hanson too.

In fairness to Richard, she always ignored everything he said and never cared about him or his feelings. Would you want to be married to her?

Actually, I remember that he was a composer so he was able to work from home. He was staying with his sister as he was recently divorced. Hyacinth was always trying to get him to listen to her sing even though he clearly didn't want to.

Honestly, I can't stand her! I feel so sorry for her poor husband, Richard. She is completely oblivious to his feelings and just stomps all over her "friends" (seriously,does she even have any?) Everyone is terrified of her and she would probably sacrifice someone's life for the sake of appearances. I can't even watch the series any more as she makes me too angry. She is just so shallow.

I loved her!! I never got how we were meant to find her so annoying. She loved her family and always meant well.
She put up with spineless, disloyal Richard.
Stupid Liz and nasty Emmett. The gormless vicar and his wife.
The episode on the cruise ship, when she dances with Onslow, makes me cry. It’s wonderful.

Insufferable but endearing really sums her up well I think.

@Thedayb4youcame I just finished rewatching it on iplayer. It is heartbreaking but I mixed it up with A Lady of Letters, which I think is where the milk bottle line I remember is from. Going to watch that now.

PS: don't overdo it with the Jif, or the Cif as the young ones call it now as I said to my neighbour this morning. How we laughed...💔

@IClaudine I listened to some of A Woman Of No Importance today, while I was working (I'm a domestic cleaner with headphones).

I was very wrong, in that the line I referred to (which was "I don't know how we managed before you came, Miss Schofield - I honestly don't!") was not about the newspapers, rather it was said in relation to Peggy telling Nurse Gillies that Mrs Maudsley was saying she'd still not had her toe nails cut.

Anyway, in the style of Alan Bennett, I got to the part where Peggy was about to be taken to surgery but then I tuned out - I wasn't sure if I could face listening to any more of it, as it all takes a turn to the negative soon after, and what with me feeling somewhat upbeat mood-wise on this particular afternoon, I didn't want to spoil it...anyway, it was a quarter-to by then, and'd I'd not even finished the kitchen, let alone started the bedrooms, so I had another cup of decaf and set-to with the Jif.

@Gugel William Hanson is quite repellent enough to be an actual character in Keeping Up Appearances.

That's a little harsh.

Though also weirdly compelling. He's like one of those prematurely aged ten year olds who show up in a giant blazer and bowtie discussing Socrates on 1980s documentaries about gifted children.

That's hilarious 😅😂😁

I think they wanted to do more but Patricia wanted to end it and do Hetty Wainthrop.

I like him since watching the podcast on YouTube.

Apparently, according to Patricia, her character was based entirely on a neighbour she had as a child. That's why she was so brilliant at it.

The History Boys killed Alan Bennett for me, it’s disgraceful.

Apparently Pope Francis is a fan!
I lived in Australia when it first aired and it was very popular.
I saw an interview with Patricia Routeledge I think it was on Wogan she said HB was a 'monster' I couldn't agree with that.

To be fair though, it was only meant to be escapism for those who watched it, it wasn't meant to be taken seriously, it was to laugh along at someone who had all the traits of a number of individuals we all probably knew in real life.

The real irony for me is that in it's day, we laughed and laughed again at a character who lacked such self-awareness and was desperate for the world to know her business and how well she thought she was doing. I mean, can you imagine???

Fast forward 10 years, and we had the dawn of social media. Talk about the truth being stranger than fiction.

what was proper and what was not and loved her son very much

And yet, is entirely consumed by irrelevant exteriors, about how things look and absolutely completely blind to the real nature of things.

How tragic to waste a whole life just 'keeping up appearances' It's the waste that gives it's the bathos. I can hardly bring myself to watch it.

He is a genius, but what a very dark side he must have too. I love Penelope Wilton in "Nights In The Garden of Spain", she had some hilarious lines, but what a terrible, terrible theme behind it all.

Ditto David Haig in "Playing Sandwiches". I cannot watch that at all, and while I appreciate that the year 2020 was the height of anxiety for everyone, I was genuinely shocked to see that this monologue had been recreated for the BBC during that first lockdown.

Similarly, I was stunned to see the actor playing the part that David had played originally. It was all too much for my nerves to handle, what with all that was going on in the world at that time.

I was listening to wuthering heights on audible; the narrator was hyacinth, I couldn’t take it seriously.

I think she's a little bit of all of us. That's the genius of Alan Bennett.

You are so, so very right.

I cringe, because I see myself in her when if I get to retirement age 😆

The standout line for me was when she said the nurse had told her "what would we do without you?" or similar (it's been a while since I saw it), in respect of her helping to distribute the newspapers to her fellow patients.

And that's what makes it so sad. She had no one and put so much emphasis on small interactions with others that they wouldn't have given 2 thoughts to.