Upstairs Downstairs...

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Any opinions?

Thought it was excellent! Written by the same writers as the original and moved with the times perfectly. As good as downtown abbey in my view. Loved them both.

Can someone sum up the last episode please. Missed it. Thankyou!

I don't think it had the same writer(s) did it? Heidi Thomas wrote the current series, she was 7 when the original aired

I wonder if you thought there was some cross-over because the novelist Charlotte Bingham - who did write for the original show - was interviewed in the documentary Maid in Britain?

Fifitot, BBC iplayer?

I thought the labour scene was hilarious. Maud covering Agnes' lap with a towel and saying "You'll see nothing down there you'll care to remember"!

I loved it - not fussed about any factual inaccuracies, just enjoyed it for what it was. Are there plans to make more does anyone know?

It's a shame the house keeper character can't act for toffee - loved everyone else. I realise she was in the original but her accent sound like Dick Van Dyke talking through treacle after a stroke.

Goodness, most of you are so difficult to please.

I loved it. I loved it as much as Downton Abbey. I wasn't expecting the maid to die and I wasn't expecting Hallam to find his "dead" sister. More please.

BTW I loved the original series, but it is many years since I have watched any episodes so I can't really compare new with old. I also used to enjoy watching the Duchess of Duke Street. Anyone remember that?

I haven't got the patience to look at iplayer, it always runs really oddly on my laptop or the connection drops. I guess I am just being lazy too!

ah yes re the duke of kent, i had thought that and dh had thought different, hence the confusion. not at all familiar with george's dukedom pre-abdication. that's the last time i listen to dh , however that makes me think all that 'how will i forgive him?' speechmaking was was taking it all very personally considering his brother was the one getting lumbered.

think the duke of kent actor had the best accent however as a character... eeeeurgh. too close, too unlikely that a bunch of nouveaus would be that intertwined with court matters, it seems to me. a little contrived for a first shot, maybe something that could have been built up to?

so those of us who were confused as to the duke character, when did we all think 'oh hang on a mo, is he going to be king?'. for us, last night, when he said 'my brother' we thought 'hello...' and then had it confirmed (although of course innaccurately) when he blubbed. if we all got mis-steered by the same lines that is a serious problem in the script, imo.

duke of kent was the nice one in the lost prince, wasn't he? the one who played with/was educated with his autistic brother etc.

bumbaker i LOVED the duchess of duke st, i mentioned it further down. my grandma was v proper, working class made good and all that, and from the east end, my dad used to call her the duchess of duke st.

Yes, both Mum and I were confused until that point Aitch. I even got her to sky+ it twice to check.

I thought it was rubbish! Terrible wooden personality-free 'characters', nobody to really like or hate or admire, predictable plot. Downtown every time for me.

Ps duke of Kent was younger brother; coke/morphine taker and serial bisexual philanderer who mysteriously dies in plane crash in 1942 when on government business.

seeeeeee, none of that personality came across either. he was just a wee bit camp. had he been more so then we might have twigged that it wasn't the king.

Oh yes- I read up on the secret service plot today. Marvellous.

Downton Abbey is going to be on from tomorrow or Sunday, can't remember which, on ITV - I thought it was a bbc thing, evidently not.

The Duke of Kent would make an ideal drama. Not the current Duke of course, his dad. He seems to hve led a rather colourful life, including allegations that he fathered a child outwith his marriage.

The original is available as a box set for less than £50 here

shop.lovefilm.com/dvd/upstairs-downstairs-complete-box-set/9982320.html

I bought in October and watched nothing else for days!

YES leQueen. That was the problem with it all, exactly.

I enjoyed it, much preferred Downton, but it was a longer series with more time to develop. I liked the way Downton developed the characters of both the upstairs and downstairs.

I particularly liked all the historical reference in UD though.

yes the resolution with the sister was creepily pat, i thought. the nearest thing to a truthful 1930s reaction came from the sister, horrifically enough. the rest, apart from sir h's love for his sister, came across as 21st century revisionism.

I liked it, but I much preferred Downton. Although given it was a re-make, I think Downton stole some of its ideas.

Downton!got for xmas on DVD and my 15 yr old daughter watched it with me (a good thing!)
can't wait for the next episodes

Working our way thro desperate housewives now too ..
good time to spend with teenaged daughter..