Edwardian Country House

[sethstarkaddersmackerel]

Just been watching this on DVD. Bloody brilliant. Anyone else seen it and want to talk about it?

I love all these type of programmes but this was one of the most interesting.

I've not heard of it.Tell me more-it sounds my sort of thing.

Saw it a couple of years ago on the telly. Strange (or not!) how the "lord and lady" thought that Edwardian times were the best thing ever, while the scullery maids (expected to scrub all day and night, and follow all sorts of rules about their private lives) kept leaving .

here

it was marvellous because the volunteers were such great characters - the butler was a weird over-serious Scotsman who attached great importance to maintaining the proper hierarchies.

the ones that played the rich people found themselves enjoying it all too much and became more and more pompous as the series progressed.

and there was a highly-strung but very talented French chef, and lots of put-upon maids and footmen larking about.

Ooh, I remember that series - I remember the "lord and lady" pontificating about how it was fine for them to refuse to eat Edwardian food, in favour of their modern preferences, because the whole point was their every whim was catered to by their staff. The notion that, no, the point was that everyone lived as Edwardians, and that their staff might not actually love the horrible conditions they had to handle, was lost on them. And then her ladyship wistfully commented that, these days, the gap between rich and poor was too narrow and something beautiful had been lost. By which she meant, I like being blardy rich, I want to stay blardy rich when this ends.

I loved Mr Edgar, too.

Wasn't it on in 2002? I seem to remember watching it while revising for my finals.

I missed the bit about the food - dvd was scratched so we didn't get episode 4.

couldn't they have given them some vile authentic Edwardian health food like in that programme where Roy Strong made overweight volunteers lose weight historical style?

Yes that bit about something beautiful being lost was hilarious.

I wonder how they have coped returning to real life. I read in Private Eye that the elder son works for David Cameron

yes it was 2002.

I really enjoyed this series. I found the "lord and lady" hilarious - the bloke in particular took himself more and more seriously as time went on - he was a real pompous idiot by the end. I remember them having some sort of "party" for the staff and being all pompous about providing a little fun for the servants and expecting the servants to be eternally grateful. What idiots - I'd love to know how they adjusted again to real life.

it wasn't entirely his fault though, was it? the butler was keeping him in ignorance about what a hard time the servants were having and he did as much as he could to be kind to them within the confines of what was authentic.
this series gave you so much insight into why the upper classes were so clueless. I remember reading a memoir of a rich woman who grew up on a slave plantation in Louisiana in the 19th century, and she sincerely believed that her slaves adored her.

Seth - it was pretty much their fault, as they were in fact challenged a couple of times and loftily dismissed it as the lower orders missing the point. They claimed it was about health and then demanded croissants, if memory serves - that wellknown health food. So pigs heads were out as bad for the arteries, but french patisserie was no problem whatsoever. I agree, an Edwardian health food diet should have been applied tout de suite.

It actually reminded me rather of that psych experiment - the famous prison guard one.

oh yes, the food thing was definitely their fault, I meant their pomposity in general and expecting the servants to be grateful for their party.

yes, totally unfair for them to have ponced around being waited on and then not been prepared to get a bit of authentic fur in their arteries. The servants were doing things that weren't good for their health (the housemaid that had trouble with the dust) but they put up with it.

good point about the prison experiment. So true.

I would have liked to see the Lord and Lady and the servants swap places half way through .

where would you have placed the butler?

they should do a follow-up series with roles reversed which they could call: Edwardian Country House: After the Revolution.

it would be of great sociological interest because it would explore whether people who have been oppressed become even more oppressive themselves when put in positions of power.