165 Eaton Place. It's an address that will ring bells for anyone who watched and adored a certain 1970s ITV drama, which followed the lives of an Edwardian family of aristocrats and their domestics. Riots almost broke out when the show went off air in 1975 after five series and 68 episodes. In real time it ran for just four years, but on screen Upstairs, Downstairs spanned the first three decades of the 1900s. Now, Heidi Thomas (Cranford, Lilies) has revived the format and written three hour-long episodes set in 1936. Catch the first on Boxing Day at 9pm on BBC One.
The house's original inhabitants, the Bellamys, are long gone and a new noble clan has invaded Eaton Place--Sir Halam Holland (Ed Stoppard), his wife Lady Agnes (Keeley Hawes) and his interfering, recently widowed mother (played by Eileen Atkins, who co-created the original with Jean Marsh). While Atkins decided not to take a role in Upstairs, Downstairs the first incarnation, Jean Marsh famously played parlour maid Rose Buck. Now, Marsh is the lone original cast member set to make reappearance.
The final scene of Upstairs, Downstairs, series five, saw Rose roam 165 Eaton Place remembering everything that she had seen over the past 30 years. At the very end, she leaves solemnly through the front door. Today we learn that Rose is no longer in service. Instead, she runs a recruitment agency for domestic staff and is called on by Lady Agnes to gather together a new work force (which will, of course, eventually include herself).
Later, Rose returns to 165 and goes on another little wander. We're primed for a juicy flashback. Only, there isn't one. As she eyes her hand on the banister, it momentarily morphs into one belonging to a younger woman. In fact, this much subtler and smarter than inserting 35-year-old footage of Rose the younger.
Fortunately, the quality of this sequel isn't confined to those few seconds. The (re)creators also get a big tick in the casting box. Hawes, usually wooden and unconvincing, thrives as a sinewy aristocrat with a permanently haunted look. Atkins, meanwhile, is blissfully haughty and Adrian Scarborough does prim, camp butler to a tee (or tea, served in a sliver pot, naturally). After only an hour on the box, the next generation seem perfectly at home in their Eaton Place pile. And the shenanigans, upstairs and downstairs, have already begun.
'Hawes, usually wooden and unconvincing" ...Just had to get that snide comment in there, didn't we? It's like some people in the media really have an inexplicable problem with her. She is one of THE very finest, most dynamic, natural, beautiful and talented actors on screen today. A true artiste. Look forward very much to seeing her in yet another role I know she will make utterly her own, and bring to it a vibrance that only Keeley Hawes can.