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Post by CG Wendy on Oct 26, 2007 14:10:15 GMT
lol Pats...so do I. I went months and months between DVDs
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Oct 26, 2007 14:27:12 GMT
I can't get to mine. All videos and DVDs are in the spare room (apart from what I haven't watched) which is a fire hazard with all the junk in the doorway. I just unpack my souvenir tat and dump it there. I am so lazy. It really needs a clear-out which should have been done about 15 years ago when I got some new bookcases for the tapes and they're still flat-packed in the garage. LOL!
Patsy
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Post by CG Wendy on Oct 26, 2007 21:44:31 GMT
I`d come over and give you a hand if I could Pats. I`ll probably have to buy another bookcase soon. I have 3 in my living room already and need one for our bedroom just for hubbys fave DVDs. He`s a massive Star Trek fan.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Oct 26, 2007 22:35:37 GMT
Yes those sci-fi DVDs do take up a lot of space because there's so many of them. I've got to get the spare room sorted. My cuddly toy collection is in a couple of boxes near the window and I have more to go in them going back 6 years to when I got back from Australia the first time. I have to empty my large case from last year's Oz trip because I'll need it in December and again in March. I have absolutely no idea where I'm going to put anything.
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Oct 29, 2007 21:02:33 GMT
Okay prepare to be disappointed. This isn't how the publicity is making it out to be. It was recorded last night and all they did was say the same old stuff. No recreations. John Alderton was there, as was Lesley Anne Down. It also lasted a couple of minutes.
Patsy
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Post by CG Wendy on Oct 29, 2007 22:22:38 GMT
awww what a let down
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Oct 29, 2007 22:27:57 GMT
Very much so. It will be nice to see John and Pauline though but so disappointing ITV felt the need to lie in their publicity.
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Oct 30, 2007 9:47:48 GMT
From the Daily Mail:
After 32 years, the surviving stars of Upstairs, Downstairs ...and what happened next By LAURA ROBERTS Last updated at 08:11am on 30th October 2007
It transfixed millions of viewers in the 1970s. Portraying the social niceties and sexual scandals of Edwardian England, Upstairs, Downstairs became one of the most successful TV series of all time, watched by 300 million viewers in 50 countries. It ran for 68 episodes on ITV from 1971 to 1975.
Although a number of the cast have died - including Gareth Hunt, Gordon Jackson and Angela Baddeley - nine of the originals attended Bafta's 60th birthday celebrations on Sunday.
Here, the Mail profiles the nine and records what has happened to their careers since.
1: Christopher Beeny
Now 66, he played Edward Barnes the footman, who later went on to marry housemaid Daisy Peel. When Edward returned from the Great War he was depicted as suffering from shell shock. Beeney was a regular on the UK's first soap opera The Grove Family. He went on to star in the comedy In Loving Memory. In recent years has cameoed on Last of the Summer Wine.
2: Simon Williams
The undisputed heart-throb of the series, he played arrogant Major James Bellamy, who was briefly sent to India after getting maid Sarah pregnant. Williams, now 61, went on to make a career of playing upper-class roles including Dr Charles Cartwright in Don't Wait Up and most recently Sir Charles Merrick in Holby City. Also has a successful career writing thrillers and plays.
3: John Alderton
He was Thomas Watkins the moustachioed chauffeur. Alderton, now 66, described the character as "a conniving, thieving, chauvinistic baddie". The series also featured his wife Pauline Collins. They went on to star together in the spin-off drama Thomas and Sarah. Before playing Watkins, he starred in classic sitcom Please, Sir! Later appeared in sitcom No Honestly and Wodehouse Playhouse. Appeared as James Herriot in the 1975 film It Shouldn't Happen To A Vet. Also in the 2003 movie Calendar Girls.
4: Meg Wynn Owen
Now 65, she played Hazel Bellamy. Originally Hazel Forrest and secretary to Major James Bellamy's father Richard, she married the major after she comforted him over his mother's death on the Titanic. Has worked consistently in television and film. Recent film roles include character parts in Gosford Park, Love Actually and Pride and Prejudice.
5: Leslie-Anne Down
The undisputed beauty of the series, she played orphaned Georgina Worsley. Memorably, Miss Worsley accidentally killed a working class man after secretly borrowing the family car. The London-born star appeared in films The Pink Panther Strikes Again, A Little Night Music and Hanover Street opposite Harrison Ford. Played Stephanie Rogers in Dallas in the early Nineties. Now 53 and living in Los Angeles, she has played Jacqueline Payne Marone in American soap The Bold and the Beautiful since March 2003.
6: Jacqueline Tong
She was housemaid Daisy Barnes (nee Peel), who nursed husband Edward through war trauma. After leaving Upstairs, Downstairs in 1975 Tong, now 56, returned to theatre work. Went on to make numerous TV appearances. In 2001 she was cast in the British movie The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby and TV series The Cazalets.
7: Pauline Collins
The wife of John Alderton, she played maid Sarah Moffat, who became pregnant by her master's son Major James Bellamy before beginning a relationship with the chauffeur Thomas. Best known for Bafta-winning title role in 1989 film Shirley Valentine. Now 67, she was awarded an OBE in 2001.
8: Jean Marsh
The co-creator of the series (with fellow actress Eileen Atkins), she played formidable parlourmaid Rose Buck. Went on to have minor film roles in Return to Oz and Willow. Now 73, she is currently appearing as Bertha the housekeeper in Boeing Boeing in the West End. Marsh and Atkins also co-created the hit series House of Eliott.
9: Jenny Tomasin
Now 70, she played dim-witted and downtrodden scullery maid Ruby Finch, replacing Emily, a maid who committed suicide. Tomasin went on to perform in regional pantomimes during the Nineties. Was in Emmerdale in 2005-2006 until her character was killed off.
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Post by Nick on Oct 30, 2007 13:00:20 GMT
You would have thought Nicola Pagett and hannah Gordon would have put in an appearance wouldn't you...Since watercolour Challenge was axed and she killed Victor Meldrew Hannah has hardly been inundated with TV work
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Oct 30, 2007 13:16:00 GMT
LOL!
Apparently Anthony Andrews gave the show a mention when he was on stage presenting some great British dramas thing.
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Nov 7, 2007 22:15:09 GMT
That was a bit naff but lovely to see then together again complete with Pauline and John AT LAST!!! Why do they never take part in anything to do with it? They didn't appear on the ITV show a couple of years ago. They had nothing to do with the DVD extras. Had she already been asked to introduce the modern film part?
Nice of Jenny to mention Angela Baddley and the spin-off which never happened.
Meg Wynn Owen seemed nervous delivering her spiel.
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Oct 10, 2009 19:27:35 GMT
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Post by CG Wendy on Oct 10, 2009 22:08:31 GMT
woohooo that`s brilliant news.....brilliant!!!!! That`s made my day. Thanks Pats. ;D ;D ;D
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Oct 10, 2009 22:42:09 GMT
I am a little curious how they'll do it considering really Jean Marsh is far too old to play Rose just 6 years later. If they'd set it in the 50s or 60s it would have been better. But then Rose would probably be about 100! LOL! One thing I would like them to do - NO 'All star cast'. Just people who can ACT instead of the same faces. Also no incidental music. Okay that's now two things. LOL! But keep to the original in spirit at least and have more than just Rose as a link to the past.
Patsy
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Post by Nick on Oct 12, 2009 10:41:36 GMT
I'm gutted...they have stolen my idea that I wrote to Jean Marsh about. Although I did suggest setting it in (with it being thirty years after the series finsihed 1930/1960-1975/2005) I'll do a quick summary of what I suggested......Mr & Mrs Hudson died leaving Ruby the boarding house...she couldn't cope and contacted Rose who ,after Lord Bellamy had died wasn't really needed to look after Lady Virginia...Rose came to help Ruby run the boarding house..after a few years of building up the business they sold the boarding house and bought a hotel...just before the second world war Ruby met a shy young man at a hoteliers function...she discovered he was the heir to a huge hotel chain..they married...her husbands family were killed during the blitz..and her husband was killed in the war leaving Ruby the owner of the large hotel chain and thus making her very wealthy....she gave Rose 40% of the company shares to thank her for helping her over the years. meanwhile Miss Elizabeth (as she was) decided to return from America after losing most of her wealth,and settle back in England...after years of living the American life she needed a job to keep her going and applies for a housekeeping job at a seaside hotel..and is bemused and surprised to find Ruby and Rose interviewing her..they give her the job and thus the 'Upstaire,Downstairs' tables are turned......then in 1965 they buy a house in London to turn into a hotel...a certain 165 Eaton Place......cue theme music...start the series
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Oct 12, 2009 12:38:02 GMT
Blimey, can you imagine Jenny back as Ruby? She sadly looks worse than Jean! Good idea of yours there Nick and better than 6 years later with an actress 34 years older. I think if anything will make it fail it will be that.
Patsy
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Post by CG Wendy on Oct 12, 2009 18:00:21 GMT
Brilliant Nick ;D
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Oct 12, 2009 18:30:38 GMT
I was reminded on my Yahoo group that it's entirely plausible for Jean to play Rose since the characters didn't really age in looks over a 27 year period. LOL!
Patsy
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Post by Nick on Oct 12, 2009 19:02:53 GMT
I saw an interview with the producer Alfred Shaunessy..he said it was called Peter Panning..where the years go by but the characters don't seem to get any older..a bit like James Bond
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Post by sootycat on Mar 1, 2010 12:39:45 GMT
I have just been reading that this is going to be written by the person who did Cranford...so I reckon it will be worth a look.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Mar 1, 2010 14:51:30 GMT
I didn't see Cranford but I'm sure they'll do it justice. Jean will have something to say otherwise. LOL!
Patsy
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Post by Nick on Nov 14, 2010 20:16:18 GMT
I have seen some pictures of the new series and it looks quite good and I am looking forward to it...I just hope it lives up to it's predecessor
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Nov 21, 2010 13:25:09 GMT
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Nov 22, 2010 13:06:35 GMT
Upstairs Downstairs – The Fledgling Ep 1/3 New series High Definition programme BBC ONE and BBC ONE HD
The wreath above the mantelpiece is furred with dust. The chandelier is festooned with cobwebs. Then a key turns in the lock – and a handsome millionaire walks in, with the woman he loves in his arms...
This Christmas, BBC One invites viewers old and new across the threshold of one of television's most famous addresses – 165 Eaton Place. Set in 1936, this lavish three-part serial sees diplomat Sir Hallam Holland move into the iconic townhouse along with his wife, Lady Agnes. With the help of former parlourmaid Rose Buck, they launch a new whole new era for the sumptuous home at the heart of Upstairs Downstairs.
As Lady Agnes remarks: "This house is going to see such life!"
But storm clouds are gathering in Europe, and servants are no longer biddable and cheap. The Hollands' first year at Eaton Place does not unfold as either Lady Agnes or Rose anticipates.
The drama that results sets exquisite domestic detail against a sweeping historical backdrop. There may be two families living in 165 – one upstairs and one down – but their fates are intimately linked. Touching, funny, romantic and savage, the revived Upstairs Downstairs is set to enrapture a whole new audience.
It is January 1936 and King George V is dying. Sir Hallam and Lady Agnes Holland return from a diplomatic posting to Washington. They have immense plans for their future at 165 Eaton Place, which they have recently inherited from Sir Hallam's father.
The house has been empty since the Bellamy family sold it in 1931, and is in need of complete renovation. Keen to organise her servants, Lady Agnes turns to Buck's of Belgravia, an agency run by Miss Rose Buck, who was formerly in service at 165.
Rose has some reservations about the commission but the lure of Eaton Place proves irresistible. She agrees to spearhead Lady Agnes's quest for the perfect staff.
The builders set to work, and the house begins its journey back to opulence. But Lady Agnes and Sir Hallam are stunned when his mother, the widowed Maud, Lady Holland, arrives from India and reveals she's moving in. She has her Sikh secretary, Mr Amanjit, in tow, and intends to write her memoirs in the morning room. This was not in any part of their plan.
Rose – hindered more than helped by Lady Agnes – strives to find servants worthy of the house she loved so much. After some persuasion, a cook, snobbish Mrs Thackeray, agrees to come aboard. Housemaid Ivy – just 15 years old – is recruited from Dr Barnardo's, and a teenaged footman, Johnny, arrives from a mining village in the north. But Rose deems the chauffeur, Harry Spargo, rather common, and searches in vain for the perfect butler. The ghost of Mr Hudson casts a long and cherished shadow.
The family upstairs is completed by the arrival of Lady Persie, Lady Agnes's wayward younger sister. Lady Agnes plans a smart party to mark the launch of the Hollands in London. Guests will include Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and Sir Hallam's closest friend, the Duke of Kent.
But as the party approaches, tensions rise. Maud constantly interferes with Lady Agnes's plans, resulting in the addition of the King and his mistress, Mrs Simpson, to the guest list. With the clock ticking, a panicking Rose is forced to engage a rather unusual butler, Mr Pritchard.
But the party, and its aftermath, sends shockwaves through 165 Eaton Place. Before the night is out, Rose is forced to take control. It becomes clear to both families – upstairs and downstairs – that 165 needs her to stay.
Sir Hallam Holland is played by Ed Stoppard, Lady Agnes by Keeley Hawes, Rose Buck by Jean Marsh, Maud by Eileen Atkins, Mr Amanjit by Art Malik, Mrs Thackeray by Anne Reid, Ivy by Ellie Kendrick, Johnny by Nico Mirallegro, Harry Spargo by Neil Jackson, Lady Persie by Claire Foy and Mr Pritchard by Adrian Scarborough.
Upstairs Downstairs is simulcast in HD on BBC One HD on Freesat channel 108, Freeview channel 50, Sky channel 143 and Virgin Media channel 108.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Nov 22, 2010 16:17:22 GMT
Epidsode two – The Ladybird
June 1936. Rose is now officially installed as housekeeper, wrangling her team of eccentrics and juveniles. Lady Agnes, meanwhile, has manoeuvred her household to the heart of London society, and adores the fact that Lady Persie is a debutante. Lady Persie is bored to tears – and Maud is restless too.
The London Season is at its height, and life at 165 is filled with diamonds, dancing, mink capes and champagne. But world events rumble like thunder in the distance – Sir Hallam's work is affected by Mussolini's annexation of Abyssinia, and a new parlourmaid, Rachel Perlmutter, arrives as a refugee from Germany. Rachel does not take easily to domestic work, while the other servants are disconcerted by her elegance, poise, and dietary habits. However, there are celebrations upstairs and down when Lady Agnes discovers – after seven long and fruitless years of marriage – that she's expecting a child. Though she and Sir Hallam are overjoyed by the news, Lady Agnes is haunted by thoughts that things may not go well. She becomes preoccupied by her pregnancy, and her husband and sister are left to their own devices.
Maud seizes the chance to draw closer to her son. Sir Hallam welcomes this when he is shaken out of his political complacency by an encounter with deposed Emperor Haile Selassie. Despite Lady Agnes's indifference, he begins to view the rise of the European right wing in a different light.
Maud also takes Lady Persie under her wing, encouraging her to think more deeply and read more widely. But she lights a fire in a dangerous place, and Lady Persie soon falls under the spell of Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists. Unbeknown to the rest of the household, she forms an alliance that will drag her into moral and physical peril.
Meanwhile, as the summer progresses, Rachel bonds with fellow outsider Mr Amanjit, and a tender friendship forms. She comes to trust him with her deepest secret – the existence of her little daughter, Lotte – and they move towards full-blown romance.
But events are hurtling towards the powder-keg of the Cable Street riots – an explosive confrontation that ends in tragedy, and has far-reaching results for all at Eaton Place. Episode three – The Cuckoo
November 1936. Several weeks have passed since the Cable Street riots and the ensuing tragedy. Sir Hallam feels responsible for Lotte's plight, and the staff are consumed by worry for her future. Maud (Eileen Atkins) believes the child has psychiatric problems.
Meanwhile, Lady Persie's life becomes increasingly covert and complex. In the thrall of an illicit sexual affair, she is also obsessed with right-wing politics – and pursues her interests regardless of the danger to the people that she loves.
Lady Agnes, due to give birth in December, has no knowledge of her sister's activities. She is both elated and anxious at the prospect of motherhood, and throws herself into the preparations – decorating the nursery, seeking out a nanny, and arranging to be photographed by Cecil Beaton.
Mrs Thackeray is enthralled by the thought that London's top photographer is actually in the house. Breaking bounds, she steals upstairs and sneaks a secret meeting with him. He even takes her photograph – but when Rose finds out, battle lines are drawn, and Mr Pritchard is caught between the warring women.
Tensions also deepen upstairs, as Sir Hallam is drawn into the burgeoning Abdication Crisis. His closest friend, the Duke of Kent, is desperate to stop his brother from abandoning the throne, and begs Sir Hallam for help. Anthony Eden also exerts pressure – and so it comes to pass that a very special dinner is arranged, at Eaton Place. The house finds itself at the eye of the storm that engulfs the monarchy.
But it is the fate of one small child that has 165 divided. Lotte's mental condition deteriorates, and Maud takes charge. To the servants' dismay, Lady Agnes permits Maud to whisk the child away to a psychiatric clinic. No cure is guaranteed, and they fear they will never see Lotte again.
Sir Hallam returns from the Foreign Office late at night, and is furious to find that Lotte has gone. Furious with Lady Agnes, he enlists the help of Harry Spargo and Mr Amanjit, setting out to locate the child and establish her fate. But in doing so, he discovers more than he ever expected, and his life is thrown into utter disarray.
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