Inside UpDown - The Story of Upstairs, Downstairs by Richard Marston
I bought this for my sister a year ago as a surprise birthday gift. I ordered it from the London publisher and it arrived on the day, and she was delighted. There are few people who know that show as well as she does, and she had high praise for it. She is in Scotland now and I just had an email from her; it made me think of this book
I just read it recently - and it is well written, informative, filled with exhaustive details and generally fascinating. It has numerous anecdotes and interviews compiled over the years. It is also written in a generous spirit, but it is by no means a sycophantic account of a popular show. It is thoughtful and well done.
Recommended.
Oddly enough this is my current bedtime reading! I'd definitely second your recommendation Tim as it is a good grounding in the episodes as well as a gossipy look at the series and those involved. Upstairs Downstairs was one of the great series of TV gone by and it has been good to see it get a second life recently on Freeview. High drama below stairs as well as above.
Thanks for the recomendation, Tim, but I can't seem to find this book at Amazon - UK OR US. Yet, at the former's Marketplace you can still get Mrs. Bridges' Upstairs Downstairs Cookery Book and stories for Rose and Mr. Bellamy. How can I obtain this book? It would make a wonderful companion to the boxset I've got.
Both editions went out of print quite quickly. Best bet would be to set yourself up a Want on eBay and ABE and keep an eye on Amazon. It really is one of the best books I've ever read about a television programme with lots of juicy gossip as well as serious stuff.
I bought a copy on ebay a few years ago.It's excellent.
Was watching the boxset at the same time with all the extra features.So much fascinating information!.
There is of course always this as well:
The Upstairs, Downstairs Web Pages
name='didi-5']Oddly enough this is my current bedtime reading! I'd definitely second your recommendation Tim as it is a good grounding in the episodes as well as a gossipy look at the series and those involved. Upstairs Downstairs was one of the great series of TV gone by and it has been good to see it get a second life recently on Freeview. High drama below stairs as well as above.
Yes, it's very well done, isn't it?
I didn't expect very much, as I am not usually interested in this sort of book - but in this case I was wrong.
That show really was outstanding. I dismissed it as just a brilliangtly made "soap" before seeing it, but again I was as wrong and foolish as I have ever been in my assumptions.
It does start out that way, but by the middle of the second season it is transformed into a powerful and moving drama - one of the very best dramatic series ever on television. The high quality is maintained, without exception or interruption, all the way until the end - and it also becomes a rich and compelling historical document.
By the end, I realized it had a cumulative power that took me by surprise - really extraordinary.
name='cornershop15']Thanks for the recomendation, Tim, but I can't seem to find this book at Amazon - UK OR US. Yet, at the former's Marketplace you can still get Mrs. Bridges' Upstairs Downstairs Cookery Book and stories for Rose and Mr. Bellamy. How can I obtain this book? It would make a wonderful companion to the boxset I've got.
Apparently it has gone out of print already - again. I was not aware of that.
I say "again" because there was another edition. However, the first edition was released at the beginning of this decade and then went out of print. The version I bought was revised - it's quite a long and detailed volume - and published about three years ago, I believe. So perhaps it will be released again?
I don't understand the convoluted history of this book. As I mentioned, I had to order it directly from Britain - I have never found it anywhere in the US. This is surprising because the show was a tremendous success here. I believe the book would also find a large audience.
Keep checking ebay and you may be lucky.
A friend of mine was in the UK a few weeks ago.
He was in a second hand bookshop and was kind enough to buy a book he knew would interest me.
The World Of Upstairs Downstairs by Mollie Hardwick.
It's a large richly illustrated social history of the years covered in the series.
At times we view the period as seen through various charactors from the series!.
Sounds a bit dodgy but it works.A bit like reading their thoughts.
Am really enjoying it.
name='midnight sheep']Keep checking ebay and you may be lucky.
A friend of mine was in the UK a few weeks ago.
He was in a second hand bookshop and was kind enough to buy a book he knew would interest me.
The World Of Upstairs Downstairs by Mollie Hardwick.
It's a large richly illustrated social history of the years covered in the series.
At times we view the period as seen through various charactors from the series!.
Sounds a bit dodgy but it works.A bit like reading their thoughts.
Am really enjoying it.
what are their thoughts on hardly ageing over 25years? ha ha-'oil of ulay' i suppose?
name='jaycad']what are their thoughts on hardly ageing over 25years? ha ha-'oil of ulay' i suppose?
Jean Marsh is quite funny on that subject - presumably Mrs Bridges and Hudson would have been about 80 when they 'retired' to keep a boarding house.
There was definately a sci fi element creeping in in those final years.
For some reason the only person they aged was James!.
Still, it would have been wonderful if they had done a 6th series taking the family through the 1930's!.
The book is currently being revised by the author - we haven't yet seen what changes he's made.
We expect the new edition to be out before the end of the year but I can't give you a more specific date at the moment. We also have access to a much larger number of photographs than we had when the book was last available and will be including many more in the book than were there previously.
I'm really looking forward to this book.
If you're still online, Simon, you may be interested to know that I recently uploaded a couple of articles from the Seven Deadly Sins play/s we discussed to a few months ago. They can be found at the 'Lost ITV plays' thread.
name='CaptainWaggett']Jean Marsh is quite funny on that subject - presumably Mrs Bridges and Hudson would have been about 80 when they 'retired' to keep a boarding house.
Didn't Hudson and Mrs Bridges take Ruby with them when they left Eaton Place to keep that boarding house? I wonder how long it would have stayed in business in her "capable" hands following their passings?
name='Able Abel']Didn't Hudson and Mrs Bridges take Ruby with them when they left Eaton Place to keep that boarding house? I wonder how long it would have stayed in business in her "capable" hands following their passings?
that's right!-there were rumours of a spin off series about the hudsons until angela badderlys sudden death soon after the final U/D series,this was replaced by the 'thomas and sarah' series!
Has anyone else been watching the reruns of this great series on ITV3?.........it's the last episode tomorrow, i found the end of todays episode personally quite traumatic when Major James commits suicide and the ensuing effect it has on his family, that's professional acting for you I guess, with a series like UD it's very easy to become attached the characters, and i wouldn't wish it any other way!
name='Mark O']Has anyone else been watching the reruns of this great series on ITV3?.........it's the last episode tomorrow, i found the end of todays episode personally quite traumatic when Major James commits suicide and the ensuing effect it has on his family, that's professional acting for you I guess, with a series like UD it's very easy to become attached the characters, and i wouldn't wish it any other way!
Yes, I have been watching it, and it shows just how good a series is when you get attached to the characters and care what happens to them. Everything about the whole series was just perfect, the attention to costume detail especially, was far superior to any period programme today.
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