New Upstairs Downstairs

[layla]

It's a shame Rose won't be back.
Do hope Jean has a speedy recovery.
I do prefer the 70 version. Maybe this next series will be better.

[Perdita]

Laura Haddock has signed up to appear in Upstairs Downstairs.

The actress will play a nursery maid called Beryl Ballard when the show returns for its second series.

Beryl is described as a "modern young woman" who is hiding a "tragic secret". When she ends up getting involved in a romance, she has to rethink her plans.

Haddock said: "I am so excited to be joining Upstairs Downstairs. It really is a dream come true. I loved the first series and when I found out I was going to be part of the second I couldn't have been happier."

She added: "My character Beryl Ballard is a really spirited modern young woman and all set to shake things up in the house. I can't wait to play her."

Haddock recently appeared in The Inbetweeners Movie and has also had television roles in shows like How Not To Live Your Life and Monday Monday.

Alex Kingston and Kenneth Cranham have already signed up for roles in the new series of Upstairs Downstairs, while Dame Eileen Atkins has decided to leave the show.

[Perdita]

Pic of Laura

[alan45]

UPSTAIRS Downstairs is set for a knee-trembling return – with a hot young cast and a lesbian love affair that will leave Downton Abbey out in the cold.


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The BBC drama has cast Alex Kingston and Emilia Fox as clandestine lovers whose relationship will scandalise the upstairs and titillate downstairs.

Add in the mix a smouldering Keeley Hawes and Claire Foy plus The Inbetweeners Movie star Laura Haddock and a handsome collection of male suitors and the show will hands-down out-glam its rival when it returns next month.

It is back for six episodes after last year's three-part outing and is now set in 1938 with the spectre of the outbreak of the Second World War looming over 165 Eaton Place.

Although the cast react huffily to any suggestions of similarities between Upstairs and Downton, both are set in a pre-war period and share some similar storylines like relationships between servants and staff.

But writer Heidi Thomas — behind ratings juggernaut Call The Midwife — denies it has been influenced in any way by Julian Fellowes' award-winning ITV show.

She says: "We were only ever a three-hour Christmas pilot. Downton have had 18 hours of drama now and we are barely out of the starting blocks.
"I think this is a whole new chapter for us, we just don't reference Downton and I have only seen fragments of it myself.

"We do our own thing. We are London 1938. Downton is a country house, very much at a great distance from everything that is going on."

Notably absent this time is Dame Eileen Atkins, co-creator of the original series in the Seventies, who played Lady Maud Holland last year. The new series opens in the weeks following her funeral.

And set for an early exit is her pet monkey Solomon who comes to a sticky end in the first episode in farcical scenes involving a pram designed to protect Lady Agnes' newborn baby from a potential gas attack should war break out.

Heidi says: "Maud and Solomon were such kindred spirits that to have a poor lost soul of a monkey wandering around for six episodes was unbearable so I thought we would do the kindest thing. No monkeys were harmed in any way."

Fellow co-creator of the original series, Jean Marsh, returns as Rose Buck, despite having to battle back from a stroke.

At a preview of episode one — to air on BBC1 at 9pm on February 19 — she said: "I was determined.
Three weeks after [filming] the first episode I had a stroke and a heart attack and in three weeks time I had thrown myself out of the hospital.

"Everybody was so wonderful to me and helpful that it was comparatively easy to get better."

Corrie actress Sarah Lancashire, plays maid Miss Violet Whisset.

Keeley Hawes plays Lady Agnes Holland — who returns following the traumatic birth of her character's second child.

Claire Foy is her sister Lady Persie Towyn, who, when not busy romancing Nazis, has her sights set on her brother-in-law Sir Hallam Holland (Ed Stoppard).

Claire says of Lady Persie: "She just does what makes herself happy and doesn't see why everybody else has a problem with it. She has her own moral code.

"They've got a really difficult relationship anyway and there is so much jealousy."

Inbetweeners actress Laura is the hottest newcomer as maid Beryl Ballard, who captures the interest of Harry Spargo.

Laura says: "Her goal is to save up for a place in a beauty salon and then leave but it's not that easy. She is very outspoken and is such a modern girl for 1938 and she's not bothered about what she says and who she says it to.
"It doesn't really matter to her whether they are upstairs or downstairs — which gets her into trouble."

Neil Jackson, who plays her love-interest Harry, said: "She doesn't indulge him, he is intrigued by her because she closes the door on him every time he tries to open it.

"She is so focused she doesn't want anything to distract her."

The lesbian relationship starts to emerge in episode three, when Emilia arrives.

But writer Heidi revealed: "They are both very brilliant women intellectually. It is a romance that also has an intellectual dimension, they find an enormous amount of stimulation and satisfaction in one another. There is a real whiff of scandal in the air.

"When this relationship becomes apparent in the household there are various reactions both upstairs and downstairs. But Blanche (Alex Kingston) does get sympathy from an unexpected place."

Other highlights for fans come from Adrian Scarborough's brilliant portrayal of hapless Mr Pritchard and Art Malik's Mr Amanjit.

Writer Heidi hopes the show will be allowed to progress through the years — and if its ratings are anything like Call The Midwife's, a third series will be imminent.

She said: "You do hope that we get to the Blitz but nothing is a given."

[Perdita]

Sunday 19 February
9.00-10.00pm
BBC ONE

Written and created by Heidi Thomas, the hotly anticipated second series of Upstairs Downstairs returns to BBC One, starring Jean Marsh, Keeley Hawes, Ed Stoppard and Alex Kingston.


It is now September 1938. Sir Hallam is anxious about affairs in Germany and determines to persuade those in power that Hitler can’t be contained. But when he is met with short shrift from his superiors and sees his wife’s concern over what the possibility of another war might mean for their young family, Hallam is forced to consider whether his approach is the right one…and when he meets an unexpected face in Germany he begins to question more than his political beliefs.

Downstairs, with Rose taken ill with TB, the staff welcome spirited new maid Beryl, who catches Harry’s eye. But Beryl struggles to adjust to life in service and has greater ambitions.

Back at Eaton Place Sir Hallam’s wife Lady Agnes is extremely frail after giving birth to their second child, but returns to 165 to support her husband. After the death of Hallam’s mother, Lady Holland, the couple are playing host to Dr Blanche Mottershead, Hallam’s aunt, who continues to make herself comfortable at 165 some weeks after the funeral, much to Sir Hallam and Mr Amanjit’s dismay.

Lady Agnes, however, is grateful for the support Blanche lends in such uncertain times. But, despite Blanche’s support, Lady Agnes remains anxious about the safety of her family and her worries set off a chain of events which leads to a startling revelation about Mr Pritchard…

[Perdita]

26 February 2012


After being told she can have no more children, Lady Agnes distracts herself by throwing a dinner party for the Kennedys.

During the evening, she catches the eye of charismatic multimillionaire Caspar Landry, a guest at the party, who is instantly won over by her kindness. Sir Hallam and Lady Agnes are thrilled when he is offered a job in America but their reverie is short lived when the horrors of Kristallnacht hit 165.

Determined to help the Jewish children trapped in Germany, Hallam works with Mr Amanjit in beginning to coordinate a rescue effort, but the sheer administrative challenge of such a heartbreaking cause is overwhelming and Mr Amanjit is forced to consider his differences with Blanche in an attempt to save the children…

After a frantic call from Lady Persie, Lady Agnes also pleads with Hallam to help her sister return safely to London. Lady Agnes, too, strives to help the refugees, persuading Caspar Landry to donate to the cause. Charmed by Lady Agnes, he obliges, and Agnes is filled with a renewed sense of confidence in her abilities.

Downstairs, Mrs Thackeray is thrilled to re-establish contact with her only nephew and when she and Mr Pritchard continue to lock horns, resigns. But Mrs Thackeray finds it tough to settle into life away from Eaton Place. Mr Pritchard, meanwhile, struggles to run the house in her absence....

[Abigail]

I saw the trailer for this yesterday and it looks brilliant.

I missed the Christmas episode, anybody know where I can watch it? It's not on iplayer anymore.

[lizann]

BBC's Downton Abbey

[Perdita]

With just three episodes, the new Upstairs Downstairs was on our screens for far too short a time when it debuted over Christmas 2010. Thankfully, the show returns for a longer six-part run beginning this Sunday, but there's been a few changes at Eaton Place...

Digital Spy caught up with series star Neil Jackson, who plays cheeky chauffeur Harry Spargo, to find out what's coming up for his character in series two, what he made of new co-star Alex Kingston and how he feels about being compared to ITV's Downton Abbey...

The new Upstairs Downstairs picks up two years after series one. What's happened to Harry Spargo since we last saw him?
"He's kind of buried himself very much into the job. Personally he's very much carried on with his philandering ways - Claire Foy's character Lady Persie has gone to Germany. I believe that he mourned the loss of that relationship by burying himself into work, and when we pick up with him, he hasn't personally evolved a great deal - he's still very much the Jack-the-Lad who operates on a wink and a smile.

"Then a new maid joins - Beryl Ballard, played by Laura Haddock - and he instantly takes a shine to her. He tries all of his old tricks, but she shuts him down completely at every single turn. That's something that Harry's not used to and he finds something in this woman that he's never found before.

"He starts to change his character in order to win her and in the process starts to grow up. So the arc of this series for Harry is watching him mature from being this Jack-the-Lad 20-something to very much being a man in his early 30s, maturing and starting to take responsibility for his life."

How was the experience of working with Laura and developing that new relationship?
"It was incredible - Laura's a fantastic actress, very honest and generous. We would spend a lot of time talking over these scenes and plotting the development of the relationship between these two people. She spends the first couple of episodes closing the door on him, but she can't appear to close it too firmly because he wouldn't keep pursuing, and she doesn't want to seem like a harsh or nasty character.

"We're just working on the last two episodes now and we've been very lucky to have three great directors, who have all come in with some great ideas on how to allow this relationship to blossom over the six episodes. So it's a real joy to work on - we've been given some beautiful stuff. It's every line on the spectrum - painful, romantic, sometimes flirtatious, sometimes very sarcastic."

What can you reveal about the new characters joining the show this year?
"Kenneth Cranham comes in and plays a very small but vital part in the first couple of episodes - he doesn't become a major player in it. But Alex Kingston's fantastic - she's such a well-respected and brilliant actress. She's come in to in some ways fill the very large hole that was left when Eileen Atkins left - she plays her sister.

"So she keeps the same familiar tone, but she's Alex - she puts a brilliant spin on her character and has given a really refreshing element to the show. I can't reveal too much about her character, but she's a very dogmatic, opinionated, feisty woman who very much shakes up Eaton Place."

How did it feel coming back to the show without Dame Eileen Atkins?
"We all loved her and of course she's a wonderful, brilliant actress, so when we found out that she wasn't coming back... and of course Jean Marsh initially wasn't coming back either because of her illness. So to have these two wonderful, stalwart actresses who were very much the backbone of the show first time round and then come back for the couple of episodes without them there, it did feel like this series was different.

"But it's actually made the show better in some ways - it meant that the writers could service other characters to fill in some of the gaps. For example, the character of Pritchard played by Adrian Scarborough, and Anne Reid's character Mrs. Thackeray, both kind of adopted the missing place where Jean Marsh was. The result is that their characters have grown and the relationship between them has blossomed, which has given them some wonderful scenes to play, with some wonderful dialogue.

"That's really made 'Downstairs' sing a little bit more than it did last year, so out of every problem comes a solution. I think that what we all initially thought was going to be a bad thing for the series has turned out to actually make the series even better than it was before."

But Jean Marsh (Rose Buck) does return in the later episodes...
"Thankfully, yeah, she got better and she's going to be appearing in episodes three and six, I believe. She makes more appearances, and hopefully - God willing - when we get a third series, she'll be back fighting fit and resuming her place."

What do you make of the supposed rivalry between Upstairs Downstairs and ITV's Downton Abbey?
"I think it's really a media [created] rivalry - it's not a rivalry between the two shows. I had the great privilege of going to the Emmys, where both shows were nominated - I was the only representative from Upstairs Downstairs going along to Los Angeles. I was there for the entire weekend, at the pre-parties, thanks to PBS, with all of the Downton Abbey lot - the whole cast, Julian Fellowes and everybody.

"Inevitably, we're going to start talking about the shows and there's such a mutual respect between us for the other person's work. Call it competition if you will - we're very much in the same category. A period show, set pre-war - them before First World War, we're Second World War - and it's all set within one house.

"There's the inevitable comparisons, but I think that only serves to make everybody up their game and make a far better show as a result of it. I think that they're very, very good at what they do and if we are able in any way to hold a candle to the show that they have, I think we've done our job properly."

What do you enjoy most about working on a period drama?
"I've got to say, partly prestige. When I was a young kid, the best stuff on television was always the BBC period dramas - it was what we sat down as a family to watch and what people talked about and looked forward to. So now, many years on, to actually be starring in a BBC costume drama, that's one of their flagship shows, it's a real privilege.

"It's researched so thoroughly and the entire production team set everything up so well, there are moments where it's honestly felt like I'm standing in history. Last series, I got goosebumps and the hairs stood up on the back of my neck when I was in the Cable Street riots. Everywhere you looked was authentic to the period - they'd completely dressed two streets and they had hundreds of extras, mounted police, period cars...

"You just suddenly felt like you were in the middle of history, because they'd done it so well. And it's happened a couple of times this year and to actually feel that connection to the material is very, very special indeed."

Why should people tune in for the new Upstairs Downstairs - is it bigger and better than last year?
"It's definitely bigger and better than last year. Last year, they wrote the three episodes hoping that people would watch it, and creating characters that people could connect to. Thankfully, because last year was such a success and the writers now know the style of the show and the character's voices, everything has grown exponentially from that.

"Every single character is better, funnier, richer, with more layers and more depth, and the show has so many twists and turns and character plots that, even though I'm in it, I'm fascinated to watch it.

"We've just started work on episode six and the finale to episode six... I don't think I've ever read a script faster! It ties up so many things in a way you might not logically go to, but you suddenly realise that it's exactly what [writer] Heidi [Thomas] was plotting in episode one. There's real 'Oh wow' moments in episode six, and all the way through the show.

"The spectacle is huge - we have massive events in Alexandra Palace, where there's a big ball and a sporting event with hundreds of extras. The scope on this is infinitely bigger than last year - it's going to be a fantastic show."

[Perdita]

4th March 2012


When a scandalous novel is published by the beautiful Lady Portia Alersford, Blanche’s unconventional lifestyle is exposed.

The reaction both upstairs and down inside 165 Eaton Place is mixed, although Blanche remains defiant amidst the controversy. Portia offers Blanche refuge from the storm - but as both happy and sad memories from their shared past stir within her, Blanche remains conflicted.

Downstairs, Beryl is perturbed when her household duties are swapped with Eunice’s. As the workload takes its toll on the younger maid she decides to take a stand - but her actions have far-reaching consequences that shake the very foundations of what being a servant means inside 165 Eaton Place. Luckily an old face is on hand to offer some welcome and wise words…

As Sir Hallam prepares for another round of negotiations in Germany, Lady Persie drops a bombshell of her own, swearing Sir Hallam to secrecy. But when his efforts to help his sister-in-law prove fruitless, Lady Persie takes matters into her own hands, with dangerous consequences for all concerned.

Cast: Lady Portia Alersford played by Emilia Fox, Dr Blanche Mottershead played by Alex Kingston, Beryl Ballard played by Laura Haddock, Eunice Mccabe played by Ami Metcalf, Sir Hallam played by Ed Stoppard,Lady Persie Towyn played by Claire Foy,Lady Agnes played by Keeley Hawes, Mr Amanjit played by Art Malik, Rose Buck played by Jean Marsh, Mrs Clarice Thackeray played by Anne Reid, Mr Warwick Pritchard played by Adrian Scarborough, Harry Spargo played by Neil Jackson, Johnny Proude played by Nico Mirallegro, Duke of Kent played by Blake Ritson and Pamela Holland played by Sarah Gordy.