Upstairs Downstairs.

[Tarot]

Did anyone like the new look Upstairs and Downstairs,watched it with the family and thought it was simlar to

DowntonHall,and was told its by the same writers. Hit or miss?

[DJKillaQueen]

I loved it........

Can you at least get the names right lol. A simple google search would tell you it is NOT written by the same writers. 'Downton ABBEY' is written by the prolific Julien Fellows and 'Upstairs Downstairs' is written by Heidi Thomas.

Downton Abbey is also set some 20 years before Upstairs Downstairs too, although both periods are at the dying days of 'Empire'.

[Tarot]

Yes you are correct DJKQ. I should pay more attention to whats being said.

But Dont you think Dowton Abbey was almost a copy of Upstairs and Downstairs.

but different eras.

But the favourite in my home is Larkrise to Candleford. But I Yaawwnnnnnnnzzzzzz,

[DJKillaQueen]

Yeah I think they all borrow from 'Upstairs Downstairs' and the success of 'Gosford Park' is what brought the genre back to life. They are all good though and I loved 'Larkrise to Candleford' too. Thought that one was original and well written/ cast/ acted etc. Another one I loved as a kid was 'The Duchess of Duke Street'......wonder if that will ever be revived?

[Hill Dweller]

I didn't watch it although I'd heard/read good previews of it but [late edit: re Downton] I can't bear Julian Fellows (and if there should be an 'e' before the 's' don't bother poking me about it anyone Grrrrrrr ......) ::o

I also don't rate the actress who's one of the leads .... the one that's the present face of some Boots No7 product or other and is always always the same as she's so pretty pretty.

I usually have the radio on and seldom get bored enough to wonder what's on the box but admit there are some gems from time to time.

[DJKillaQueen]

It's funny you should say that because I've noticed that over the past five years I listen more and more to radio and watch less and less tv. Yesterday I read an article that explored just how dire the Christmas TV schedules had been. I'm not adverse to repeats but given how huge the tv and film archives are, surely they can do better than repeating the same repeats. Either the schedulers aren't knowledgeble enough about the archives or they lack imagination.

[zeban]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/27/upstairs-downstairs-period-drama

Think this is quite interesting and a viewpoint I agree with.

[Hill Dweller]

My favourite's Radio4 and there's a fair bit of repetition that happens on that but as the longest slot is an hour (except for The Archers omnibus ..... yawn) and usually a half or quarter, it's not so annoying.

The Xmas Eve comedy was hilarious and some of the 6.30pm slots are the launch pads for talent such as those behind fun like 'The Thick of it' (tu)

[Hill Dweller]

zeban Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/2

> 7/upstairs-downstairs-period-drama

>

> Think this is quite interesting and a viewpoint I

> agree with.

Yes, UppyDowny was inspired by empathy about life for them below t'stairs whereas although Fellowes (it does have the 'e' !!) nods to acknowledge it he is such a cracking snob himself that ....... words fail :'(

[DJKillaQueen]

It's a very good article. The way TV companies are run, staffed and managed has also changed beyond recognition since the 70's and that in my view explains far more the demise of terrestial broadcasting.

Producers can not take the risks they could then and everything has to be far more 'pleasing' than 'edgy' into todays market of idependent (outside) production, where the business is as dependent on after sales as some broadcasters are on advertising revenue and ratings....oh and add to that that some of todays commissioning editors started as PA's rather than being intellectual creatives who were driven by a real desire to do something with the medium. In short...what do you expect from a medium managed by former accountants, and office mamagers.

I watched the 'Onedin Line' again recently (for nostalgia) but had forgotten that it was made on the cheap and actually is no better than soap drama.....albeit with ships. My mother loved it though.

[computedshorty]

This series of Upstairs Downstairs is very detailed in the rooms and fittings.

My father bought a house not unlike that in 1926, I lived in it from 1931, the below stairs entered at the side of the house was defiantly the servant?s area, and the rooms were pretty bleak and dark, the top floor was the servants bed rooms bare boards and low ceilings.

The first floor entered up a broad flight of stone steps through the columned arch was the masters accommodation Dining Room & formal Sitting room, the open cast iron grate and the marble fire place and the Adams style Overmantle with three glass display cabinets with the fret work in front of the glass. The double doors that when opened made a large Hall of the connecting rooms,

The centre ceiling rose and Alabaster Cornish and 18 inch skirting boards and the very wide doors to the rooms, velvet curtains tied back with tassels, with an Aspidistra placed centre of window on tall stand. The Mahogany Grand Piano with ornamental carved legs, with the music stand raised and paper music sheet open, and the music stool with a folding seat where the books of music were kept, the chaise lounge and two arm chairs the six curved high backed chairs, the Gramophone cabinet where a seventy eight size record would be placed and the handle at the side wound the spring ready to play the record when the brake was taken off and the pickup arm with the steel needle placed on the revolving record, the sound came from a trumpet that could be seen when the pair of front doors were opened.

The family bath room complete with a gas water heater called a Clover Gezer and flush toilet and a towel stand and small stool for getting in bath, a mirror that would become misty with the steam.

The main hall with all the alabaster coving and had an arch with a sea shell under each side, the stair case had a mahogany hand rail that started with a coil unwinding up the stairs above the shaped spindles to turn at each floor level, it was possible to look up to the forth floor and see all the turns.

The second floor were the main bedrooms of the family, again very grand.

We as a working family only used the lower two floors, as they were the only ones furnished.

Today the house would not be recognisable as it suffered a lot of damage during the war, ceilings doors windows are now replaced to a simple style.

But for me in memory they are still there.

[Hill Dweller]

I'm looking in for the first time and it's awful to be reminded of the black shirts and easy use of the word 'Yid'.

[Tarot]

What memory did it evoke ,from what era are you referring too,were you in London in the thirties. Hillman.

when Mosley was here?

[????]

The total failure of Mosley and The Black Shirts and the one of the East End's finest hours is actually a pleasant historical 'memory'.

[Tarot]

Yes it was apparently,my father spoke of that time and said he was an extreme agitator.

[Ann]

I think this series has been brilliant. I remember the original. They have cleverly moved on from Edwardian England to pre second World War Two. The staff have been considerably downsized compared to the staff from before. Both series have in effect taken place before the two world wars.

I think the writers have done a good job, the characters are very believable and I love the fact that Jean Marsh ( Rose) has been assimilated into both.

Am I the only one who looks at some of the beautiful Victorian/Edwardian houses in our area ( mostly now flats) that would have had an Upstairs Downstairs existence in thier past? Albiet on a lesser scale than Cadagon Square?

[Hill Dweller]

Tarot Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> What memory did it evoke ,from what era are you

> referring too,were you in London in the thirties.

> Hillman.

> when Mosley was here?

It evoked the memory of how many times in the recent past Britain has had home-grown fascists and the fear of how easily it could happen again ..... in fact it has, with thugs being funded by a richer thug.

Cable St itself is a reminder of our history, it's somewhere I pass through quite often.

No I was not in London in the 30s, nor alive in them, my mother was here throughout the Blitz and my father was in Europe. They were among the lucky survivors of it all (yes I know that's obvious if it predates me).

Why refer to me as Hillman, is it something to do with cars or an assumption about my gender?

.

[Tarot]

I.m sorry if I abbrieviated your name, Hill Dweller"or thinking you were eighty odd,L.O.L.

Yes there there are pockets of crack pots.

But I think there are enough intelligent people in this country to ever allow a rising of any great proportions

we all know what evil things can happen when it all gets out of hand.

Mosley never succeeded did he.

[Hill Dweller]

No prob, it was just the assumption about gender that seemed unnecessary, we're ether beings !! :-)

I reckon Mosley didn't succeed because of the make-up of the resident population of the time, so many of our young men being absent at fronts or army camps at the time.

It's not so nowadays, more of them are at home and today's prejudice is against a different type of minority... the reaction against Zionism had been a slow movement due to the limited speed of propaganda in those days. What's spread across Europe (the prejudice against another group) in just the past five years is majorly scarey and depressing. What's also scarey is the greater willingness among girls to be thuggish.

[????]

er, exactly what 'fronts' were our men absent at in the 1930s Hill Dweller?

[Hill Dweller]

Given that Mosley wasn't interned until 1940, by which time conscription had started, what's your point ?????

Cable St happened in '36, do you suppose he laid low after it?

[????]

My point is. Given that the membership of the BUF peaked way before Cable Street in 1936, was never that high and all these events were before conscription and way before any 'fronts' your theseis that the lack of success for Mosley was largely down to young men being in boot camps or at fronts is a load of old tosh.

Actually, ir strikes me that the real reasons is more likely to be that Brits, with our very many faults and inherent conservatism (with a small C) aren't very keen on extremism...

[Hill Dweller]

Weren't.

I guess you've not seen many forums where xenophobia against today's targets is being whipped up nor, probably, become concerned about Alan Lake.

Edit: FYoOI http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/features/Businessman-bankrolls-street-army.php

Perhaps you'll explain why Mosley was eventually interned?

[????]

Before I answer your new questions.....So your original thesis was or wasn't crap? Doesn't really stand up to the facts does it.

Plenty of crap and mad opinions on the t'internet today....this Forum being a prime example at the mo.

Just how many votes did the bnp get in the election btw?

[Hill Dweller]

As you're so vocal perhaps you'll explain why you think my original 'thesis' was crap?

You know the one, about our male youth of the time being occupied elsewhere. Re-read it, C&P it, break it down and explain.

You can do that can't you? Bearing in mind the black shirts leader was active till 1940.

I am in a convo, I have expressed an opinion, it is one informed by what I have read and seen at home and abroad.

You take exception to it.

Explain why .... could it be no more than being a bored old timer?