PBS Masterpiece Classic 2011

[ginny]

 

 

Masterpiece Classic 2011 brings back favorite authors and introduces new authors and programs. See the complete 2011 MASTERPIECE CLASSIC schedule.

CONTEST NEWS!
MASTERPIECE sweepstakes gives fans a chance to go on location
.....................................................................................
What better way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of MASTERPIECE on PBS than by touring some of the stunning locations from the series? The MASTERPIECE 40th Anniversary Sweepstakes runs until Tuesday, April 26 and will send the grand prize winner and a guest on a four-day, three-night trip to the United Kingdom. The trip includes VIP tours of Highclere Castle (DOWNTON ABBEY), Greenway (home of Agatha Christie) and Blenheim Palace (THE LOST PRINCE), while enjoying accommodations with MacDonald Hotels & Resorts in the historic cities of Bath (PERSUASION) and Oxford (INSPECTOR LEWIS).  Learn more at http://www.pbs.org/masterpiecesweepstakes

NOW DISCUSSING

Upstairs Downstairs
April 10, 17 & 24, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Upstairs Downstairs is an updated version of one of the most-loved television series. Jean Marsh reprises her Emmy-winning role as Rose along with series co-creator Eileen Atkins (Cranford). Keeley Hawes, Ed Stoppard and Art Malik (The Jewel in the Crown) also star. Watch the episodes online after they air at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html

COMING

South Riding
May 1, 8 & 15, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Anna Maxwell Martin (Bleak House) and David Morrissey (Sense & Sensibility) lead the cast in Andrew Davies's (Bleak House, Little Dorrit) three-part adaptation of Winifred Holtby's moving love story.

ALREADY DISCUSSED

The 39 Steps
March 27, 2011 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Secret agent Richard Hannay battles German spies on the eve of World War I in a riveting and romantic new version of the thriller by John Buchan. Rupert-Penry Jones (Persuasion) stars as Hannay.  Learn more about this series at http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/39steps/39steps.html.  Read some of Buchan's works online at http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/b#a285


Any Human Heart
February 13, 20 & 27, 9pm
Three 90-minute episodes)
William Boyd adapts his acclaimed 2002 novel about a man making his often precarious way through the 20th century. Matthew Macfadyen, Gillian Anderson, Hayley Atwell, Kim Cattrall and Jim Broadbent star. Watch online through March 22 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html.


The Unseen Alistair Cooke
February 6, 9pm
One 60-minute episode
Told in his own voice and home movies, The Unseen Alistair Cooke shows America as the beloved Masterpiece Theatre host Alistair Cooke saw it — the raw material for a lifetime of journalism. (Repeat) Watch online through 2/13 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/cooke.html


Downton Abbey
January 9, 16, 23 & 30, 9pm
(Four 90-minute episodes)
A stately country house, a noble family and a succession crisis are the backdrop for this epic drama by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) starring Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern and others. Watch full episodes online through 2/22/11 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html


My Boy Jack
January 2, 9pm
One 120-minute episode)
Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) stars in a World War I drama about beloved storyteller Rudyard Kipling's only son, missing on the Western front in 1915. David Haig and Kim Cattrall co-star as the famous author and his American wife, Carrie. My Boy Jack offers an intimate portrait of a nation at war and one divided family. (Repeat)

Discussion Leaders:  JoanP and marcie

[ginny]

OH look look!!

I was just entering the contest again, I keep forgetting to enter, and saw the new schedule for the year!

They have done a new Upstairs Downstairs, and I didn't think I wanted to see it, thinking it would be like the 2nd Brideshead? Boy was I wrong, LOOK!



It's Rose! From the original series, if you saw it? And she was one of the original writers, as her mother had been in service, so it CAN'T be bad!! I am so excited!

April 10, 17 & 24, 2011 at 9pm
Upstairs Downstairs
(Three 60-minute episodes)


Upstairs Downstairs is an updated version of one of the most-loved television series. Jean Marsh reprises her Emmy-winning role as Rose along with series co-creator Eileen Atkins (Cranford). Keeley Hawes, Ed Stoppard and Art Malik (The Jewel in the Crown) also star.

And this one is only 3 hour long episodes. Oh boy oh boy.  OH BOY!! What do they mean "updated?" Are they going to do a coda to the original?

I need a DVR, we don't have one. It would be worth it to not lose these.

Oh wow. I loved that thing, all million episodes of it and can't wait to see these three!

[rosemarykaye]

Ginny - it was on TV here and I did not manage to see it - I  knew Jean Marsh was in it but had no idea that Art Malik was too - that would have dragged me away from whatever I was doing.  Bother, bother  , I hope it's repeated.

Rosemary 

[Babi]

 I would dearly love to go on such a trip.  But it would be so supremely frustrating to win and
then at the last minute not be able to go.  The whimsies of an aging body can be so annoying!

[marcie]

I found some more information about the new Upstairs Downstairs.

"In the new series, set against the drama of the 1936 abdication crisis, the house has been inherited by the wealthy Sir Hallam Holland, a young and well-connected diplomat, ­following the unexpected death of his Baronet father.

Holland, who is played by 35-year-old Ed Stoppard, the son of playwright Sir Tom, takes up residence with his wife and his imposing mother Lady Maud, a free-thinking intellectual played by Dame Eileen who keeps a pet monkey called Solomon.

Art Malik plays Lady Maud’s brooding private secretary Mr Amanjit, brought over from her ­previous residence in India and now struggling to find a place in a ­household where he is considered ­neither upstairs nor downstairs.

The new butler Pritchard, played by theatre actor Adrian Scarborough, is described as a complex character who is ‘a very different kettle of fish’ from the stern Hudson.

The younger servants include a spirited parlour maid called Ivy, played by 20-year-old Ellie Kendrick, best known for taking the title role in the BBC’s mini-series The Diary Of Anne Frank last year, and a ­footman called Johnny, played by 19-year-old ­Hollyoaks star Nico Mirallegro.

Meanwhile Rose commands the staff with the aid of the fastidious Mrs Thackery, played by veteran Dinnerladies star Anne Reid."

Read more and find current information about the first cast members at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1297362/Upstairs-Downstairs-new-cast.html

[Babi]

 Sounds great, MARCIE.  I'm really looking forward to this one. There is such a dearth of good
shows just now, with so many favorites off for the season.

[ginny]

Rosemary, you always get the great stuff  first!

Oh gee that looks wonderful, thank you Marcie, so they are picking it up at the Abdication, wow. Shades of The King's Speech! It should be fabulous. They are very smart not to remake it.

I read on through all the cast biographies, where they bring you up to date on the old cast. I am so sorry to hear that Gordon Jackson's death (the old Hudson on the original series) put an end to a planned sequel of Mrs. Bridges and Mr. Hudson!!  How I would have loved to have  seen that.

So many of the cast  are gone!!  Well they can still live in DVD.

I don't think there will ever be another Hudson, or that era,  either. Remains of the Day comes close.

[ginny]

This is going to be an exciting month. Lots of great TV coming up, starting tomorrow night.

Either Newsweek or Time did a several page article on the new Upstairs Downstairs, and mentioned how many things it influenced in its day,  but ET says that it's "pretty people doing nothing." Wasn't that what the others were? hhahaha Two of the original creators of U/D are in the film, Rose the parlor maid and the other writer playing a more elevated part. I forget who she plays, somebody Upstairs.

I think there's something to be said for subtlety but maybe that's old hat.

At any rate I'm looking forward to it and the Borgias and everything else this month. There is NOTHING on TV!

[ginny]

Doggone it, I thought Upstairs Downstairs was last night, it's next week. But if you're a fan of the old series, yesterday's NY Times ran  a huge article on it,  2 1/2 pages with lots of photos. If you are a fan of the old series (55 episodes, 4 seasons, 7 Emmy awards, shown in 70 countries),  and looking forward to the new, you want to read it.  Great photos and of the prior cast also. I love the fact that "Rose" at 76 is writing this  new one, and guess what?

They are already working on a sequel of 6 more programs. I see in the heading it says April 10, so I'll be there! I tried to watch the Borgias with Jeremy Irons last night,  but golly moses, it makes Rome look tame! hahahaa

With the two original writers, this should be a treat. Even if somebody never saw the old one (and a lot of people haven't) curiosity would make one want to see a program that Alistair Cooke declared when it was over (in 1977) that there should be a national day of mourning.

Here's the article:   Rose,  Fetch Her Ladyship a Sequel

[nlhome]

Oh, looking forward to it.
Last night I watched a show on AMC, The Killing, based on a Danish television series. There are several episodes. Interesting. But, it's spring, and how much TV I will watch on a Sunday evening.....

[marcie]

Don't forget to watch the new UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS tonight!

I'm also watching The Killing series "on demand" on my cable. The subject matter is disturbing. The actors and cinematography are excellent.

[MaryPage]

Looking forward to Upstairs/Downstairs on Masterpiece Classic on our local PBS channel tonight at nine.

Then over to AMC at ten to watch THE KILLING, set in Seattle.  I find it, as Marcie says, "disturbing."  It is the current culture of our teenagers that makes my stomach feel disagreeable.  Since this series of 13 hours is taken from a hit Danish series, I gather European teenagers are much the same.  Now mind, I remember well the rebellious feelings of MaryPage, girl adolescent,  but compare that lily pure ghost from my past who never used an illegal drug (and to date, never has) and who hadn't a clue what "sex" meant until she was 19 with today's teenage girl, and the size of separation is nothing short of astounding.

I do not get Showtime, but spend every Monday and Tuesday night at a daughter's home (am helping out in their office during the day) and they do get it.  So catch the repeat of Sunday night's THE BORGIAS episode on Monday night.  Find it Perfection, and expect I have read just about everything available on that time period.  Jeremy Irons is amazing.

[Babi]

 I saw the first two episodes of "The Killing", and I agree it is very well acted.  Linden's inability
to tear herself away from the investigation to join her fiance' for their new life together does
not speak well for that relationship.  I fear the man is in for a disappointment.
 The overriding damp and greyness of Seattle is well portrayed.  Personally, I'd be happy to
move to San Diego.

[ginny]

Well, what did you all   think of Upstairs Downstairs?

 OH, my, what a trip back in time.  How well that was done.  Truly, to me, what a joy. It didn't disappoint and  to ME it was much stronger acted and had much more depth than Downton. I don't agree with the critic who said pretty people doing nothing. Lots going on, to me.

I wonder if people who had never seen the original liked it also?

I loved the tribute to the old series. I felt the same way she looked when she saw the house again. Loved  "Hudson" on the key to the wine cellar, I was hoping for some archival film stuck in but no go.   I  just absolutely loved it and had to do it with one eye on another project, but if you watched it even for 5 minutes you got sucked in immediately. Love the twists and turns, the new butler is no Hudson, what a surprise at the famous "guest," NOT being the Duke of Windsor,  but Von Ribbentrop. I thought Mrs. Simpson was WAY too pretty, the original certainly wasn't.

 Wasn't sure about the left right Johnny bit, but I missed some of it.

I'd like to get the DVD of it (I will get the DVD of it) and the one of the Borgias because I can't watch that thing without one hand over my eyes, peeking about for Jeremy Irons, he's perfect in that part. I was interested also in Cardinal Sforza .since he had or somebody in his family had the Sforza Hours, an illuminated manuscript and a fantastic treasure:  the http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/sforza.html.

On this  site you can turn the pages electronically just as if you were in the British Library.

 I hear Irons has become quite horsey, he lives in an Irish Castle is it? There's a new interview out with him and you can tour his castle online. He rides a lot. He's still a great actor.

I keep trying to figure out in Upstairs Downstairs who the other and original  co writer is? I think it's the mother in law! Is it?

When Johnny spilled the stuff over Von Ribbentrop nobody apologized, he didn't apologize, that seemed odd to me. But again I only had one eye on it. I must see it again.

What did you think of it?

[marcie]

I loved the first episode of the new Upstairs Downstairs. Ginny, I caught many of the things that you did and had the same reactions. I, too, thought they might include a few seconds of from the old series as Rose reminisced, especially about Hudson.

I thought that Mrs. Simpson was too pretty and also wondered that Johnny didn't apologize for spilling the drinks. The "left-right foot" bit that Rose says when Johnny is going to meet his fate at the police station is from the beginning of the episode when Rose teaches Johnny how to do his duty and walk when serving the family and guests.

Yes, Eileen Atkins, the mother with the monkey, is one of the other original series creators. I really like her in this part. I find her role sympathetic, though idiosyncratic and strong. Not the typical grouchy caricature of the mother-in-law.

[FlaJean]

I wish I could say I enjoyed it but didn't watch past the first half hour and went back to a very good book I'm reading.  It's hard for me to believe that in 1936 anyone would have a monkey eating at the table.  The whole thing just didn't ring true to me.

[MaryPage]

She (Eileen Atkins playing the mother-in-law) had been "out in India" for decades, and I thought it did ring true.  Mind, I would have hated it myself, but it did fit in my picture of things.

I watched it and loved it.  Especially got a huge kick out of the next to last scene, where Eileen and Jean, who have owned Upstairs/Downstairs from the very beginning and own it still, sit and talk and Eileen cons Jean (Rose) into becoming Housekeeper.

Like Ginny, there were a number of references made, sometimes vocally, sometimes silently, where I expected old film clips to be inserted.  They were not.

[ginny]

Jean, I'm so sorry you didn't like it. I do understand a good book tho, I once left the Tuileries if you can believe that, to read a super book.

On the monkey, one thing about Jean Marsh (Rose) is her own mother was "in service," so you can bet whatever she portrays about life  then is accurate, she was the writer of the original series and this one.

On the monkey, apparently that was right on for Edwardian England:

http://adplus5.20m.com/photo5.html  This site has first hand memories and photos of Victorian and Edwardian England:



. Another memory is of an elderly lady who had a small pet monkey on a lead, she told us kids that she took the monkey for a walk everyday in the park; it makes a change from walking the dog.

Here's another one:



Mystic and spiritual master Meher Baba with his pet monkey named Lucky in India (circa 1940) The monkey had been given to him by Princess Norina Matchabelli.

I personally detest monkeys but there was such a rage about India at the time and people returning from India that I'm not surprised.


Marcie, but why did she need to teach him to walk in the first place or was it when carrying something but how else would you walk?

OH so it IS Eileen Atkins! She seems to be tremendously enjoying her stint! hahaha I read somewhere she was supposed to have been the young woman (can't remember her name) in the original but didn't get to at the last minute.

Yes, didn't you expect Hudson or Mrs. Bridges to appear in that old brown cracked film for a minute?

I loved the way she looked up at the house. And I loved the way they are starting from scratch, gutting the house and not trying to continue with the old film.

Have they said what happened to the  Bellamys? James? What was his wife's name?  I must get the DVD and watch it properly.

I liked the cook, very much. She's the perfect successor to Mrs. Bridges, not a parody of Angela Baddesly? (sp?)  The maid who is always crying is a bit of an annoyance.
 

[ginny]

Especially got a huge kick out of the next to last scene, where Eileen and Jean, who have owned Upstairs/Downstairs from the very beginning and own it still, sit and talk and Eileen cons Jean (Rose) into becoming Housekeeper.

Oh YES! That was priceless, you're absolutely right.

[Babi]

 I did not see the original Upstainrs-Downstairs, but I am enjoying this one.  Your guess about
training Johnny was correct, GINNY.  He was carrying a tray upstairs and Rose was coaching him.
I am finding all the esoteric aspects of a 'properly trained' servant fascinating.  Remember when
Rose had the candidates for the maid's position bend over and touch their toes?  I never would have imagined something like that, but it makes sense.  It's not a job for someone with back problems.

[nlhome]

I loved the original Upstairs Downstairs episodes, watched them faithfully. I enjoyed this new show, although it was over too soon. I need to watch it again, because I had an important phone call in the middle.

[marcie]

Babi, yes the touching of the toes was not something I would have expected. The program has so many interesting details!

[JoanK]

I too missed the original series, but this made me want to go out and rent it.

[marcie]

 Tensions — international, domestic, and romantic — intensify when Upstairs Downstairs continues this Sunday, April 17. You can watch episode 1 online now, and catch episode two online starting Monday, April 18.

There is a video interview with Eileen Atkins & Jean Marsh at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/bts_atkins_marsh.html. The co-creators of the original Upstairs Downstairs series reflect on the emotions and surprises of returning to 165 Eaton Place.

We have a bit of a controversy in our discussion about the monkey :-). There are some short clips about the monkey's role at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/monkey.html#. LOL, the Rhesus Macaque, Rosie, actually has an understudy/stunt monkey, Poppy.

[MaryPage]

Oh, thank you, thank you, Marcie!  I loved those videos and watched every single one, including all those done by Keeley Hawes and Ed Stoppard.

Two things struck me:  in the one where Jean is describing the dirty Belgians and getting them to take a bath, she says something like:  "and the writers let me do it, which was nice of them."  The writers?  I guess she hired writers.  I had always thought she, with input from Eileen, did it all.  As for them being nice and "letting her do it," hey Babe:  Don't you own the show?

The other thing was she seems to be saying the interior set is all in Wales and they are filming there.  I forget which segment this was in, but it was definitely there.  Anyone else catch that?

[marcie]

MaryPage, yes, Jean Marsh mentions that they are filming in Cardiff, Wales in the video clip about Returning to 165 Eaton Place, when she talks about seeing the kitchen again for the first time.

[rosemarykaye]

Here is a BBC interview with lovely, lovely Art Malik, about his role in the new Upstairs Downstairs:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/11_november/22/upstairs_downstairs10.shtml

Rosemary

[BarbStAubrey]

Thank YOU Rosemary - what a wonderful interview - the beard is far more than I would have ever known.

[MaryPage]

That was Super!

[salan]

loved the first episode & am eagerly looking forward to the second one tonight.  I dvr the episodes to rewatch later so that I can pick up the things I missed the first time around.

Sally

[marcie]

Thanks you for that interesting interview, Rosemary. I am amazed that as an actor he wants to roll the beard and wrap the turban "by hand" each day.. that it makes a difference to him/his acting.

Salan, I too am looking forward to tonights episode.

[ginny]

Oh man, I love these links and interviews and wasn't last night absolutely super?

Is it just me? I'm sitting there totally engrossed when here comes the music and the Masterpiece banner and I shake myself out of the reverie I'm in and say  to myself, oh they must have an intermission,  and I look  at my watch and it's 10 till 10~!~  haaa


This is another great one, I think. I do think that perhaps a friction has emerged between the master of the house and his wife over the child's future. I wonder how likely it would be to take an evacuee in, in one of the great houses of the day. I know if it's in here it must have happened somewhere, I'll read all the articles and see if it's covered.

He is looking at her with different eyes, I think.

His mother's not helping. She's awfully critical of his wife, I think, or do you?

I hated to see the new maid die, I must say I was, given her background, somewhat surprised to see her writing on a broken store front window. I  am not sure that would be in character, would it? Considering what happened where she came from.  The Fascism  element was quite interesting.  I don't think the mention of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor as they were courting is by mistake either in connection as they were famously known to lean towards Hitler for whatever reasons. Kind of reminds me, this bit, of Remains of the Day.

I am somewhat confused over who the man is shown with the master of the house,  a good bit, appears  to be  somebody in the government? I am foggy on that one, keep getting interrupted when trying to watch it. I need a DVR (but must confess I have bought the DVDs of the series, I've got the old one so I figured why not?) Love it.

I'm growing to like the butler, that was beautiful below stairs about the Art Malik character,  but OH the footage shown so briefly of Hudson and Mrs. Bridges.

Just a super show!

[Babi]

 I hadn't thought of it, GINNY, but scrawling on glass doors would not be something our refugee
would ordinarily do.  But I think those circumstances, being in a country where she could act the
opposite of the role of victim,  may have been quite liberating. 
  When she saw Persie in that shop, you could see on her face the gradual realization of all it
signified.  I think it was that stress that brought on her fatal attack of asthma.

 Mother Maud has very much usurped the wife's role as mistress of the house.  She is, of course,
vastly more experienced in being a political wife, but she's had her turn.  The master of the house
really should have intervened on his wife's behalf...but Mother's help is so convenient, isn't it?

  I don't remember any footage about the previous show.  When was that?  Can you describe it
for me?

[marcie]

I too enjoyed the episode. I think that the refugee maid feels it is her duty to combat anyone who supports the Fascists, hence her writing on the shop. When she saw Persie, she may have thought that the whole family "upstairs" supported Fascism.

I'm not sure I got the point when it turns out that the chauffeur called the police on Persie after she took the car. Was he really, as he told Sir Holland, trying to make a bad situation better, or was he trying to protect himself?

Sir Holland rose in my estimation when he stood up for the refugee's daughter and insisted that she be kept in the house. His wife, Agnes, fell in my estimation when she was willing to send her back to Germany. Agnes and Persie both seem quite oblivious to the world and centered on themselves.

[MaryPage]

I most particularly enjoyed last night's episode of Upstairs Downstairs as it included so much about the Sir Oswald Mosley period of English history.  He was an aristocrat and related to the royal family.  His second wife was the Hon. Diana Mitford, the most beautiful of the six famous Mitford sisters.  The Mosleys really were fascists, but of course were pro-England when the war broke out.  Still, they were imprisoned for, as I recall, at least 3 years of the war period.

Oh, how I have devoured books about that period.  I can remember so much of it!

I believe the boss was the later Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden.  Didn't they say earlier he was working for him?  Or is he/was he in the Foreign Office then?  Yes, I believe he was Foreign Secretary in 1936.

In all fairness, the young husband being in government would have known about the Jews being killed in Nazi Germany.  The wife would not have been so aware, as I believe it was not in the newspapers or on the news.  The vast majority of the public did not learn of this until the end of the war, when the reporters actually got to the death camps with the Allied soldiers.

Also, the government knew about Mrs. Simpson in Great Britain, but the public did not.  WE knew here in this country, but the British press kept it quiet.

[BarbStAubrey]

I'm seeing some mixing of events from WWII in today's movies - It was like in the King's Speech they included air raid shelters in use before the first bombs were ever sent to Britain.. But to this Masterpiece Theater production - the Black Shirts were an outcropping from Mussolini not Hitler - I had to look it up to be sure I was not dreaming - and sure enough Oswald Mosley, who was instrumental in the start up of the Black Shirts in Britain was an admirer of Mussolini. -

As to sending a child back to Germany or not - remember, no one knew really what was going on - from what I understand the camps were not really known even by outside governments - in the 30s Germany had successfully made some films that showed camps that were not the horrors we learned about later - we knew some about Kristallnacht but not the horrors of the camps.

No we were not in government and yes, I am remembering the 30s when my family still spoke German after several generations here in America. My grandmother still received her annual letter from some cousins and Hitler wrote to my grandmother - probably his office - inviting her back with the promise of land that was part of a substantial estate. She had no use for the man and was very upset when she stopped in after an afternoon of dancing and Bunco at the German club where they all saluted with a Hail Hitler - However, her dislike for Hitler had nothing to do with camps -

We, or family in Germany did not know what the camps were - they knew not to say things publicly or you were taken away - and they knew Jewish families were taken but unless you lived near a ghetto you had no clue. We forget communication was not what it was like after WWII and Hitler had Germany locked down by controlling the newspapers early during his reign. In fact we knew so little about the camps that is what added to the shock when our soldiers came upon the first camps.

And so, I think it is easy to get the impression the writer is going for, by inferring a lack of compassion for what we know existed where as, I think Lady Agnes would have been concerned that the child was brought up surrounded by people who spoke her language and had a kinship with the child and I think Lady Agnes saw herself as head of the house therefore her opinion should hold sway -  

It appears the author is trying to set up the dichotomy that existed during that time in history by the best of people - there was a lot of good things said by the leaders of the various movements including the Communists who were big at the time - as big and a rivalry to the Black Shirts - even Hitler had a lot of good things to say and did things for the people - after all it was Hitler we have to be thankful to for the Volkswagen beetle. And so, why that tussle showing Sir Hallam Holland holding the high ground because of what we, the audience knows we will have to see as the story continues. The 30s was a confusing time that the show points out but then they do exploit mis-information to get a story told.

[BarbStAubrey]

Whooops MaryPage just saw your post -  looks like your memory and mine are not the same about what happened during the 30s - what can I say  - maybe that is what the author is hoping - that there is confusion among the viewers as well.

[rosemarykaye]

I have just read back and noticed the comments about the monkey.

When I was at school in the 1970s, our - ancient - French text book was about a family in which the son was called Toto, the father, M Lepin, brilliantined his hair, - and there was a pet monkey.  I distinctly remember something about "le singe grimpe la parapluie" - the monkey climbed up the parasol (I think...).  The book had been written in the 1930s.

To us - suburban London schoolgirls in 1970 - this seemed totally bizarre, but so many things in our text books were odd that we didn't question it (too scared anyway), any more than we questioned the Latin book that told us that "Pseudolus ate his porridge".  My children's French books now talk about teenage life in 21st century France, which I suppose is more topical, but really much less fun than that strange family with their uniformed maid, etc.

Rosemary

[MaryPage]

I thought just the opposite, Barbara:  i.e., that we WERE remembering the same things!

[Aberlaine]

I haven't yet watched the second episode, but I was a bit disappointed by the first.  Their characters weren't defined enough to be different from each other.  In Downton Abbey each character was distinct.  I knew almost immediately who the three sisters were.

I was also disappointed that the housemaid was hired.  She's very immature.  And the footman ends up with a past and dragged off by the police.  I guess I don't remember the interactions of the "Downstairs" characters in the original show.  I'm not sure I'd want these young people in service to me.  And the butler just can't compare to Mr. Hudson.

I'll watch the second episode and be back.