I loved this series the first time around and last watched it a few years ago when I bought it on VHS. I have since replaced the VHS tapes with DVD but have not yet gotten around to watching once more. This morning I caught most of the episode when the King came to dinner and it has me hooked all over again. When one knows a series, it's stories and it's characters so well there are lots of other things which catch one's attention. The superlative script and acting are brilliant - no-one can deliver a line like Gordon Jackson could. Everyone involved was perfectly cast as far as I could see, there was note an actor who did not completely inhabit their part. it is a lesson on how to make television - even though it was almost entirely studio-bound the viewer still got a feeling for the outside world and the events taking place there. The remake of this series had much higher production values but the casting was not always right and there were PC values applied which jarred with the viewer and a need to inject 21st century values to an Edwardian drama so it was not successful. If only the quality writing and acting could be applied to today's TV drama series then there would be success achieved that the original UD attained. TV studio bean counters take note. There is no substitute for quality.
Review of Upstairs, Downstairs
