Any episode of 'Upstairs, Downstairs' featuring Pauline Collins as 'Sarah' has to be entertaining, and this is one of the very best! Sarah is found starving in a Soup Kitchen run by Elizabeth Bellamy. Elizabeth does not recognise Sarah, due to the fact she was away at school in Germany when Sarah was previously employed by her family. James however, does recognises her. Consequently, Elizabeth brings her back to Eaton Place and re-employs her whilst her parents are away. One problem; there's only one vacancy, and that's for 'Scullery Maid'! Sarah is given the job. Apart from the fact she believes she is 'above' the position, the rather 'snooty' Alice - who having taken her place, is somewhat jealous, and so some very entertaining and quarrelsome scenes ensue - including an amusing 'cat-fight' in their attic! This type of episode was pretty unique to the very first series, and these kinds of stories did not feature often in subsequent seasons.
Sarah, as usual, causes quite a stir - both 'upstairs' and 'down' once more! She attempts to hold a seance and to conjure up the voice of dead Emily who hanged herself some months before. She conveniently schemes to push Alice out of her old job as parlour maid, and out of the house, so that she can be reinstated sharing the attic bedroom with Rose once again! She succeeds with aplomb! Not to be missed! NOTE: Though most die-hard fans believe that the mix up regarding the dates the series and episodes were set in started in season two, in reality, it actually started further back than that, with a much earlier episode as this! Anyone who follows the series closely, will note some mistakes at around this time in the run. For example; it's supposed to be 'Autumn 1908' (according to the caption read on the opening titles) but apart from the fact that Hudson is off to Scotland to the family who are there for 'grouse shooting' (which is worth noting, can be as early as August anyway) which could 'loosely' back up this date, other factors in the episode do point to it being somewhat 'earlier'. It's still actually 1907 in my opinion, since Mrs. Bridges' behaviour (and Hudson's towards her after her upset of the 'stolen baby' incident) is still pretty raw. Considering that had happened in November of 1907, and given the subject matter in this episode, it's hardly conceivable that this would have been almost a year on...
Sarah, as usual, causes quite a stir - both 'upstairs' and 'down' once more! She attempts to hold a seance and to conjure up the voice of dead Emily who hanged herself some months before. She conveniently schemes to push Alice out of her old job as parlour maid, and out of the house, so that she can be reinstated sharing the attic bedroom with Rose once again! She succeeds with aplomb! Not to be missed! NOTE: Though most die-hard fans believe that the mix up regarding the dates the series and episodes were set in started in season two, in reality, it actually started further back than that, with a much earlier episode as this! Anyone who follows the series closely, will note some mistakes at around this time in the run. For example; it's supposed to be 'Autumn 1908' (according to the caption read on the opening titles) but apart from the fact that Hudson is off to Scotland to the family who are there for 'grouse shooting' (which is worth noting, can be as early as August anyway) which could 'loosely' back up this date, other factors in the episode do point to it being somewhat 'earlier'. It's still actually 1907 in my opinion, since Mrs. Bridges' behaviour (and Hudson's towards her after her upset of the 'stolen baby' incident) is still pretty raw. Considering that had happened in November of 1907, and given the subject matter in this episode, it's hardly conceivable that this would have been almost a year on...
