I Dies From Love (1972) from the early years of the UK Television classic show Upstairs, Downstairs, is the most emotionally moving and profound episode in the entire series.
Emily the scullery maid in the Bellamy family's household is a poor Irish Catholic girl who can't seem to get all her servant's work done properly and she therefore becomes the target of the impatient Mrs. Bridges' verbal tongue lashings. Emily has a habit of staring out her window and daydreaming while the rich peoples' carriages roll by.
She falls in love with a rich woman's groom and he is drawn to her sweetness and beauty, but after they are discovered (servants were not permitted to marry in those days) the groom is told to stop seeing Emily and cowardly obliges his employer, after telling Emily that he loves her. Emily's poor heart cannot stand the rejection and on the day of the servants' picnic she commits suicide by hanging and is discovered by Rose, played by Jean Marsh.
The beautiful folk song The Butcher Boy is sung by the actress off camera during pivotal scenes, adding to the poignancy of this episode. The actress who played Emily was Evie Crowly, who did a superb job.
No other episode comes close to showing the utter despair of the servants' classes.
"Oh make my grave large, wide and deep, Put a marble stone at my head and feet. And in the middle a turtle dove, So the world may know I died from love."
Emily the scullery maid in the Bellamy family's household is a poor Irish Catholic girl who can't seem to get all her servant's work done properly and she therefore becomes the target of the impatient Mrs. Bridges' verbal tongue lashings. Emily has a habit of staring out her window and daydreaming while the rich peoples' carriages roll by.
She falls in love with a rich woman's groom and he is drawn to her sweetness and beauty, but after they are discovered (servants were not permitted to marry in those days) the groom is told to stop seeing Emily and cowardly obliges his employer, after telling Emily that he loves her. Emily's poor heart cannot stand the rejection and on the day of the servants' picnic she commits suicide by hanging and is discovered by Rose, played by Jean Marsh.
The beautiful folk song The Butcher Boy is sung by the actress off camera during pivotal scenes, adding to the poignancy of this episode. The actress who played Emily was Evie Crowly, who did a superb job.
No other episode comes close to showing the utter despair of the servants' classes.
"Oh make my grave large, wide and deep, Put a marble stone at my head and feet. And in the middle a turtle dove, So the world may know I died from love."
