User Reviews

The groundbreaking Upstairs, Downstairs looked at the lives of the wealthy Bellamy family who lived upstairs at 165 Eaton Place in Belgravia.

Downstairs lived the servants led by stern, conservative but compassionate butler, Mr Hudson (Gordon Jackson.)

The first episode is set in 1903. The house is seen from the point of view of new maid Sarah (Pauline Collins) who claims to be part French.

She is taken under the wing of maid Rose (Jean Marsh.) Sarah also claims to have gypsy blood, able to read tea leaves and sew. You can sense how cold it is when the maids wake up early in the morning.

When Sarah catches cook Mrs Bridges (Angela Baddeley) making some money on the side by selling produce from the larder. Sarah decides to do the same by stealing a fowl.

Sarah soon comes a cropper and tells the truth about embellishing her life story.

The first episode has the set up. It mainly concentrates on the servants. The series really looks at events from the angle of the servants. The changing face of early 20th Century Britain.

The standout characters in the opener are Rose, Sarah, Mr Hudson and Mrs Bridges.

Pauline Collins is like a whirlwind as Sarah.

Pauline Collins makes her debut here in the very first episode from the classic award-winning TV series 'Upstairs, Downstairs' in her role as under-house maid 'Sarah'.

Attempting to enter service with the name 'Clemence Dumar' - the more down-to-earth name 'Sarah' is forced upon her by Lady Marjorie as she agrees to take her 'On Trial'. Naturally, Sarah causes quite a stir below stairs, but it won't be the last time - or long, before she's to cause much bigger stirs 'Upstairs'! These are to unfold in the first couple of seasons of this fabulous series.

Pauline Collins was called back to the series after having left by pubic demand. She was asked to return yet again a third time after she and her husband John Alderton had both left the series after the second run, but refused due to commitments concerning their own new series that was to follow: 'No Honestly' which would be a huge success for them a couple of years later.

This opening episode may confuse some viewers as there are actually two versions - both the same, except for the final scene. Due to the infamous Strike of the early seventies which led to many TV shows being filmed in black and white; the next few episodes in the series were never done in colour, and as they were never shown again for years, a 'colourised' version with a different ending to match up the rest of the colour set after the gap, was made, and the black and white episodes 'ditched' for many years.