History Series / UpstairsDownstairs

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallis_Simpson Wallis Simpson]], [[YoungFutureFamousPeople John F. Kennedy]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Chamberlain Neville Chamberlain]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Eden Anthony Eden]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Beaton Cecil Beaton]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_Mosley Oswald Mosley]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_von_Ribbentrop Joachim von Ribbentrop]] all appear onscreen at various points. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_George,_Duke_of_Kent Prince George, Duke of Kent]] is one of Hallam's close friends, and is a supporting character (the actor is credited in the TitleSequence).

* DrivenToSuicide/EveryoneHasStandards: [[spoiler:Persie, after watching everything she'd done wrong come back to haunt her, and then managing to (by accident for once) make things even ''worse'', quietly climbs over a railing. There's a very loud THUD and lots of blood.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Persie, after watching everything she'd done wrong come back to haunt her, and then managing to (by accident for once) make things even ''worse'', quietly climbs over a railing. There's a very loud THUD and lots of blood.]]

* LegacyOfService: Hudson, Rose and Mrs Bridges all came from the Southwold Estate and have served the Bellamy family for more than thirty years without appearing to age at all. Other servants come and go - Ruby and Edward being pretty long-standing - but these three are rather immortal and look like they will outlive even Sir Richard...

* OldRetainer: As you might expect.

* ConvenientMiscarriage: Twice; justified, as infant mortality was much higher in 1909 and 1914. Both Sarah's pregnancies were real pregnancies of the actress, Michelle Collins, with her husband, John Alderton, who himself played Thomas Watkins, who [[spoiler:was the father of the second baby]]. Although, the outcome of the second pregnancy is never known in the context of the show. It is known only by viewers of the spin-off ''Thomas and Sarah''. In real life, both pregnancies (and a third, after the show was over), went just fine.

''Upstairs Downstairs'' is a British (LWT for Creator/{{ITV}}) period drama that ran from 1971 to 1975 (with a {{Revival}} in 2010; see below). It details the lives of the well-to-do Bellamy family of 165 Eaton Place and their staff of servants between the years of 1903 to 1930. Created by Jean Marsh (Rose Buck) and Eileen Atkins, who were tired of period dramas where the servants were voiceless extras.

''Upstairs Downstairs'' is a British (LWT for {{ITV}}) period drama that ran from 1971 to 1975 (with a {{Revival}} in 2010; see below). It details the lives of the well-to-do Bellamy family of 165 Eaton Place and their staff of servants between the years of 1903 to 1930. Created by Jean Marsh (Rose Buck) and Eileen Atkins, who were tired of period dramas where the servants were voiceless extras.

* BusCrash: Done with a ship, namely the ''Titanic''.

''Upstairs Downstairs'' is a British (LWT for {{ITV}}) period drama that ran from 1971 to 1975 (with a {{Revival}} in 2010; see below). It details the lives of the well-to-do Bellamy family of 165 Eaton Place and their staff of servants from the years of 1903 to 1930. Created by Jean Marsh (Rose Buck) and Eileen Atkins, who were tired of period dramas where the servants were voiceless extras.

* ConvenientMiscarriage: Twice; justified, as infant mortality was much higher in 1909 and 1914. Neither case was coverup for a pregnant actress.
** If you mean Sarah, played by Pauline Collins, yes, she was. Both her character's pregnancies were real pregnancies of the actress, both by her husband, John Alderton, who himself played the character, Thomas Watkins, who [[spoiler:was the father of the second baby]]. Although, the outcome of the second pregnancy is never known in the context of the show. It is known only by viewers of the spin-off ''Thomas and Sarah.'' In real life, both pregnancies (and a third, after the show was over), went just fine.

* TheBechdelTest: Actually passes with flying colours. Although the young ladies are featured romantically, and Sarah has a string of lovers and at one point goes on the stage as a prelude to a fling with James, the series is very broad in dealing with inter-woman dialogue that does not depend on relationships with men. Rose and Sarah in particular have a very close sisterly relationship in the early series, constantly discussing the world as seen through a young woman's eyes. Similarly, the relationship between Rose and Elizabeth, as maid and mistress, has much more of a dimension to it than just being a way for Elizabeth to complain about her various gentleman friends. The episode about the Suffragette movement convincingly focuses on women's issues. Flapper Dolly Hale and Georgina Worsley in the 1920s episodes, however, tend to drag the series back towards relationship talk again.

* [[BusCrash Ship Crash]]: The ship in question being the ''Titanic''.

* [[FiveFiveFive 555]]: The Bellamys' address, 165 Eaton Place, doesn't exist. The house at 65 Eaton was used for the exteriors; a "1" was painted next to the number.

* UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor: Edward VII, George V

* ShellShockedSenior: Edward, James, and Mrs. Roberts (from her Titanic experience).

* WorldWarOne: Great examples of life on the Home Front; as well as the viewpoints of an officer (James), soldiers (Edward, Gregory Wilmot), an RFC pilot (Jack Dyson), and a nurse (Georgina) in France.

* [[spoiler: TheMole: Persie.]]

* DawsonCasting: Justified, as there are frequent [[TimeSkip Time Skips]]. It's actually a peculiar sort of DawsonCasting, because the original series spans thirty years of historical time, but only four years of real time, so the mainstays of the series never seem to age even though thirty years changes a human being radically, particularly those of Lord Bellamy's, Mrs Bridges' and Hudson's ages. If Rose was twenty as the series begun, she would be fifty at the end, for example. But Jean Marsh herself only ages four years... This is actually quite useful, as, even if they did not know it, it provides a good continuity as to why Rose looks a lot older in the 2010 continuation of the series. If she is actually fifty at the end of the series, then she'd be 56 at the beginning of the 2010 series, so, it all worked out in the end.

* PlayingAgainstType: Angela Baddeley (Mrs. Bridges, the cook) had been previously typecast as a BlueBlood, probably because she was BlueBlood in RealLife. She wasn't the only one, either.

* ChannelHop: The original series was with rival channel LWT/{{ITV}}, but the revival is on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC One]], and now competing with ITV's newer period drama ''DowntonAbbey''.

* DuelingShows: With ITV's ''DowntonAbbey'', with the added irony of ''Upstairs Downstairs'' originally being an ITV show.

* TheHouseOfWindsor: Edward VII, George V

''Upstairs Downstairs'' was resurrected in 2010, with the show now airing on TheBBC. The revival series is set in the year 1936, and features the character of Rose Buck as the link towards the original series.

* ChannelHop: The original series was with rival channel LWT/{{ITV}}, but the revival is on [[TheBBC BBC One]], and now competing with ITV's newer period drama ''DowntonAbbey''.

* ForegoneConclusion: When you realize the ship [[spoiler:Lady Marjorie Bellamy and Mrs. Roberts]] are taking on April 14, 1912 is the ''Titanic''.

* BusCrash: The bus in question being the ''Titanic''.

* BigBad: [[spoiler:Persie is the cause of most of the trouble on the show, directly or indirectly. She embarrasses Hallam by flirting publicly with Joachim von Ribbentrop in front of much of London society at a party. She encourages Harry Spargo's interest in fascism. She runs away to Germany, where she becomes the girlfriend of an SS officer and then starts a sordid affair with Hallam that ends up ruining Hallam and Agnes's marriage (she eventually rubs the affair in Agnes's face and implies that her abortion was because she was pregnant by Hallam instead of Friedrich during their fight in the series finale). The revelation of her relationship with Harry Spargo nearly causes Beryl to break up with him. She uses her relationship with Hallam to glean British government and military secrets, which she passes to the Nazis; the cloud of suspicion and scandal surrounding him force him to resign his position and nearly destroy his whole career. Her suicidal gesture with a gun after it's clear that neither Hallam, Friedrich, nor Harry will have anything to do with her any more leads to her accidentally shooting and nearly killing Beryl, thus preventing Beryl and Harry from emigrating to America as they hoped. Her suicide brings further scandal to the family and heartbreak to Agnes. She's cruel to Pamela (because of her disability) and to Blanche (because she's a lesbian). Her constant drama disrupts everyone's lives over and over.]]

* [[spoiler: AlasPoorVillain: Persie's death, and Agnes's reaction to it.]]
* [[spoiler: BigBad: Persie is the cause of most of the trouble on the show, directly or indirectly. She embarrasses Hallam by flirting publicly with Joachim von Ribbentrop in front of much of London society at a party. She encourages Harry Spargo's interest in fascism. She runs away to Germany, where she becomes the girlfriend of an SS officer and then starts a sordid affair with Hallam that ends up ruining Hallam and Agnes's marriage (she eventually rubs the affair in Agnes's face and implies that her abortion was because she was pregnant by Hallam instead of Friedrich during their fight in the series finale). The revelation of her relationship with Harry Spargo nearly causes Beryl to break up with him. She uses her relationship with Hallam to glean British government and military secrets, which she passes to the Nazis; the cloud of suspicion and scandal surrounding him force him to resign his position and nearly destroy his whole career. Her suicidal gesture with a gun after it's clear that neither Hallam, Friedrich, nor Harry will have anything to do with her any more leads to her accidentally shooting and nearly killing Beryl, thus preventing Beryl and Harry from emigrating to America as they hoped. Her suicide brings further scandal to the family and heartbreak to Agnes. She's cruel to Pamela (because of her disability) and to Blanche (because she's a lesbian). Her constant drama disrupts everyone's lives over and over.]]
* BlackShirt: Spargo in season one
* ChannelHop: The original series was with rival channel LWT/{{ITV}}, but the revival is on [[TheBBC BBC One]] and now competing with ITV's newer period drama ''DowntonAbbey''.

* NeverMyFault: In season 2, Hallam blames just about everyone but himself for his marital problems and Agnes drifting away from him. [[spoiler:This reaches its peak when ''he'' starts a fight with another man over the mistaken belief that said man was having an affair with Agnes (both of them truthfully told him they weren't) and then insists that it was ''Agness's'' fault, that she somehow orchestrated the scenario to have two men fight over her honor.]]

* UpperClassTwit: James Bellamy, and UpperClassWit in his better moments