It's a shame these series haven't been restored - we are constantly plagued by various background noises which at their best sound like a dishwasher, at their worst an electric saw and a hoover.
Freddy Shaughnessy was much inspired by Noel Coward's play 'Cavalcade', which includes a couple on deck on a ship. Only at the end of the scene and they move off did you see the ship's name - RMS Titanic. Rachel Gurney had had enough and requested she be written out, as did Nicola Pagett, whilst Pauline and John felt their characters had gone as far as they needed to.
It struck me that everyone's stuck in their own particular class, except Sarah and Thomas, who break off and become entrepreneurs, and don't feel there's anything wrong in visiting their ex-employers to wish Lady Marjorie a happy birthday.
If you are lucky enough to find a house in Eaton Place that hasn't been divided up into flats, it will cost you £20 million. They didn't have gardens but did have mews houses for rear access.
In this series, James marries the secretary Meg Wynn Owen, who sounded like a bit of an awkward customer. Her defining moment is the great scene where she calms the hysterical Roberts and gains the staff's respect. Hudson's loyalty is tested when he attends a shooting party and is offered a much better job. Richard Vernon from this is familiar to us from something, lots of TV and films.
Two episodes really don't work. One brings Alfred back, and he's a runaway murderer who Rose takes under her wing. The other is just weird, as a new maid develops a fixation for Richard and starts stealing things. Then things settle down somewhat, though James and Violet's marriage begins to disintegrate, not helped by the arrival of Leslie Anne Down. Plus Jacqueline Tong is a new arrival as the under house parlor maid. There are some fantastic arguments, e.g. when Violet helps to cook dinner, and an especially heated one between Hudson and Rose. Then war is declared...
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