death of Jean Marsh
From
Adam H. Kerman@21:1/5 to
All on Sun Apr 13 21:47:38 2025
Jean Marsh was 90, died at home of complications of dementia. She
co-created and starred in Upstairs, Downstairs.
Upstairs, Downstairs was the well-beloved television series, 68 episodes
over five seasons 1971-1975, produced by London Weekend Television. I
don't pretend to understand British broadcast tv of the era, but ITV was
a holding company of some (all?) non-BBC licenses and had both regional
and national networks. In the regional network around London, Thames
Television programmed weekdays and LWT weekends.
Notoriously, the first series was "in the can" (shot on that low quality
video system used in the UK at the time) for a year before broadcast,
and then was used to fill an open timeslot without publicity.
Miraculously, audiences found it.
We got it in the United States close to three years after it first aired
in the UK. It was popular programming on WGBH Masterpiece Theatre, still
hosted by Alistair Cooke in that wing chair.
Actresses Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins developed the concept over
several years. The characters who eventually became Rose and Sarah, the
maids, were intended to be played by the two of them. It was intended to
be comedy but then the Bellamy family was added and it became drama. By
the time it went into production, Atkins was performing on stage and
wasn't available; Sarah was recast.
The series was set in a "small" house at 165 Eaton Place, in fashionable Belgravia. The family had a long-term land lease; noble families tend to
own the most valuable land in London. It was never clear to me if they
owned or leased the house itself.
I actually thought the show improved with certain cast changes. Daughter Elizabeth (Nicola Pagett) was featured in 13 episodes in the first two
seasons; too many of her stories were over-the-top absurd.
Rose was the experienced upstairs made (plus other duties that required
a uniform change during the work day) who later became the nanny as the upstairs household changed.
I liked the show better than Downton Abbey. The latter always came off
as characters with modern sensibilities in a period setting. There was a
lot less of that on Upstairs, Downstairs.
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