Upstairs, Downstairs

Watching it was just bliss, and those of you who experienced the first five seasons in real time will probably enjoy it even more.

There were moments during the first two episodes in which I wondered if the series was doddering along like a blindfolded Miss Marple. Have faith. Each episode swings in unexpected directions.

It's just a touch of the veddy, veddy humor that helps make everything so delightful before the world intrudes into Masterpiece Classic's revival of Upstairs Downstairs.

The new Upstairs gets off to a somewhat slow start in the first of three one-hour installments, but in its second and third episodes the dramatic engines rev as the political climate of the day begins to drive the story.

These three new episodes, which premiered in Britain last year, are engaging, tasteful and very well-made.

Upstairs Downstairs sticks to the rules established by the original and defies the odds by being as good, and in some ways, even better.

Set on the eve of the 1936 abdication crisis, it has melodramatic bustle and tender affection for its characters--of all classes. [18 Apr 2011, p.46]

The acting is brilliant...But mostly it's just pretty people struggling with personal problems (love, money) and doing old-fashioned things (ironing newspapers) while historical events (George V's death) unfold.

While the narrative never quite coheres into a compelling whole, there are enough independently arresting, unexpectedly moving moments to carry you through, hopping from one to the next like stones in a river, on the way to a strenuously tidy conclusion.

With only three hours to develop character and story, it can't help but suffer by comparison to the Emmy-winning '70s series that helped put Masterpiece Theater on the map, as well as to the recent Masterpiece triumph of the similarly themed Downton Abbey. But there are considerable pleasures.

After a slow start, the second and third chapters become pretty absorbing, showcasing a first-rate cast--including original series creators Eileen Atkins and Jean Marsh--and an interesting subplot regarding the growing Nazi threat in 1930s Britain.

With only three one-hour episodes, screenwriter Heidi Thomas needed more time to do full justice to the large cast of characters and the many historical and melodramatic story lines she set up.

This three-parter often lacks finesse and sophistication. The story is rushed or clumsily told, and the tone discordant....Watch for Atkins only. She's brilliant.

Fans will find much to enjoy here. At too many points, however, these first three episodes suggest that rekindling Upstairs Downstairs is not quite like riding a bicycle.

Over a mere three episodes for this season, it is difficult to know most of the characters. Some, like Sir Hallam, seem only half-drawn. Agnes's sister Lady Persie (Claire Foy)--a debutante who's become a fascist fangirl--is repellant in an uninteresting way. There are some plot touches, involving minorities, that clang as too modern. Then again, when the Duke of Kent cries over his brother Edward's abdication--"It's the sort of thing that happens in Romania"--memories of what was so entrancing about the original show come wafting back.

We're ostensibly supposed to see Eaton Place as a warm haven holding out against the cold wind of history, but a show built around the humanity of strangers would be more convincing if the characters displayed more humanness.