Upstairs, Downstairs

:

Season 1
Season #: 2, 1
Metascore
74

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
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Critic Reviews

  1. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    Apr 8, 2011
    60
    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.
  2. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Nancy DeWolf Smith
    Apr 8, 2011
    60
    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.
  3. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Peter Swanson
    Apr 11, 2011
    50
    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.
  5. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Hank Stuever
    Apr 11, 2011
    50
    This new, more mild Upstairs Downstairs, which makes its American premiere on PBS on Sunday night, is a three-part epilogue that feels more like an unfinished afterthought.

Awards & Rankings

34
#34 Best TV Season of 2010
79
#79 Most Discussed TV Season of 2010
40
#40 Most Shared TV Season of 2010

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 19 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 19
  3. Negative: 1 out of 19
  1. CritiqueGirl
    Apr 10, 2011
    10
    I really enjoyed the show tonight and from what I have read the 2nd and 3rd will just get better. Apparently the Nazi Regime will be integralI really enjoyed the show tonight and from what I have read the 2nd and 3rd will just get better. Apparently the Nazi Regime will be integral to the story.… Full Review »
  2. jeremyp
    Apr 20, 2011
    7
    The house is the same, at Eton Place, and Rose is still there, this time asked to hire and run staff for a new household. It's 1936 so we knowThe house is the same, at Eton Place, and Rose is still there, this time asked to hire and run staff for a new household. It's 1936 so we know WW2 is lurking, which means Nazis and Jews will be featured. We do get a Sikh, a monkey, a fascist, and an aging colonialist in the stew. We get to dislike Keeley Hawes, which is possibly why she took on the role as Lady Agnes, a snooty counterpoint to her husband's more liberal bent.

    Somehow the place seems emptier and, despite the new interior, mustier. Perhaps it's the smell of imminent decay, the musk of change in the social order? Downton Abbey is much more fascinating.    … Full Review »
  3. chocolatekiss
    Oct 6, 2017
    10
    Everything felt like the original. The complicated individuals and their relationships with one another have been presented skillfully and atEverything felt like the original. The complicated individuals and their relationships with one another have been presented skillfully and at a good pace. I loved how upbeat the show is even though there are sad, bad and ugly issues making me upset, mad and disgusted. There is a lot of good in most of the characters with their flaws being brought out just a bit and those you just know you are not going to like but can't wait to see the wreck they make of their lives. It seems one already has made a mess of things and you feel bad that happens to someone who seemed so nice. Well done.… Full Review »
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