Masterpiece Classic Showdown

This season, PBS offered a variety of films on Masterpiece Classic. Tonight, the last installment of South Riding will be shown. Adapted by Andrew Davies (who also wrote the screenplays for Pride and Prejudice 1995, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Bridget Jones, Brideshead Revisited, and Little Dorrit), South Riding is about a spinster schoolteacher who returns to north England to work has a headmistress at a local girl's high school. The leads in this moody and brooding post World War I drama are Anna Maxwell Martin (Bleak House) and David Morrissey (Sense and Sensibility). Making another appearance in a Masterpiece Classic this season is Penelope Wilton, who also starred in Downton Abbey. After tonight, all three episodes will be available online until June 14th.

Penelope Wilton as Mrs. Beddows in South Riding

While Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs were the runaway hits so far, there were two other MP classics shown.This week's question is: Which of the films did you watch? All? None? Or just s few? Curious minds want to know.

165 Eaton Place (Leamington Spa) in Upstairs Downstairs

Logan (Matthew Macfadyen, Pride and Prejudice) and Freya (Haley Atwell, Mansfield Park) in Any Human Heart

Anna Maxwell Martin and David Morrissey in South Riding

Downton Abbey (Highclere Castle)

In 2011, I Watched the Following Masterpiece Classics
	Downton Abbey
	Any Human Heart
	Upstairs Downstairs
	South Riding
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PBS Movie Throwdown

PBS aired the first episode of Upstairs Downstairs tonight. This week's throwdown asks a simple question: How well does this series stack up against Downton Abbey? Curious minds want to know.

Servants in Upstairs Downstairs

Upstairs Downstairs vs Downton Abbey
	UpDown is better
	Downton is better
	I like them both
	No opinion
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Servants in Downton Abbey

The New Upstairs Downstairs on BBC One draws 7 million viewers

The BBC has just aired the most recent version of Upstairs Downstairs, the wildly popular 1970's series about the Bellamy family and their servants who lived and worked in an Edwardian London townhouse. The new series is a complete makeover, with only one original cast member returning (Jean Marsh) and the action occurring before World War II. The reviews I have read have so far have been tepid, although the first episode drew 7 million viewers, the same number that Dowton Abbey attracted in its first week (the audience grew to an astonishing 9 million, prompting ITV to order up a second season.)

2010 Upstairs Downstairs. The only original cast member is Jean March, whose Rose (on stairs)  has graduated to housekeeper

These numbers bode well for costume dramas in general. The series will be shown in Great Britain over six weeks, and in the United States on PBS starting in April. PBS Masterpiece Classic will air the first episode of Dowton Abbey on January 9th, and each Sunday in January afterward.

The original cast in the 1970s series included Angela Baddley as Mrs Bridges, the cook, Christopher Beeny as Edward, and Gordon Jackson as Hudson the Butler.

The reviews are in:

• The New Upstairs Downstairs is More Period Than Drama
• Upstairs Downstairs, BBC One
• Upstairs Downstairs Episode One Review
• Upstairs Downstairs is Back
• Upstairs Downstairs: A Triumphant Return to UK Television
• What Would Mrs. Bridges Think? Upstairs Downstairs is Back with Keeley Hawes.