“THIS is London…”
A BBC Radio announcer and the chimes of Big Ben herald the return of Upstairs Downstairs.
Its first full BBC1 series following the three episodes screened at Christmas 2010.
Keeley Hawes (Lady Agnes Holland) and Ed Stoppard (Sir Hallam Holland) again lead the line upstairs at 165 Eaton Place.
With Alex Kingston arriving in episode one as Dr Blanche Mottershead, the younger sister of Lady Holland.
JUST under 36 hours to go now until the second series of Downton Abbey begins on ITV1.
As promised, below is my latest feature – published today in the MEN.
SHE’S told the story before.
But it’s one worth repeating in the wake of ITV’s decision to move out of its historic Manchester HQ in Quay Street.
“When I went to Granada in the 1960s it was like a cottage industry,” recalls Anne Reid.
“One night it was foggy and before the Law Courts were built there was a wonderful pub called the New Theatre Inn, where we all used to go as a Granada watering hole.
“And we got stuck, some of us.
“We actually climbed over the back wall of Granada and went and opened the dressing rooms and slept in there all night.
“You couldn’t do that today. You’d set off every alarm in the world.
“Different days.”
That was one tale I didn’t have room to fit into my feature interview with Anne, which appeared in the Manchester Evening News last Saturday.
“AT first we thought that was a bit of a bore, quite frankly.
“As it happens, I think they’ve laid out the ground very nicely for us.”
Dame Eileen Atkins speaking at the British Film Institute in London last night about Downton Abbey.
Taking part in a panel Q&A following a screening of the first episode of BBC1’s revival of Upstairs Downstairs.
Life of Wylie 