Television News

29th March 1996

UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS REVISITED...

LWT have confirmed their plans to repeat the first season of their classic TV series, Upstairs Downstairs, to celebrate its 25th Anniversary in 1996. Originally conceived as part of Sunday Night Theatre, due to an ITV strike in 1971 three episodes were only made in monochrome and have not been repeated until this upcoming run. LWT's original plans had involved a run of selected episodes across the four seasons, but schedulers were persuaded that if the first season proved popular, then further seasons could be tagged on at some future point. Unfortunately, LWT only have plans to repeat the series in its own London weekend franchise area. This is due to the comparative cost of a network screening which would cost £70, 000, whereas a local screening costs just £4, 000.

To begin the repeat run, Richard Marson - freelance producer/director - has been commissioned to produce a documentary, entitled Upstairs Downstairs Revisited. A 25 minute and 50 minute version are being produced for television use, whilst a 90 minute edit will be released on video. The documentary includes interviews with the cast and crew, with archive footage taken from shows like Russell Harty Plus and the Rolf Harris Show. These latter items have highlighted interesting oddities such as Pauline Collins singing the theme tune as a pop song! Copyright problems have prevented access to John Alderton's This Is Your Life, though. The documentary is expected to air shortly before the LWT repeats and will be sold by LWT as an introduction to the whole series. Despite numerous searches, sadly, the original untransmitted pilot for the series - On Trial - could not be located and is believed wiped.

22 May 1996

LWT confirmed today that both the documentary and repeat run have been pulled forward in the schedules, with the former currently due to air in the LWT region only on 2nd June 1996.

CP

Kaleidoscope - The Classic Television Organisation

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