Friday, December 31, 2010

The Poor Young Widow of Peckham

Over Christmas the BBC revived the masters & servants costume drama Upstairs, Downstairs- a double dose of nostalgia for the pre-WW2 period in which it was set, and for the early 1970s when the original TV series was broadcast. I will spare you my critique of its depiction of class relations, and note that at least the new one featured fascists taking a drubbing at the Battle of Cable Street.

After the orginal series finished in 1975, two of its characters featured in a spin-off series called Thomas and Sarah, with the former chauffeur and maid pursuing each other over 13 episodes in 1979. Some of the action takes place locally and indeed there is an episode called The Poor Young Widow of Peckham. The series was released on DVD and is repeated sometimes on the outer reaches of satellite TV - anybody seen it or recall its South London content?

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