"The Nine Days Wonder" is the ninth episode of the fifth and final series of the
period drama
A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...
''
Upstairs, Downstairs''. It first aired on 2 November 1975 on
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
.
Background
"The Nine Days Wonder" was recorded in the studio on 1 and 2 May 1975. The location footage was filmed on 22 April in Eaton Place in
Belgravia
Belgravia () is a Districts of London, district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of both the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' Tudor Period, during the ...
, and in nearby Theed Street.
The director of the episode, Simon Langton, was the son of David Langton, who played Richard Bellamy.
Cast
*
Simon Williams as
James Bellamy
*
Gordon Jackson as
Hudson
Hudson may refer to:
People
* Hudson (given name)
* Hudson (surname)
* Henry Hudson, English explorer
* Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back
* Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...
*
Jean Marsh
Jean may refer to:
People
* Jean (female given name)
* Jean (male given name)
* Jean (surname)
Fictional characters
* Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character
* Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations
* Jea ...
as
Rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
*
David Langton
David Muir Langton (born Basil Muir Langton-Dodds; 16 April 1912 – 25 April 1994) was a British actor who is best remembered for playing Richard Bellamy in the period drama '' Upstairs, Downstairs''.
Early years
David Langton was born Basi ...
as
Richard Bellamy
*
Joan Benham Joan may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters
*:Joan of Arc, a French military heroine
*Joan (surname)
Weather events
*Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multiple ...
as
Lady Prudence Fairfax
*
Lesley-Anne Down
Lesley-Anne Down (born 17 March 1954) is a British actress, singer and former model.
She achieved fame as Georgina Worsley in the ITV drama series '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1973–75). She received further recognition for her performances in ...
as
Georgina Worsley
Georgina, Marchioness of Stockbridge (née Georgina Worsley, born 28 November 1895), is a fictional character in the British television series, '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. She was portrayed by Lesley-Anne Down.
Georgina Worsley arrives to liv ...
*
Christopher Beeny
Christopher Winton Beeny (7 July 1941 – 3 January 2020) was an English actor and dancer. He had a career as a child actor, but was best known for his work as the footman Edward Barnes on the 1970s television series '' Upstairs, Downstairs'', ...
as
Edward
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...
*
Gareth Hunt
Alan Leonard Hunt (7 February 1942 – 14 March 2007), known as Gareth Hunt, was a British actor best remembered for playing footman Frederick Norton in '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' and Mike Gambit in '' The New Avengers''.
Early life
Alan Leon ...
as
Frederick Frederick may refer to:
People
* Frederick (given name), the name
Nobility
Anhalt-Harzgerode
*Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670)
Austria
* Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198
* Frederick ...
*
Jacqueline Tong
Jacqueline Tong (born 21 May 1951) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Daisy Peel in the television series '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1973–1975), for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Contin ...
as
Daisy
*
Jenny Tomasin
Jenny Tomasin (22 March 1938 – 3 January 2012) was an English actress best known for her roles in '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' and ''Emmerdale''.
Early life
Tomasin was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, in 1938 to working class parents. S ...
as
Ruby
A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sa ...
*
Martin Wimbush
Martin Wimbush (born 1949) is a British actor known for his roles in film, television, and theatre.
Early life and education
Born in London, Wimbush trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama between 1967 and 1969, and then worked e ...
as Andrew Bouverie
*
Tommy Wright as Picket Leader
*
John Breslin
John Breslin ( ga, Seán Ó Breisleáin; born 1973 in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish engineer and full professor at the University of Galway. He is co-founder of the Irish websites boards.ie and adverts.ie. He co-authored the Irish bestselling b ...
as Len Finch
*
Roy Pattison as Arnold Thompson
Plot
"The Nine Days Wonder" opens on 1 May 1926; two days later on 3 May, the
General Strike
A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...
is called.
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
is in Scotland, and unable to return because of the strike, while
Mrs Bridges is in
Felixstowe
Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northeast of London.
His ...
on holiday. She telephones 165 Eaton Place, worried about food shortages, and unbeknownst to anyone else, soon orders some food to be delivered to 165. Hudson gets permission from Richard to volunteer as a
Special Constable, as he had during the
War
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
. Within days on the start of the strike, Edward is attacked by a striker while in the car.
Georgina and her circle of friends see the event as a chance to have fun by volunteering to drive buses or trains. James takes it far more seriously, and himself volunteers to drive a bus, and Frederick accompanies him. On one journey they encounter a group of strikers, who are unwilling to let them pass. The conductor on the bus is
university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
student Andrew Bouverie. When Bouverie is briefly at Eaton Place, he remembers having briefly met Georgina at a party, and drops hints about not having anywhere nice to stay. However, Lady Prudence then offers him a bed in her house, as she has decided to help out by becoming a "
landlord
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, the ...
", having already got two university students staying.
Ruby's uncle Len Finch comes down from
Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...
with a friend Arnold Thompson. Both are down for a delegates meeting. They take
tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...
in the Servants' Hall, when Mr. Hudson is out, and Thompson gives Edward, who is sympathetic to the strikers, a copy of ''
The British Worker'' newspaper. When Mr Hudson comes back and finds this, he orders it to be burned. On 12 May, minutes after the strike is called off, Len Finch and Arnold Thompson arrive to say goodbye to Ruby. When told of the strike's end, they are both deflated.
Footnotes
References
"The Nine Days Wonder"on Updown.org.uk—''Upstairs, Downstairs'' Fansite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nine Days Wonder, The
1975 British television episodes
Upstairs, Downstairs (series 5) episodes
Fiction set in 1926