''Thomas & Sarah'' is a British

drama series In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-ge ...

that aired on ITV in 1979. A spin-off from the

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...

-winning series '' Upstairs, Downstairs'', it stars

John Alderton John Alderton (born 27 November 1940) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in '' Upstairs, Downstairs'', '' Thomas & Sarah'', '' Wodehouse Playhouse'', ''Little Miss'' (original television series), '' Please Sir!'', '' No, Hones ...

and

Pauline Collins Pauline Collins (born 3 September 1940) is a British actress who first came to prominence portraying Sarah Moffat in '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1971–1973) and its spin-off, '' Thomas & Sarah'' (1979). In 1992, she published her autobiography, ...

reprising their ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' roles.

Background

Following the end of ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' in 1975 there were many ideas for spin-offs, and the idea for ''Thomas & Sarah'' was originally given the name ''In Confidence'' by

Alfred Shaughnessy Alfred James Shaughnessy (19 May 1916 – 2 November 2005) was an English scriptwriter, film director and producer best known for being the script editor of '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. Early life Alfred Shaughnessy was born in London, his father, ...

and John Hawkesworth. At a memorial service for Cyril Bennett, the LWT Controller who had died in November 1976, his successor

Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth, (born 8 March 1943) is an English television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive of Channel 4 ( ...

agreed to do a programme with John Alderton and Pauline Collins, now a celebrated television couple, reprising their former roles. In October 1977, John Hawkesworth was commissioned to write a synopsis for the programme, and it was filmed from September 1978 to March 1979. The writers, many of whom had worked on ''Upstairs, Downstairs'', were Terence Brady and Charlotte Bingham,

, Jeremy Paul, Anthony Skene,

Alick Rowe Alick Rowe (1938 – 30 October 2009) was a British writer. Born in Hereford, he spent the first 16 years of his life living in a pub (something he would later write about in his book ''Boy at the Commercial)''. After being educated at Hereford C ...

and Angharad Lloyd.

Plot

''Thomas & Sarah'' follows the adventures of

Thomas Watkins Thomas David Watkins ( – ?) is a fictional character in the ITV drama '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' and its spin-off ''Thomas & Sarah''. He was portrayed by John Alderton. Greenwich Thomas Watkins was born in about 1876, the fifth of seven c ...

, the

chauffeur A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine. Originally, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to speciali ...

, and

Sarah Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...

, the

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

and nursery maid, after leaving service at Eaton Place in 1910. Sarah is pregnant, and according to their last episode of ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' they have married, but according to ''Thomas & Sarah'' they "never got round to it". In addition, a two-part short story, entitled ''The Spin of the Wheel'', that bridges the gap between them leaving Eaton Place and the start of ''Thomas & Sarah'', was written by Alfred Shaughnessy and published in the ''

TV Times ''TV Times'' is a British television listings magazine published by Future plc. It was originally published by Independent Television Publications, owned by the participating ITV companies. The magazine was acquired by IPC Media in 1989, which ...

'' in the 23 December and 6 January issues.

Episodes

Cliffhanger

The last minutes of the first series saw Sarah mourning at a graveside. The public were not to know whether this was Thomas or Richard de Brassey, her last employer, but the public knew that a second series had been commissioned, so it was clear that it couldn't have been Thomas in the grave.

Second series

The public reaction to the series was good enough to have a second series commissioned, and some location work was filmed in July 1979. However, a strike at ITV meant work was halted and never finished. The location work has since been

wiped Lost television broadcasts are mostly those early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives (or in personal archives) usually because of deliberate destruction or neglect. Common reasons for loss A significant prop ...

. The names of four of the episodes are known, ''"Where There's A Will", ''"For Richer, For Poorer"'', ''"Favours"'' and ''"Flying the Foam"''. Again, these were written by Terence Brady & Charlotte Bingham and Jeremy Paul.

Novelisations

Like ''Upstairs, Downstairs'', novelisations of the series were written. The first book, titled simply ''Thomas & Sarah'', was published in 1978 by

Sphere Books Sphere Books is the name of two British paperback publishers. History The original Sphere Books was launched in 1966 by Thomson Corporation. Sphere was sold to Pearson PLC in 1985 and became part of Penguin. The name was retired in 1990. In 19 ...

and covers the first seven episodes of the programme. The second book, titled ''Thomas & Sarah: Two for a Spin'', was also published by Sphere Books and released in 1979. Both books were written by

Mollie Hardwick Mollie Greenhalgh Hardwick (7 March 1916 in Prestwich, Lancashire – 13 December 2003), also known as Mary Atkinson, was an English author who was best known for writing books that accompanied the TV series '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. Hardwi ...

, who also wrote many ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' books.

Home releases

''Thomas & Sarah'' was released in Region 2 (UK) by VCI in 2004. This followed releases of all episodes of ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' by VCI in similar packaging. VCI stopped making copies of the DVDs in 2005. The whole series was released by Network DVD on 16 April 2007, Network having previously released all episodes of ''Upstairs, Downstairs''.

A&E Home Video A&E Networks (stylized as A+E NETWORKS) is an American multinational broadcasting company that is a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company through its General Entertainment Content division. The company o ...

released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 on 27 April 2004. In 2012 Acorn Media re-released the series (as they had ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' in 2006 with DVD commentaries) in a 4-disc DVD set indicating the best possible digital resolution was attained in conjunction with the age of the series and the technology (1978–79) used to make it. There is no DVD commentary from either Alderton or Collins or surviving cast or crew.

References

Bibliography

*Richard Marson, "Inside UpDown - The Story of Upstairs, Downstairs", Kaleidoscope Publishing, 2005

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas and Sarah 1970s British drama television series 1979 British television series debuts 1979 British television series endings British drama television series British television spin-offs Fictional couples ITV television dramas London Weekend Television shows Television series by ITV Studios Upstairs, Downstairs