1 9 8 8 – 1 9 9 3 (UK)
1 x 60 minute episode
25 x 50 minute episodes
This Croft and Perry spoof of Upstairs Downstairswas set in the Edwardian London household of the nice but dim Lord Meldrum. The servants were led by the swindling Alf Stokes (Paul Shane from Hi-De-Hi).
The series was effective enough to last for five years – but then so was the plague.
It was disconcerting, to say the least, that half the cast seemed to still be in role from previous Croft and Perry sitcoms (Donald Hewlett’s Meldrum was his It Ain’t Half Hot MumColonel Reynolds in mufti) and most of the jokes were conspicuous by their absence.
There was, though, a narrative surprise at the last when the Meldrum family became impoverished – their Union Jack Rubber plantation was eaten by beetles – and were obliged to sell up.
Alf Stokes
Paul Shane
Lord George Meldrum
Donald Hewlett
James Twelvetrees
Jeffrey Holland
Ivy Teesdale
Su Pollard
Hon. Teddy Meldrum
Michael Knowles
Mrs Lipton
Brenda Cowling
Poppy Meldrum
Susie Brann
Cissy Meldrum
Catherine Rabett
Lady Lavender Meldrum
Mavis Pugh
PC Wilson
Bill Pertwee
Henry
Perry Benson
Mabel
Barbara New
Sir Ralph Shawcross
John Horsley
Lady Agatha Shawcross
Angela Scoular
The series was effective enough to last for five years – but then so was the plague.
