CDA: Jean Marsh

I read in the Times yesterday about the death of Jean Marsh, age 90. She wasn't just one of the stars of Upstairs, Downstairs, she and her friend Eileen Atkins created the show. The first season aired on the BBC in 1971 and it made its way to PBS in 1974. I think I read somewhere that it was the first BBC series to make a big splash on PBS.

I watched it when it was rerun in the mid 80s and Richard and I watched it again during lockdown, steaming on Brit Box. The production values are pretty shabby by Downton Abbey standards but the writing and the acting are extraordinary.

Here's a commercial that Marsh did for The Sun as her Upstairs Downstairs character Rose. It's kind of shocking to me that she'd agree to do something so crass, I hope she was well paid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW8C_qf9Nhg