Upstairs, Downstairs - Books & Magazines

In the thirty-odd years since Upstairs, Downstairs started, there have been various books and special magazines related to the series published. This is an attempt to list them all.

Over the years I've run this site, I've noticed interest in these old books has picked up quite a bit and now many fans of the series seem to be attempting to track them down. Fortunately, with a couple of exceptions, most of these books sold by the truck load and are very easy to find. I have also noticed that second-hand book dealers seem to have cottoned on to the reawakened popularity of these items, and prices are now quite a bit higher than they were a couple of years ago!

The best place to find copies of these books (most are out of print) is via on-line book search services such as:

Please keep an eye on the amount you are paying for books on these sites - it is not uncommon to see over-the-top sums being demanded. (In February 2002, Patty Lou Floyd's book was seen available for a preposterous $85.95, for example. In May 2002, John Pearson's The Bellamys of Eaton Place in hardback was on offer for £149 - one presumes that the identical item seen for £5 represented a slightly better deal... You have been warned).

Miscellaneous pictures are included of various editions of the books mentioned. This is not an attempt to picture each and every cover variant, though. Clicking on these pictures will give a bigger version of the image. (If you have any other cover versions of these books, and can provide a big, clear scan of them, please get in touch. Email link is on the front page).

(Thanks to Marshall, David, Ian, Nicole, B. Wallace and Shaun with help in compiling the early versions of this list)

The Novelisations

A range of novelisations was released which summarised each of the seasons of Upstairs, Downstairs (sometimes with the odd episode or two omitted). These were initially released in the UK by Sphere books, with various other UK/USA, softcover/hardcover editions following.

Upstairs, Downstairs (Or The Secrets Of An Edwardian Household) by John Hawkesworth (1972) - Novelisation of first TV season.
In My Lady's Chamber by John Hawkesworth (1973) - Novelisation of second TV season.
The Years Of Change by Mollie Hardwick (1974) - Novelisation of third TV season.
The War To End Wars by Mollie Hardwick (1975) - Novelisation of fourth TV season.
On With The Dance by Michael Hardwick (1975) - Novelisation of first half of the final TV season.
Endings And Beginnings by Michael Hardwick (1975) - Novelisation of second half of the final TV season.
Thomas And Sarah by Mollie Hardwick (1978) - Novelisation of first half of the Thomas & Sarah series.
Thomas And Sarah: Two For A Spin by Mollie Hardwick (1979) - Novelisation of second half of the Thomas & Sarah series.

Sphere's publication of Upstairs, Downstairs (Or The Secrets Of An Edwardian Household) in early 1972 was the first UpDown-related book to hit the market. Released in early 1972, it cost 30p, and told the stories covered in the first television season. The episodes A Cry for Help and The Swedish Tiger were both disliked by John Hawkesworth and it is no surprise that he omitted them entirely.

Whoever wrote the frontispiece for this book was clearly a bit confused, as it calls the footman "Albert" rather than "Alfred".

Though Sphere quickly dispensed with this format for the covers of their range, it is, to my eyes, a far better design than their later efforts (see below).

Amazingly, after endless reprints, the first book was still available as late as 1977, when it was re-jacketed to match Sphere's new style. The price was now 85p. This book was re-released in 1983 (in the same cover) to tie in with Channel 4's reruns of the time.

In America, the series of novelisations was taken on by Dell Books. This is an edition from October 1973 of the novelisation of the first season.

The cover artist appears to have no idea as to what the cast members looked like - or perhaps Dell were not allowed to use their likenesses?

As with its UK brother, this US edition has an inaccurate frontispiece. In this case, it makes the common mistake of calling Lady Marjorie, Lady Bellamy.

I couldn't resist including this Spanish edition of Hawkesworth's Upstairs, Downstairs (Or The Secrets Of An Edwardian Household), here called Vidas Cruzadas (Crossed Lives). The cover features Hudson brandishing a gun at the reader in a rare publicity shot from a banned episode where he finally took his revenge on those "dirty foreigners".

1973 saw producer Hawkesworth produce his novelisation of Season Two of the TV series. It includes all the episodes except A Special Mischief which is only covered briefly.

Despite covering one more episode than his first novelisation, Hawkesworth's page count dropped by 50 pages. The reins passed to the husband-and-wife Hardwick team for the remaining books in the range.

Dell's US publication of the second novelisation was in February 1974, shortly after the show started on PBS. The two novels gave US fans the chance to read about episodes which were missed out from the initial US run on TV.

Note that the odd cover picture is from The Swedish Tiger, which was not covered by this volume. (Did the publishers perhaps think that the male character in this picture was James?)

1974's novelisation of the third season, The Years Of Change, covered the 1912-1914 run up to the First World War.

The Hardwick team (Mollie and Michael) would handle all the novelisations from here onwards. It has to be said, though, that their writing style was pedestrian at times and occasionally their entries to the range were more nearly straight transcripts of the TV episodes rather than novelisations.

Sphere's cover designed changed at this point and 1975's publication of On With The Dance saw this new style used, incorporating "squiggles" reflecting the TV credits.

Because of the length of this last TV season (16 episodes), it was decided to split the novelisation into two parts. This first book would cover episodes through to Such A Lovely Man, though Laugh a Little Louder Please was only covered en passant.

The UpDown canon was completed with Sphere's Endings And Beginnings. This covered the remaining episodes of the final TV season but omitted the 'downstairs' plot from Noblesse Oblige.

In America, both books for the last season were combined into a single volume, On With The Dance And Endings And Beginnings.

Mollie Hardwick novelised the first 7 episodes of the spin-off series Thomas & Sarah for Sphere in 1978. This was issued in America, too, in both paperback (Jove) and hardback (Michael Joseph), though the actual series never had a network showing.

This book is still quite easy to find nowadays...

...which is more than can be said for its 1979 partner, Thomas & Sarah: Two For A Spin, which covered the remainder of the series. It is not clear quite why this book is so obscure - perhaps after the series' hostile press reception, it was withdrawn quickly? Neither The British Library or the Library Of Congress list the book, so it may never have actually reached the shops.

Fascinatingly, the story presented for Putting On The Ritz is Alfred Shaughnessy's original version of this episode, rather than Bingham and Brady's hasty rewrite (see Richard Marson's book Inside Updown - The Story Of Upstairs, Downstairs for the whole story of this debacle). This original version sees Thomas and Sarah helping a young soldier to persuade his parents that the girl he wishes to marry is not socially beneath him.