Thomas & Sarah

Infobox television
show_name = Thomas & Sarah


caption = Opening credits of "Thomas & Sarah"
genre = Drama
runtime = 50 minutes
creator = Alfred Shaughnessy
starring = Pauline Collins
John Alderton
country = United Kingdom
network = ITV
first_aired = 28 January
last_aired = 8 April 1979
num_episodes = 13
imdb_id = 0137328

"Thomas & Sarah" is a British drama series that aired on ITV in 1979. The only spin-off from the BAFTA Award-winning series "Upstairs, Downstairs", it stars John Alderton and Pauline Collins 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 and John Hawkesworth. At a memorial service for Cyril Bennett, the LWT Controller who had died in November 1976, his successor Michael Grade agreed to do a programme with John Alderton and Pauline Collins, now a celebrated television couple, reprising their former roles [cite news|url=|title=Inside UpDown - The Story of Upstairs, Downstairs|first=|last=|publisher=Kaleidoscope Publishing|date=2005] . 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 & Charlotte Bingham, Alfred Shaughnessy, Jeremy Paul, Anthony Skene, Alick Rowe and Angharad Lloyd.

Plot

"Thomas & Sarah" follows the adventures of Thomas Watkins, the chauffeur, and Sarah, the house 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" in the 23 December and 6 January issues [cite news|url=http://www.updown.org.uk/epguide/Ts.htm|title=www.updown.org.uk|first=|last=|publisher=Steve Phillips|date=] .

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 a second series had been commissioned so it was clear it couldn't been Thomas in the grave.

econd 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. 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 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, who also wrote many "Upstairs, Downstairs" books.

DVD 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".

In 2003, "Thomas & Sarah" was released by A&E DVD (Region 1, US).

References

References

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