'Upstairs Downstairs' turns 40

MASTERPIECE THEATRE'S 20TH ANNIVERSARY; JEAN MARSH IN "UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS", AIRING... — MASTERPIECE THEATRE'S 20TH ANNIVERSARY; JEAN MARSH IN "UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS", AIRING JAN. 13. PICTURE COURTESY FRANK GOODMAN ASSOCIATES, 1776 BROADWAY, N.Y., 10019. Credit: FRANK GOODMAN ASSOCIATES/Handout

By DIANE WERTS. Special to NewsdayMarch 22, 2011

Upstairs Downstairs: 40th Anniversary Edition

SERIES This is the event that put PBS on the map. Soon after the national public TV service was formed in 1970, its "Masterpiece Theatre" imported this British drama, juxtaposing early 1900s life for London's pampered Bellamy family (upstairs) and their hardworking staff of servants (downstairs).

"UD's" highbrow melodrama became a national sensation, copping seven Emmys and branding PBS in viewers' minds as presenting quality (if not always British) period drama. The series smartly combined reliable soap plots (forbidden romance, pregnancies, suicides) with cultural and historical background, chronicling the Victorian era's giving way to modernity.

Five seasons (1971-75) followed the Bellamys from the Edwardian era through the first World War, to the jazz-age 1920s and Depression '30s. The tale's twain-never-shall-meet class structure -- those with "breeding" and those without -- is emphasized in the stark contrast of up-down lifestyles. The two groups exist in one house at 165 Eaton Place as sort of parallel families, intertwined yet immutably distinct.

It's a strong enough structure that PBS launches a new '30s-set "Upstairs Downstairs" series on "Masterpiece" April 10-24. Original series co-creator and parlour maid player Jean Marsh returns to supervise a new household, alongside co-creator Eileen Atkins.

EXTRAS Everything you could have wanted to know about "Upstairs Downstairs" (including how to cry on cue) is covered in a five-part, five-hour 2005 documentary about the original series' making. It's packed with cast and crew interviews, helpfully explaining why, for instance, several early episodes are in black-and-white (technicians' strike).

There's also the show's 25th anniversary special, episode commentaries, extended cast and crew interviews, vintage '70s cast interviews (Jean Marsh doesn't believe in underwear!), and much more newly added since "Upstairs Downstairs" 2002 complete series DVD box. (This new box, however, does not contain the spinoff "Thomas and Sarah.")

Many bonus features are 16:9 widescreen and stereo. (Episodes are 4:3 and mono.)

LIST PRICE $200 for 21 discs, out March 29 from Acorn.