Inside Updown: The Ultimate Edition

"The most detailed single book ever published on the making of a TV show." -- Steven Phillips This "Ultimate Edition" of Inside Updown is a rare instance in which the revised and updated edition is clearly superior to the original versions. This is a hefty & handsome edition, large format, over 4 pounds, and over 400 pp. Color and b&w illustrations throughout. Marson rewrote and expanded much of his original prose, added many illustrations, did additional interviews, and even includes a section of the never-made Upstairs Downstairs movie with the complete screenplay. As you would expect in a book like this, there is a detailed episode guide. However, Inside Updown also unearths all of the pre-broadcast history while providing contemporary critical comment. There is a chapter on Simon Williams, a chapter on Jean Marsh, a chapter on the producer and script editor, a chapter and episode guide on the spinoff, a chapter on the show's designers, and much more. Most admirable is the attention paid to the writers of the show and the collaborative/feisty relationship between writer and script editor. This is certainly a book about one television show, but it also provides invaluable perspectives on the process of making television in the UK in the 1970's.