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Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom starring Patricia Routledge as social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket. It aired on BBC1 from 1990 to 1995. Keeping Up Appearances was written by Roy Clarke, who also wrote Last of the Summer Wine and Open All Hours. In 2004, it came 12th in Britain's Best Sitcom.

Cast

Plot

Hyacinth Bucket is a social-climbing snob who insists her last name is pronounced "bouquet". She spends most of her time trying to impress her neighbours and friends by boasting about her wealthy sister Violet, and pretending to be of a more “aristocratic” class than she actually is. Simultaneously, Hyacinth tries desperately to avoid her lower-class relatives who frequently turn up, either on the woman's doorstep (a suburban bungalow situated on Blossom Avenue) or in public places embarrassing Hyacinth, and thus sabotaging her hopes of climbing the social ladder.

Hyacinth is a middle-aged house-proud housewife. She will answer the phone with "The Bouquet residence, the lady of the house speaking", and from her well-polished brass to the shining wood-block, her home is a paragon of perfection. Hyacinth is constantly warning her visitors not to brush up against the walls and tells them to remove their shoes on arrival. Her long-suffering and hen-pecked husband is Richard Bucket, who works for the local council. Later in the series he reluctantly takes early retirement. Richard often tries in vain to stop Hyacinth in her snobbish endeavours, but she never listens to anyone including her husband. Richard regularly gets dragged into assisting Hyacinth in her numerous attempts at climbing the social ladder, despite a reluctance to do so.

The couple have an unseen son Sheridan, who makes frequent phone calls from his polytechnic (one which Hyacinth claims is "of university standard") asking for money. Although Hyacinth seems unaware, there are strong suggestions that Sheridan is homosexual.

Hyacinth has three sisters: Daisy, Rose and Violet. The lust-crackling Daisy is married to the unromantic slob Onslow and the pair have a daughter called Stephanie. Neither Daisy nor Onslow work and instead spend their time lounging about in the sitting room, with Onslow drinking beer, eating crisps and watching television and Daisy reading romantic novels, these being her last hope of romance. The pair live with the promiscuous Rose and their senile father (who's referred to as "Daddy").

Rose has a brief job in series four, selling custom made jewellery door-to-door. She spends most of her time chasing married men and Hyacinth’s neighbour Emmett, along with the local Vicar. Meanwhile “Daddy” chases elderly women and frequently believes he is back in World War II. Daisy, Rose, Onslow and their father together live in squalor; their home is a three-bedroom house on a rundown council estate. An abandoned car occupies the front garden, lived in by Onslow’s dog. Inevitably, the four fail to fall in line with Hyacinth’s standards, so she goes to great effort to keep them hidden from her friends and neighbours, in order to save face.

However despite the leading lady’s desire for a more "upper-crust" family, she loves her relatives (especially Daddy), and never fails to rush to their assistance when they are in need of her help. Often it is Daddy that has gotten into an embarrassing situation which Hyacinth has to always solve. Hyacinth’s other sister is the wealthy Violet, who, although rarely seen is always boasted about by Hyacinth to the neighbours, referred to as "the one with the Mercedes, sauna and room for a pony". Violet is unhappily married to the cross-dressing bookmaker Bruce.

Hyacinth's next door neighbour is Elizabeth Warden, a twenty-four-hour witness to her snobbery. Frequently invited round to the Bucket residence for coffee, Liz’s nerves always cause her to spill it. Her husband is away working in Saudi Arabia. Elizabeth’s brother Emmett arrives at series two to live with his sister after a messy divorce. Emmett runs a local amateur operatic society, Hyacinth therefore frequently drops hints by singing, that he should include her in his performances. Emmett quickly develops a fear of Hyacinth as a result of her excessive vocal exercises to such an extent, that he barely leaves the house. Hyacinth however is under the delusion that this is because Emmett is attracted to her. The only character who is attracted to Hyacinth however, is the excitable Major, who reoccurs in the first two series.

Filming locations

Exterior shots around Hyacinth's house were filmed in Binley Woods village near Coventry. Exterior shots around Daisy and Onslow's council house were filmed in Stoke Aldermoor in Coventry. Other exterior street and town shots were filmed in Leamington Spa and in various towns throughout Warwickshire, along with many scenes from the large town of Northampton. Some scenes have also been shot in Swindon and Oxford.

The setting of the show is not entirely clear, but there are several references to the characters being in the West Midlands throughout the series.

Episodes

Keeping Up Appearances aired for five series, four Christmas specials, and one short Children in Need special, from 29 October 1990 to 25 December 1995. The series ended after the episode "The Pageant" because Patricia Routledge wanted to focus on other work. Clive Swift who played Richard in a BBC interview stated that Routledge: "didn't want to be remembered as simply Mrs Bouquet".

After Keeping Up Appearances

In March 1997, Geoffrey Hughes and Judy Cornwell reprised their roles as Onslow and Daisy for a special compilation episode filmed for broadcast in the United States. The Memoirs of Hyacinth Bucket saw the pair introduce classic clips from the series.

In 1998, the BBC released three episodes of the show: "A Job For Richard", "Country Retreat" and "Sea Fever" on audio cassette, and Clive Swift reprised his role as Richard, recording a narrative to compensate for the lack of images. And in 2004, the documentary series Comedy Connections featured an episode dedicated to Keeping Up Appearances. Stars Clive Swift, Josephine Tewson, Judy Cornwell and David Griffin, writer Roy Clarke and producer/director Harold Snoad all discussed the series. Clips from an interview with Patricia Routledge from 2002 were also included. This show revealed that there were serious artistic differences between Clarke and Snoad.

Two cast members died within two months of each other in 1998, Mary Millar, who played Rose from 1991-95, on 10 November 1998 of ovarian cancer and George Webb, who played Daddy throughout the show's run, on 30 December 1998 of natural causes. Charmian May who appeared as Mrs. Councillor Nugent recurringly earlier in the series died on 24 October 2002.

Releases

DVD releases

Region 1 NTSC

In Region 1, the complete series 1 to 5 and the specials were released in a boxed set in 2004 titled The Full Bouquet. They have also been released as individual box sets combining series 1 and 2 and series 3, 4 and 5.

Region 2 PAL

Series 1 and 2 was released by Universal Playback on 7 March 2003, followed by Series 3 and 4 and the 1991 Christmas Special on 16 February 2004. The fifth series and 1993, 1994 and 1995 specials were released on 26 December 2006. In Region 2, The Essential Collection was released on 8 October 2007.

Region 4 PAL

The entire series was also released in Region 4 in 2005 under the title The Complete Collection'. It is also available as Series One & Two, Series Three & Four and Five. Also available is a "Christmas Specials" DVD.

VHS releases

Episodes from the series were also released on video tape in the 1990s by 2 Entertain Video, these included;

• "Rural Retreat" - Released on 12 June 1995 and comprises three episodes, "Rural Retreat", "Let there be Light" and "Please Mind Your Head".
• "How to enhance your husband’s retirement" - Released on 3 June 1996 and comprises three episodes, "How to Enhance Your Husband's Retirement", "What to Wear When Yachting" and "How to go on Holiday without really trying".
• "Sea Fever" - Released on 2 April 1997 comprises "Sea Fever" and "Hyacinth Tees Off".

Books

Two books related to the series were released in the UK. One is entitled Hyacinth Bucket's Book of Etiquette for the Socially less Fortunate, which is a rather light hearted guide to manners as seen through Hycacinth Bucket's eyes. It is based on the TV series' scripts, contains many black and white photos of scenes from the series and first published in 1993. The other is entitled Hyacinth Bucket's Hectic Social Calendar which is presented in a diary format chronicling a year in her life, with typical comments about her relations and neighbours. This was published in 1995. Both were written by Jonathan Rice and published by BBC Books.

Broadcasting in other countries

Country	Broadcaster	Known as (if the title is different)
Australia	Seven, ABC, UK.TV
Belgium	één	Schone Schijn
Bulgaria	bTV	Какво ще кажат хората? (What will the people say?)
Canada	YTV
Croatia	HRT, BBC Prime	Milostiva prije svega
Cyprus	CyBC
Denmark	DR1, TV 2 Charlie	Fint skal det være (It has to be perfect )
Finland	YLE TV1	Pokka pitää
Germany	ZDF	Mehr Schein als Sein (It's more illusion than reality)
India	BBC Entertainment
Ireland	RTÉ
Israel	BBC Prime	מה יגידו השכנים? (What Will The Neighbours Say?)
Latvia	LNT	Smalkais Stils (Fine Style)
Malaysia	BBC Entertainment
Malta	TVM
Netherlands	TROS	Schone Schijn (Fine Appearances)
New Zealand	TV ONE
Norway	TVNorge	Høy på pæra (Being Sniffy)
Poland	TVP2, TVN Lingua	Co ludzie powiedzą (What Will The People Say?)
Portugal	SIC	Cuidado Com As Aparências
South Africa	BBC Prime
Sweden	TV4 Plus	Skenet bedrar (The Gleam Deceives )
Switzerland	SF 1	Mehr Schein als Sein
United States	PBS, BBC America

References

1. Amazon.co.uk Listing Keeping Up Appearances - The Essential Collection

External links

• Keeping Up Appearances at bbc.co.uk
• Keeping Up Appearances at IMDb

Template:Keeping Up Appearances

• 1990s British television series
• 1990 television series debuts
• 1995 television series endings
• BBC television sitcoms