role. Gordon Jackson was offered the role of Hudson after it was decided that Londoner George Cole would not be suitable to play a Scotsman. The programme took many names, including Two Little Maids in Town, The Servants' Hall and That House in Eaton Square. It was called 165 Eaton Place until just before the production of the first episode when it was changed to Upstairs, Downstairs, following a suggestion from John Hawkesworth. Despite having a champion in Stella Richman, the show suffered from internal politics at the station, most notably from the sales department who could not see the attraction of a period drama, and the programme's videotapes spent nearly a year in storage awaiting a transmission date. Eventually the network had a space in its schedule at the unfashionable time of Sunday nights at 10:15 and called upon LWT to fill it. They chose Upstairs, Downstairs, and with no promotion of the show, there was little expectation of success. However, audiences steadily grew and the series became a hit. In the United States, Upstairs, Downstairs was aired as part of PBS' Masterpiece Theatre. Cast and characters Plot The stories depict the lives of the wealthy Bellamy family ("upstairs"), who reside at 165 Eaton Place in London's fashionable Belgravia, and their servants ("downstairs"). The household is led by Lady Marjorie Bellamy (née Talbot-Carey), daughter of the Earl and Countess of Southwold, and her husband Richard Bellamy MP, the son of a country parson. They married despite the objections of her parents and set up house at 165 Eaton Place, one of several London properties owned by Lord Southwold. Richard is a politician, and several plots revolve around his political ambitions and conflicts arising from his desire to follow both his conscience and his allegiance to his father-in-law's politically conservative Tory party. Richard and Lady Marjorie Bellamy have two children, James and Elizabeth, who are, respectively, in their early twenties and late teens when the series starts in 1903. In 1912, James's wife Hazel becomes the new mistress of the house following Lady Marjorie's death, and the following year, Richard's ward, Georgina, comes to live at 165 Eaton Place. The original servants comprise the authoritarian butler Mr Angus Hudson, cook Mrs Kate Bridges, pragmatic head house parlourmaid Rose Buck, sweet Irish kitchen maid Emily, eccentric footman Alfred, mischievous under-house parlourmaid Sarah, coachman Pearce, and Lady Marjorie's lady's maid Maude Roberts.