Review of You Rang, M'Lord?

A welcome break from the ubiquitous Oxbridge Mafia production line,"You rang,m'Lord?" was a return to the Whitehall Farce era of English comedy. Set in a London "Townhouse" in 1927,it depicts two families,the one who own the house aristocratic,hedonistic,rich,the other - who run the house - poor working - class,but comfortably ensconced in the tradition of "Service" that was coming to the end of its time,perhaps hurried on a little by the recent "General Strike".("I drove a bus!" exclaims the Hon.Teddy proudly.)Although the strike collapsed,the events in Russia had not gone unnoticed upstairs or downstairs. The servants are headed by Stokes the butler - a brilliant Paul Shane - not a likable man,and one whose first encounter with his employers led to him stealing a wounded Hon.Teddy's wristwatch on the battlefield. Just about restrained from hacking off Teddy's finger in order to steal his ring by his colleague James Twelvetrees(Jeffery Holland - magnificently snobbish)they carry Teddy back to the British lines to escape from the shellfire and are hailed as heroes.Nine years later,Stokes quits an ill - fated stage act with his daughter (Divine Su Pollard)and applies for a job as butler to the Hon.Teddy's brother unaware that Twelvetrees is already employed as a manservant at the big house. Once safely in the post he sends for his daughter and she is employed as a maid,but he insists no one should know their true relationship. In every one of the 26 episodes the above and below stairs arrangements are perfectly realised with performances of a depth rarely encountered in a TV comedy series. Miss K.Rabbett - touted at the time as a possible wife for Prince Edward but who fortunately escaped that fate - is splendid as Lord Meldrum's spiffing lesbian daughter,Cissy,a daring departure for a mainstream comedy in the 1980s. Donald Hewlett is extraordinarily good as the paterfamilias,bluff,funny,a loving but puzzled father,a tolerant brother to the rather odd Hon.Teddy whose war wounds have left him with an uncontrollable urge for servant girls (...."the smell of carbolic soap,their rough nightgowns"...).He is in love with Lady Agatha,wife of a fellow aristo and the source of much of his troubles. With such wonderful characters and so many splendid actors at the top of their game it is a rank injustice that "You rang m'Lord?" should be so poorly regarded.It is a rare example of writers and cast coming together perfectly and producing a show without apparent effort that is fresh and funny now as it was twenty years ago. The scenes in the kitchen where all the staff sit down with the local Bobby and eat as well as their counterparts upstairs,gossipping happily, warm and secure,are ones that will stay with me for a long time as a portrait of England,clinging defiantly to a not entirely ignoble tradition while bad times are just around the corner .