You don‘t get the evil characters that Downton Abby has in Upstairs. The pace is slower and people are more repressed in Upstairs. An important part of Downton is the wardrobe, sets and quick pace of the scenes. That is not done nearly as well in U/D. You feel at times like you are watching a play from the 1970s the sets are so cardboard on U/D. That being said, the characters in the kitchen at U/D are easier to relate to because they are always working. You get a sense of what it must have been like to work long hours, while not being able to afford a cigarette and I don‘t think there were breaks for staff during the work day and they didn‘t stop working till way past darkness. At Downton Abby the staff take smoking breaks and discuss intrigue all the time. Each scene of Downton Abby goes right into your episodic memory like crack cocaine. With Upstairs downstairs it is not all layed out but that is okay because you have time to ponder. They both take place during the same era. I think Upstairs Downstairs did a better job at dealing with the seriousness of issues of the day. Downton Abby is a little more polyannaish when it comes to issues -they almost always get solved. That just isn‘t real. They really concentrated on the upward mobility of the staff when going from poor to lower middle class was happening across the west. That makes it exciting which is an odd feeling to have when you are talking about people struggling for their lives and getting out of poverty. That being said I prefer Downton Abby because of the fast pace of the drama even if it is much less realistic. I‘m glad I did watch Upstairs Downstairs to really get how hard life was when there was so much inequality and people worked their asses off their whole lives for pennies a day.

The newer Up/Down was not as interesting, IMHO.

I would suggest trying at least 3 episodes of the 70's Up/Down
and
DO see The Duchess of Duke Street which was made around the same time.
I watched it again a few months ago and it has held up very very well.

Upstairs (and I'm talking the Masterpiece Theatre version from the 70s--I didn't know there was a remake) also had better writing. You felt like you were watching a play written in Edwardian times, none of the modern sensibilities creeping into the plot. The wealthy were more caddish and the servants more oppressed. It was quality television. They had real conflicts, whereas, from what little of Downer Abbey I've seen, DA's plots always have a clear cut good guy and a clear cut bad guy.

the original and the 2 seasons recently done by BBC. I would recommend both the older and more recent versions.

Dang! The smartest people in the world are on DU. I knew you'd have an insightful answer to my questions and you sure did! Thanks so much.

I will check out Upstairs Downstairs. I just watched the first 10 minutes of the original, and I can already tell your analyses ring true. And, man, are these Downstairs people treated harshly vs. the service staff of Downton.

Would love to chat with you again about DA when I catch up. I'm still on Season 2.

Hugs to all.

She pointed out that Elizabeth McGovern has exactly one expression and is an amazingly bad actress and now every time she appears in a scene I get fixated on how horrible she is.

You're welcome.

She's so ... simpering!

Just delivered the 1st and 2nd episodes of Downton Abbey yesterday. My friend has been raving
about it. Never watched Upstairs/Downstairs, that was a long time ago, when I was never home.
Guess I'll have to get that series next.

More subtle and better-written than "Downton Abbey." But both series are enjoyable; "D/A" beats 95% of anything else that's on TV, these days.

If you're looking into other old PBS series that are really first-rate, don't miss "The Jewel In The Crown" and "A Town Like Alice." Great stuff.....

I remember my parents loving U/D back in the Masterpiece Theater day.

Wonderful actors, serviceable to excellent writing...The Duchess of Duke Street is also quite fine.

It's not as slick as Downton Abbey, which can create the impression that it's not as good. But it draws you in quickly, and it gets better with each episode. (I found the first few episodes -- the ones involving Sarah -- a bit weak.)

It's hard to say what makes Upstairs Downstairs so much better. As others pointed out, the characters are more rounded: you don't have good people and evil people; rather, you have people who are mostly good but have flaws. Moreover, things don't always turn out well for the main characters. Also, Downton Abbey seems to look down on its characters at some level -- it takes it as a given that we are much more enlightened today than people were in those days. In Upstairs Downstairs, on the other hand, you see people deal with such issues as shell shock and infidelity, which are just as difficult today as they were back then.

The servants and the masters are much closer in Upstairs Downstairs than they are in Downton Abbey. The masters are less elitist and more concerned about the affairs of the servants, at least in this family. And while the downstairs crowd works hard for little pay, the show makes it clear that the world outside can be much harsher. Servants therefore give up some of their freedom in exchange for some security.

A lot more goes on in an episode of Downton Abbey than in an episode of Upstairs Downstairs. The latter is slower-paced and allows the viewer to absorb everything, whereas the former aims for a sort of realism by dropping the viewer into the middle of a complicated situation without much explanation.

One thing I found annoying about Downton Abbey was that during the first two seasons, the characters couldn't stop telling each other that "things are changing." Things are also changing on Upstairs Downstairs, but the characters don't always recognize or accept the changes as they are happening.

Upstairs Downstairs isn't as dry as Downton---- can't wait for new Doc Martins