Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke. It originally aired on BBC1 from 1990 to 1995. The central character is an eccentric and snobbish middle-class social climber, Hyacinth Bucket (née Walton, played by Patricia Routledge), who insists that her surname is pronounced "Bouquet".The device of a humorously affected pronunciation of Bucket as Bouquet was used previously in the 1944 British comedy film Don't Take It to Heart. The show consists of five series and 44 episodes, four of which are Christmas specials. Production ended in 1995 after Routledge decided to move on to other projects. All 44 episodes have since been released on video, DVD and streaming media.
The sitcom follows Hyacinth in her attempts to prove her social superiority, and to gain standing with those she considers upper class. Her attempts are constantly hampered by her lower class background, and extended family, whom she is desperate to hide and distance herself from. Much of the humour comes from the conflict between Hyacinth's vision of herself and the reality of her underclass background. In each episode, she lands in a farcical situation as she battles to protect her social credibility.
Keeping Up Appearances was an immense success in the UK, and also captured large audiences in the United States, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, New Zealand, Belgium, and the Netherlands. By February 2016, it had been sold nearly a thousand times to overseas broadcasters, making it BBC Worldwide's most exported television programme ever.
In a 2004 BBC poll it placed 12th in Britain's Best Sitcom. In a 2001 Channel 4 poll, Hyacinth was ranked 52nd on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters. The show has been syndicated on Gold and Drama in the UK, on PBS member stations in the US and on 7TWO and 9Gem in Australia.
Premise
Hyacinth Bucket (née Walton) – who insists her surname is pronounced Bouquet (although her husband Richard has said, "It was always 'Bucket' until I met you!") – is an overbearing, social-climbing snob, originally from a lower-class background, whose main mission in life is to impress others with her refinement and pretended affluence.
She is terrified that her background will be revealed and goes to great lengths to hide it. Hyacinth likes to spend her days visiting stately homes (convinced she will meet and strike up a friendship with the upper-class owners, especially if they are part of the landed gentry or peerage) and hosting "executive-style" candlelight suppers (with her Royal Worcester double-glazed Avignon china and Royal Doulton china with "the hand-painted periwinkles").
She ostentatiously brags about her possessions, including her "white slimline telephone with automatic redial", which she always answers with "The Bouquet residence, the lady of the house speaking." She frequently receives misdialled numbers for a Chinese takeaway, angering her, insisting that the takeway change its phone number. She speaks in an exaggerated RP-style accent with northern English undertones, while her relatives speak in broad northern accents. Her neighbours speak in milder RP accents. When flustered, Hyacinth reverts to her native accent.
Hyacinth's attempts to impress makes the lives of those around her difficult; her continual efforts to improve her social position usually involve inviting her unwilling neighbours and friends to "exclusive candlelight suppers". Although Hyacinth is not deterred by the lack of response to her attempts, her friends, neighbours, and acquaintances live in fear of being invited, and usually make frantic attempts to excuse themselves.
Hyacinth's husband Richard (Clive Swift) bears the brunt of the suffering. He initially worked for the council in "Finance and General Purposes", but at the beginning of series three, reluctantly accepts early retirement. Though Hyacinth describes his role as "a power in local authority", he appears to be no more than a bureaucratic functionary. Although he loves her with a long-suffering endurance, he is notably exasperated by her plans and her habit of making extravagant and unnecessary purchases.
Although she lives to impress others, Hyacinth regularly competes with her middle-class neighbours (whom she considers snobbish showoffs) such as Sonja Barker-Finch, Delia Wheelwright and Lydia Hawksworth (who alone of Hyacinth's rivals seems to be an actual snob, as she disdains kiwifruit as "lower middle class"). Hyacinth sometimes says things like "I haven't a snobbish bone in my body" or "I can't abide such snobbery like that" when talking about those she considers her competition.
Hyacinth's working-class sisters Daisy (Judy Cornwell) and Rose (Shirley Stelfox in series one; Mary Millar thereafter), along with Daisy's husband Onslow (Geoffrey Hughes), frequently disrupt Hyacinth's efforts to portray an upper-class image and serve as an unwelcome reminder of her background. They, along with Hyacinth's senile father, frequently turn up inconveniently (usually in their clapped-out Ford Cortina – which always makes a characteristic backfire when it arrives), with Hyacinth going to great lengths to avoid them (saying: "Richard, you know I love my family, but that's no reason why I should have to acknowledge them in broad daylight!"). Rose is very sexually aggressive and promiscuous, adding to Hyacinth's embarrassment. Although Hyacinth is embarrassed by Onslow's laziness and unkempt character, Richard and Onslow get along very well, while Daisy's cheerful nature wins over anyone she meets from Hyacinth's preferred social circle.
Hyacinth's senile father frequently has flashbacks to the Second World War, and often exhibits bizarre behaviour, sometimes involving embarrassing situations with women (Onslow describes him as "barmy"). Two relatives of whom Hyacinth is not ashamed are her sister Violet (Anna Dawson), who is married to the wealthy Bruce, and her unseen son Sheridan. Violet frequently telephones Hyacinth for advice, allowing her to loudly announce to anyone in earshot, "It's my sister Violet – the one with a Mercedes, swimming pool/sauna and room for a pony". However, Violet's social acceptability is damaged by the eccentric behaviour of her cross-dressing, equestrian-loving turf accountant husband Bruce,Surname unclear. There is a sign outside Violet and Bruce's house reading "The Paddocks", although it's unclear from the context if it's the name of the house, or if Bruce's surname is "Paddock". It may be a reference to Bruce's job as a paddock is a small enclosure for horses. whom she attacks because of his behaviour.
Hyacinth also tries to impress people with the intellectual prowess of her beloved son Sheridan (who actually only takes a course in needlework at a polytechnic). Hyacinth boasts about the "psychic" closeness of their relationship and how often he writes and telephones her, although he never writes and only telephones his mother to ask for money, much to the despair of Richard. Hyacinth is blissfully oblivious to the seemingly obvious hints that Sheridan, who lives with a man named Tarquin (who makes his own curtains, wears silk pyjamas, and has won prizes for embroidery), is gay, but Richard appears to have realised this, asking Hyacinth if she has ever wondered why Sheridan shows no interest in girls.
Hyacinth's neighbour Elizabeth "Liz" Warden (Josephine Tewson) is frequently invited round for coffee. Though she is ordinarily calm, Elizabeth's nerves go to pieces in Hyacinth's house, causing her to smash Hyacinth's china and spill coffee and biscuits on Hyacinth's Burmese rug or table. She is married with a daughter away at university, yet her husband works abroad and, like Sheridan, neither character ever appears. While everyone else usually addresses her simply as "Liz", Hyacinth almost always calls her by her full name.
Elizabeth is occasionally able to "one-up" Hyacinth herself by reminding her neighbour that her daughter is at university, while Sheridan is studying at a mere polytechnic. Liz's brother Emmet (David Griffin) moves in with her at the beginning of series two, after a messy divorce. Hyacinth, upon learning that Emmet is a musician, frequently and abruptly sings out-of-key at him to try to get a part in one of his productions, making him terrified of leaving the house, lest she see him ("She'll sing at me!"). Emmet's problems are made worse by Hyacinth's mistaken belief that his frightened reactions indicate that he is infatuated with her, which, in fact, could not be further from the truth.
Hyacinth frequently confronts the postman with complaints, harassing him to the point that he will go to extreme lengths not to face her; she often forces workmen and other visitors to her home to remove their shoes before entering. Michael, the vicar of the local church (Jeremy Gittins) is also loath to face the overbearing Hyacinth, to whom he refers (behind her back) as "the Bucket woman". The vicar and his wife sometimes exact comic revenge on Hyacinth for her snobbishness; on one occasion, when she was one of a group of volunteer helpers at the church, the vicar's wife saw to it that Hyacinth's hand went up prematurely and assigned her the job of cleaning the church hall toilets.
Development Writer Roy Clarke said that he conceived the contrast between the pronunciations "Bucket" and "Bouquet" as a symbol of Hyacinth's social pretentions. He was partly inspired by having encountered people with the surname Bottom who insisted on pronouncing it "Bo-tome"
Cast
Main Patricia Routledge as Hyacinth Bucket (Series 1–5) Clive Swift as Richard Bucket (Series 1–5) Josephine Tewson as Elizabeth 'Liz' Warden (Series 1–5) Judy Cornwell as Daisy (Series 1–5) Geoffrey Hughes as Onslow (Series 1–5) Shirley Stelfox as Rose (Series 1) Mary Millar as Rose (Series 2–5) David Griffin as Emmet Hawksworth (Series 2–5)
Recurring Jeremy Gittins as Michael the Vicar (Series 1–5) George Webb as Daddy / Father (Series 1–5) Marion Barron as Vicar's Wife (Series 1–5) Peter Cellier as Major Wilton Smythe (Series 1–2) Leo Dolan as Michael the Postman (Series 1) David Janson as Michael the Postman (Series 3–5) Robert Rawles as Milkman (Series 1–5) Anna Dawson as Violet (Series 5) Charmian May as Councillor Mrs Nugent (Series 1–3) John Evitts as Bruce (Series 5)
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 officially ended after the episode "The Pageant", because Patricia Routledge wanted to focus on other TV and theatre work, including Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, which began airing in 1996. Clive Swift, who portrayed Richard, stated in a BBC interview that Routledge "didn't want to be remembered as simply 'Mrs. Bucket'". Despite the series' ongoing popularity, she wished to pursue other roles as an actress. In a 2017 interview, Routledge said: "I always thought of the great, great Ronnie Barker. He always left something when he was on a high, and it's much better to have people say now 'Oh, why didn't you do some more?' than having them say 'Oh, is that still on?'" Another reason she wished to leave the role was that she felt that the writer Roy Clarke was "recycling some old ideas that we'd already dealt with".
Production Locations The opening sequence shows Hyacinth writing an invitation to one of her trademark candlelight suppers; this invitation lists Hyacinth's address as "Waney Elm, Blossom Avenue, Fuddleton". In the same sequence, the invitation is eventually sent to an address in Eddleton.
Legacy
Various spin-off shows and specials related to the programme were broadcast.
Mr Blobby Meets Hyacinth Bucket