From the front fly-leaf: The television series 'Upstairs, Downstairs' -- a brilliant portrait of British life during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries -- continues to enchant audiences all over the world. With this book author Mollie Hardwick gives us a closer, more detailed vew of that fascinating period. She weaves the story of the Bellamy household into the historical and cultural background of England from the turn of the century to the Great Depression. This book chronicles this time -- of contrast, of social upheaval, of progress - - in an immensely readable text that is richly illustrated with hundreds of old photographs, posters, drawings, and television stills.