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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 344090" data-attributes="member: 23">Series One Board Wages / The Path Of Duty / A Suitable Marriage / Magic Casements This run has reinforced just how risqué the presentation feels. Certainly, some of the events in the series so far are scandalous and shocking by the standards of Edwardian England, but it also feels quite daring for 1971. We’ve already had Scone’s titties painting, and these episodes include Rose walking in on Alfred in flagrante delicto with another man, and Lady Marjorie having a steamy affair with a younger man. While I understand these early episodes were shown quite late at night, the period dressing of the series makes it feel like an “8pm on a Sunday evening” kind of series, and with that mindset it does feel as though it pushes the envelope. I dare say the black and white deepens this as well, since it really does conjure up images of more innocent times. It’s a wee bit annoying to realise - too late - that the episodes are placed out of order on the discs. Magic Casements - a return to colour - is the sixth episode, but should really be seventh. Meanwhile, I’ve yet to watch the actual sixth episode, which is one of the black and white ones. Ah well. I don’t appear to have been given any huge spoilers or had continuity ruined. Something that also felt surprising (even though I knew it was coming. Perhaps I know more about this series than I’d thought) was the departure of Sarah at the end of the third episode. What made it feel most unexpected is that, up to this point, Sarah has been the most heavily featured character. We were introduced to the characters through her eyes in Episode One. The second episode had her sittings with Scone and the accompanying controversy. The third episode completes the hat-trick, with Sarah quickly becoming the focus in the scene that folllows the downstairs lot (sans Hudson and Mrs Bridges, naturally) drunkenly cavorting round the empty house play acting at being the masters. Pauline Collins was wonderfully comic as the drunken girl pretending to be posh. In almost all her scenes to this point, it’s felt like she’s been channeling Barbara Windsor - she certainly sounded almost identical to her anyway. But in these drunken scenes there’s a preview of the Pauline Collins we’ll see in No - Honestly. She goes all dreamy, as Sarah is wont to do, and does that hilarious talking out of the side of her mouth thing while talking posh. Of course, we knew that someone was going to come home and walk into the scene, but there was still a bit of a twist when it was someone we, the audience, hadn’t met before: the Bellamys’ son, James. James’s response to the situation is delightfully - almost quirkily - unexpected… he played along. Sarah has just called imperiously for Hudson, so he “plays” Hudson, serving drinks to the shame-faced servants until they’re pig sick. Sarah’s response to this is equally quirky. She continues to play her part and is the only one who doesn’t end up force fed spirits because she raises her voice haughtily to James as though he really is her servant. For a time, she seems completely in control of the situation and James seems to admire that. It’s all a bit bizarre and perhaps unlikely, but the atmosphere in the room is thick with tension and a kind of horror.For her third consecutive episode Sarah was objectified by a man as James forced her to get changed and then lovingly put his mother’s nightwear on her. Even after all this, Sarah suddenly deciding to leave felt sudden. She’s already almost been thrown out for stealing food, and again for tarnishing the Bellamy name with The Maids painting. Frankly, this latest business felt like just another day in the life of Sarah Moffat. Still, it’s not entirely out of character. Apart from Sarah being a bit of a butterfly and probably no stranger to dramatic exits, it could be argued that she also realised that this home isn’t the place of safety Rose believes it to be. The shift in “power” in Sarah and Rose’s relationship continued right up to the end, and there was a fascinating final scene between them where Sarah made an impassioned speech about not wanting to wear second-hand clothes and be hidden in an attic, while Rose begged Sarah to stay because she’s her only true friend. Again, it was Rose’s response to this change which made it all the more fascinating. I’m curious to know why Sarah was written out at this point. Was it by design, or did Pauline Collins want (or need) to leave? I do know she'd stepped into the role when co-creator Eileen Atkins became unavailable, and I dare say her own schedule was busy enough as well, so perhaps it was that. I have a feeling she’ll be back. Other characters such as Mrs Bridges and Hudson have appeared less frequently than I’d expect, with each having at least a couple of consecutive episodes away. Perhaps this is the case for Sarah as well, but she was better serviced with the writing. continued...</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?