Missing Believed Killed

"Missing Believed Killed"
'Upstairs, Downstairs' episode

James
Episode no. Season 4
Episode 11
Directed by Christopher Hodson
Written by Jeremy Paul
Production code 11
Original air date 23 November 1974

Missing Believed Killed is the eleventh episode of the fourth series of the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. It first aired on 23 November 1974 on ITV.

Background

Missing Believed Killed was recorded in the studio on 22 and 23 August 1974. The outside scenes at the hospital were filmed at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire on 13 August. Waddesdon Manor had also been used for the French château scenes in the earlier episode If You Were the Only Girl in the World.[1] In this episode, Gareth Hunt made what was then a one-off appearance as James's batman Trooper Norton. However, he impressed the programme makers and was offered a regular part and in series five returned to become the footman.[1]

Cast

Plot

It is October 1917, and it has been a week since James was reported "missing believed killed" and his batman, Trooper Norton, delivers his belongings to Eaton Place. However, days later he turns up at Georgina's hospital in France. A piece of shell is removed from just above his right knee, which went slightly gangreneous and a shell also grazed his forehead. He is also suffering from shock and exposure, and he has run a high fever.

James is comforted by Georgina's presence in the hospital, and Georgina has become attached to caring for her step-cousin. Richard and Hazel travel out to France and intend to bring him home with a private ambulance hired by Lady Southwold, Lady Marjorie's mother. Georgina thinks James will not survive the journey and argues with Hazel and Richard, but they take him back anyway. James later lends some credence to Georgina's concerns, admitting that the journey over muddy roads and the channel crossing "nearly killed [him]."

Once back at Eaton Place, James has a private nurse to look after him, but it is clear that James is much more gravely ill than the staff expected. He tells Hazel that the scent from the flowers she has placed in his room remind him of the smell of gas, and he expresses regret that she has become a nurse, not a wife. One night he feels hungry, having previously lost his appetite, and a delighted Hazel and Mrs Bridges make him a snack. However, James has begun to exhibit the flashes of irritation and temper that would characterize his behavior for the rest of the season, lashing out not just about his hunger but about the comfort of his wound dressings and even the appearance of a decorative urn. To thank the servants for their hard work and support, Hazel treats them and pays for them to go and see a George Robey show.

On his father's birthday James makes it to the Morning Room to surprise him. Hazel is concerned, noting that Dr. Foley has requested that James remain in bed for ten weeks, but James dismisses the doctor's ability to appreciate the psychological impact of his experiences after he was injured. He and Hazel appear to mend their fences after some rocky times in their relationship, with James expressing profound gratitude at being surrounded by "good care and attention, and love." He requests that Hazel leave him and his father alone when Richard returns, and Richard expresses joy at seeing James up and in the Morning Room.[2] James then tells his father about his ten days missing; a German officer was patrolling the battlefield after the conflict, shooting wounded soldiers. He stopped at the shell hole in which James was lying, raised his weapon, but then lowered it and looked in James's eyes. This gives James enough time to unholster his own pistol and shoot the German soldier in the head, but not before feeling an intense connection with the soldier. After ultimately spending three days in the shell hole, he is taken captive and moved to a German dressing station, but he wanders out into the smoke and chaos in a fevered attempt to escape the chatter of the prisoner in the bed next to him. He wanders for an indeterminate time before being picked up at a Canadian dressing station. Richard is able to fill in this gap for him and explain that the Canadians transferred him to Georgina's hospital. James also says that he felt his mother's presence while in the shell hole.

The episode ends with James emotionally and physically broken. His encounter with the German soldier leaves him tormented by the feeling that he should have been the one who died, and his few minutes in the morning room plus a glass of champagne leave him giddy and unable to continue to hold himself upright, so Richard helps him up the stairs and back to bed.

Reception

Shaun Usher, who had previously given good reviews for the episode News from the Front, also reviewed this episode in The Daily Mail. His review was headed "Alas old friend, is it time to say farewell", and he said that Upstairs, Downstairs was "losing its grip". Usher said that it was becoming "victim to the television disease - familiarity" and criticised for "raising comic echoes".[1]

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 Marson, Richard (2005). "Inside UpDown - The Story of Upstairs, Downstairs". Kaleidoscope Publishing.
  2. ↑ Later episodes set Missing Believed Killed in October 1917. However, in Mr Bellamy's Story, a book that accompanied the series, it is stated that Richard was born in August 1853, which would conflict with Richard celebrating his birthday in this episode.

References

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