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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 346116" data-attributes="member: 23">Series Three Miss Forrest We first meet the eponymous Miss Forrest in a scene with Richard, her back to camera. For a moment or two, the titian mop and cut glass accent made me think it was actually Marjorie. I do wonder if there’s a psychology to this. Since, presumably, this could move in a “new mistress of the house” direction, it’s interesting to see that casting appears to have been for a physical “type” to effectively replace Marjorie. The stir Miss Forrest causes is certainly thrilling enough for me to invest, particularly the threat her presence and her treatment by James has meant to the all-important order of things. When an instalment of an episodic series begins, a picture is often formed of what it’s about; this week’s “theme” and most heavily-featured players. As the pieces were moved into place, I initially feared that Miss Forrest was being presented to pave the way for her becoming the future Mrs Richard Bellamy. This is something that wouldn’t have sat well with me since Marjorie is both still present and, to my mind at this point, irreplaceable. It was a relief to find that it was James who had designs on her* and then thought this might be about friction between James and Richard over James courting his employee and disrupting the progress of his work. Better yet, it was the most delightful of surprises when this unexpectedly became a Hudson-centric episode, with the butler virtually seeing double with fury over James’s lack of regard for the delicate social structure within his household.Any episode that gives Gordon Jackson the opportunity to take centre stage is a great one, and this is right up there with Your Obedient Servant in that regard. In some ways it exceeds it, since it is focussed entirely upon relationships within the house. There are lots of close-ups and some terrific moments where Hudson’s passionate beliefs drive him to outbursts and a little diatribe or two. However it’s Hudson’s smaller moments - with everything internalised - that demonstrate how wonderfully Gordon performs with nuance and transmits to the viewer what’s going on inside with barely a flicker on the outside. This is most evident in the scenes between Hudson and Miss Forrest. There’s a wonderfully uncomfortable scene as James and Miss Forrest take lunch where Hudson and Edward stand behind James, facing Miss Forrest. Hudson appears completely impassive, but all four eyes stare in her general direction, unnerving her. Ostensibly, Hudson is doing what he would at any mealtime, but everything about the energy says “you do not belong here”. Hudson would be aware that middle class secretary Miss Forrest is already intimidated by the formality and it’s implicit that he wants to make the experience as uncomfortable as possible for her. It’s only in the tightest of close-ups that we see a glimmer of pained horror as Hudson’s master’s best claret is consumed before his eyes, following a battle of wills between Hudson and James.Hudson is certain Richard would strongly disapprove of one of his last two bottles of claret being opened in his absence and served at lunchtime (and, by Hudson’s interpretation, to someone of Hazel Forest’s background) and he speaks to James one-to-one trying to prevent this. After some to-ing and fro-ing in the power struggle, Hudson is overruled by James and, long story short, tells James he intends to give notice upon Richard and Marjorie’s return, which he duly does. The scenes between Hudson and James also deliver some of Simon Williams’s strongest work in the series to date and are quite electric. The angry, righteous James as master of the house in his parents absence evokes his very first scenes back in Series One’s Board Wages. Simon has said in interview that he felt he was very green back in his debut and they’re the scenes he’d most like to re-shoot. Watching these scenes, it’s easy to think that he came very close to doing just that here, and the presence with which he does so - going toe-to-toe with Gordon Jackson, no less - impresses and shows the growth in his confidence. The fallout of James’s luncheon resonates both upstairs and down. There’s a full complement of staff downstairs (it’s great to see Christopher Beeny back and - to my surprise when he got up from his chair - mobile) to take deep breaths, make heavy sighs and look skyward upon hearing of Master James’s antics, which is always good fun. Perhaps most satisfying of all in what I’m now certain must be Rachel Gurney’s final UpDown episode, is that this scenario presents a difference of opinion between Marjorie and Richard. They initially appear united in their frustration at James for putting Hudson in a situation so untenable he has resigned. However, Marjorie quickly makes clear that she feels Miss Forrest must lack “taste and good judgement” for accepting James’s forceful offer of luncheon. What’s more, even though she’s devastated at the idea of Hudson departing, Marjorie’s different socio-economic background to her husband’s quickly shows when Richard wants James to apologise to Hudson and Marjorie very quickly protests that she will not allow her son to apologise to a servant. It’s a fascinating dynamic, very true to the series’ premise. James’s eventual spontaneous apology to Hudson was probably necessary to provide the story with a resolution, and it did come across as respectful. However (and particularly since Hudson had already retracted his resignation and so was staying anyway) I think my preference would have been for it to happen in such a way that James got across his meaning to Hudson without explicitly saying the words. With cast members usually despatched in a throwaway line or two, it’s nice that Marjorie (and Roberts - or so it seems) were given a bit of a wave-off by other characters as they departed. I absolutely LOVED the subtlety with which their tragic fates were imparted, with there being no reference at all to the specific mode of transport they were taking until Richard dictated his Marconigram to Miss Forrest. I was so wrapped up in awaiting to the content of his actual message, that the key information - the throwaway reference to Marjorie’s ship - took several seconds to dawn on me. We were tastefully zooming into Marjorie’s portrait as it sank in that RMS Titanic sank on her sole voyage.It’s a greatly exciting little twist, and since I didn’t know it was coming I was able to get the full impact, unspoilt. Having seen a thumbnail of the next episode on the UpDown website's episode list I have had a spoiler about one of the outcomes of this tragedy, but I have no context to know what it means. I’m greatly looking forward to the next instalment, though I’m also very sorry to lose the ever-watchable Marjorie. At least her final episode gave us some nice, meaty scenes that proved the lioness still had her claws.</blockquote>

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