Jean's Journal: "What will the neighbours think?"

by Jean Farrell

Mrs Bucket was one woman who cared deeply about what the neighbours thought! I wonder is she organising ‘candlelight suppers’ above in Heaven. Has she invited Queen Elizabeth yet?

I’ve been reading about the wonderful actress Patricia Routledge. Hadn’t she most marvellous facial expressions?

She had a very successful career on stage, long before she starred in Keeping Up Appearances. Patricia Routledge was 61 years old when she took on the role of Hyacinth. The series continued for five years, from 1991 until 1996. It is regularly shown on TV stations, all over the world. I’ve read that Americans love it and assume that everyone in England lives like her!

I think we watch it because we all know people who have/had delusions of grandeur, like Hyacinth. And did you note that the four sisters were named after flowers - Hyacinth, Rose, Daisy and Violet, who had ‘room for a pony.’ My favourite line from the series was when (sexy) Rose had fallen out with her latest lover. She announced, "I'm going back to being a virgin!"

Patricia Routledge went on to play the part of Hettie Wainthopp, a crime drama series on television.

The character, Onslow, in Keeping Up Appearances was played by actor Geoffrey Hughes. We have known this versatile actor for a long time.

We first met him in Coronation Street, as bin man Eddie Yeats. He lodged with Hilda and Stan Ogden, two much loved characters.

We met him in The Royle Family too, where he played the role of Twiggy. He appeared to be always dealing in stolen goods. Twiggy was in and out of prison regularly, which he seemed to like! He told (long suffering) Barbara that if he’s in jail during the winter he can save on heating oil, get good food and have a bit of crack with the lads.

He also played the part of Vernon Scripps, a rogue businessman, in Heartbeat.

He’s always been cast as a kind of lovable rogue. However, as Onslow, in Keeping Up Appearances, he played the part of a completely useless article! This actor, Geoffrey Hughes, died in 2012, aged 68.

Another actor whom we have seen in a lot of roles is David Jason. We know him best as Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses. I came across him first as Pop Larkin in The Darling Buds of May. He played Granville in Open All Hours and Still Open All Hours.

He starred as Inspector Jack Frost in A Touch of Frost. However, I think he will be best remembered for his role as Del Boy, in Only Fools And Horses. This much-loved programme is shown every day, on some channel or another. David Jason is now aged 85.

Recently, I came across the programme Little House on the Prairie. My children and I loved this. It was about Charles, Caroline, Mary, Laura and Carrie Ingalls, who lived in Walnut Grove, in the late 1800s. We also loved The Waltons.

How wholesome these lovely programmes were. They showed family values as their best. (Don’t I sound just like an old, retired teacher?)

I’ve been thinking about the term ‘keeping up appearances.’ This was a full-time job, long ago, for Irish families. They had to pretend that everything was fine and normal, no matter what was going on. “All is grand in our house,” was the message given to the neighbours. A daughter who became pregnant outside marriage was whisked away, out of sight. “We’re all grand,” the family insisted.

A family member who had a mental illness was ‘a top secret.’ He/she was whisked away, out of sight, also. No-one must know that there is mental illness in the family. “We’re all grand, thank you!”

Even though a husband may have been seen staggering home from the pub every night, separation was out of the question. Keeping up the appearance of everything being grand was very stressful indeed. It was hard work to keep smiling! And we were assured, from the pulpit, that our circumstances were ‘God’s will.’ Our reward would be in Heaven.

This was in the past. Hopefully things have improved greatly. We know now that’s it’s okay not to be okay. We can discuss our problems more openly. What the neighbours think matters less. This is because we realise that they have problems too. Hopefully, for most of us, our self-esteem is no longer based on what the neighbours think.

I read that what Hyacinth suffered from was ‘status anxiety.’ The article stated, “Those who suffer from snobbery are insecure in their self-esteem, so they need the esteem of others to make them feel good.”

I wrote about the ‘Connaught Street and Environs Community Group’ last week. Author, John Broderick, lived in Connaught Street. Most of his successful novels were based on people trying to keep up appearances in a small town! There were definitely some Mrs Buckets in his books!

I’ll end with good news. Two weeks ago, I wrote here about performing The Six Marys in Newcastle West. I wrote about most of our props and clothes been sent off to charity, by mistake, before we performed!

Well, the good news is that the girls, who made the mistake, set about finding every single item we lost. They had asked us for a list before we left Newcastle West.

A big cardboard box arrived in the post, last week, containing all our missing props and clothes. Fair play to the three girls! It can’t have been an easy task to find them all!

jeanfarrell@live.ie