Magic Casements

"Magic Casements" is the seventh episode of the first series of the British television series, Upstairs, Downstairs. The episode is set in the summer of 1906.

"Magic Casements" was among the episodes omitted from Upstairs, Downstairs' initial Masterpiece Theatre broadcast in 1974, and was consequently not shown on US television until 1989.

Cast[]

Guest cast

• David Kernan - Capt. Charles Hammond
• Harold Bennett - Book Shop Assistant
• Maureen Neill - Young Student
• David Pelton - Young Student
• Tom Collister - Professor
• Joyce Freeman - Woman in Bookshop
• John Demarco - Waiter

Plot[]

When Richard Bellamy is unable to go with his wife to an opera because he has to attend a political meeting, adding to the friction which has already developed between them over Richard's political stance, he asks Charles Hammond, a friend of his son James, who is fanatical about opera, to go instead. They greatly enjoy the opera, and each other's company. They meet again a few days later in a bookshop, and Charles asks her to read him "Ode To A Nightingale" by Keats. They go to his house, where she reads and plays the piano for him. Charles admits that he loves her, and she admits that she cares for him as well. They begin to have an affair, which the servants get wind of, in spite of Lady Marjorie's attempts to hide it- she burns the note that comes with the bouquet of roses which Charles sends her. They discover a boxful of letters. We see Charles and Marjorie in bed together, and dancing to a gramophone together. Charles wants to make the affair public, and badgers Marjorie to divorce Richard. Marjorie insists that the affair be kept secret a while longer. James and Charles plan to attend a regatta. Hudson, the Butler, sees news of a regatta accident in the papers, and goes to tell Marjorie. She bursts into tears, and Hudson and Richard assume that she is worried about James. Charles comes to tell Marjorie that he is alright, but Richard walks in on them as they are embracing- they break apart just in time, and Richard assumes that Charles is there on James' behalf. But James returns and reveals that he was unable to attend the regatta after all, because he had to stand in court in place of a friend, who "got the collywobbles" at the last minute. Richard is angry with James for not informing Marjorie, but James insists that he phoned her at lunch. Richard begins to piece together what has happened. Rather than losing his temper with his wife, he tells her that he has changed his political stance, as it is a question of loyalty. Marjorie realises he is right, and she must also be loyal- she sends a note to Charles, asking her to meet him at the opera, and there, she ends the affair, bidding him a tearful farewell. He gives her a pendant, and she dissolves into sobbing after he has left.^[1]

The title[]

The episode's title is taken from Keats' 1820 poem Ode to a Nightingale, verse 7:^[2]

Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.

References[]