Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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In the last 100 years, some 2,000 of our stately homes have disappeared, together with the armies of servants that once maintained them. But the world of Upstairs, Downstairs still lingers on in some of our remaining great houses where it can take a silver steward 18 months to clean all 1,000 silver pieces, and a gamekeeper works all year to provide just a few days' shooting.

In One of the Family, Jeanne la Chard looks at life behind the green baize door and talks to the men and women who enjoy their jobs and who are proud to be called servants, as well as some of the Dukes and Duchesses who employ them.


Clip taken from Man Alive, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 18 December, 1979.





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