Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom, created by Roy Clarke, and broadcast on BBC1. It stars Patricia Routledge as Hyacinth Bucket (which she insists is pronounced "Bouquet"), a social climbing snob intent on impressing the upper and upper-middle classes and striving for social perfection. The series also features Clive Swift as her long-suffering husband, Richard; Josephine Tewson as Elizabeth Warden, Hyacinth's next-door neighbour; Judy Cornwell and Shirley Stelfox as Hyacinth's sisters Daisy and Rose, respectively; and Geoffrey Hugues as Onslow, Daisy's husband. From the second series, Mary Millar replaced Shirley Stelfox as Rose, and David Griffin joined the cast as Emmet Hawksworth, Elizabeth's brother.
The first series was broadcast on Mondays at 8:30 pm.[1]
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The second series was broadcast on Sundays at 7:15 pm.[2] The 1991 Christmas special was broadcast on Wednesday night at 8:50 pm.[3]
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The third series was broadcast on Sundays at 7:15 pm.[4]
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The fourth series and the 1993 Christmas special (Boxing Day) was broadcast on Sundays at 7:00 pm.[5] [6] The 1994 Christmas special was broadcast on Sunday evening at 5:25 pm.[7]
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The fifth series was broadcast on Sundays at 8:30 pm.[8] The 1995 Christmas special was broadcast on Monday night at 8:00 pm.[9]
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A short special was produced for Children in Need and broadcast on 24 November 1995.[10]
Two compilation specials were produced; the first, "The Memoirs of Hyacinth Bucket", was broadcast on 20 March 1997[11] and sees Daisy discovers a manuscript of Hyacinth's memoirs amongst some things she loaned her, prompting Daisy and Onslow to look back at some of the funniest moments from the show. The second, "Life Lessons from Onslow", was released exclusively on DVD in the United States via BBC Video on 9 September 2008. It sees Onslow present lessons for life when hosting an Open University programme, by showing various moments from the Keeping Up Appearances show. All the favourites are here in an hour-long retrospective.[12]
See main article: article and Young Hyacinth. A prequel episode was broadcast on BBC One on 2 September 2016[13] which is set in the early 1950s and a young Hyacinth Walton (Kerry Howard) is seen desperately trying to force her family to climb the ever-expanding social ladder. It was watched by 4.39 million viewers.[14]
The Warner Home Video 10 disc Collector's Edition DVD box set mislabels series 5 episodes 6-10 as series 6 episodes in the United States.
The Series Three and Four Boxset did not include the 1993 and 1994 Christmas specials. These were released with the 2006 boxset. A complete collection was released on 8 October 2007.[15]