The BEST episodes directed by Bill Bain
#1 - Whither Shall I Wander?
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 5 - Episode 16
(Audio commentary available on some DVDs). After nearly 30 years, the Bellamy saga ends with the sale of 165 Eaton Place and a fresh beginning for every member of the household.
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#2 - Will Ye No Come Back Again?
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 5 - Episode 12
Hudson is back in his element when the Bellamys travel to Scotland for their summer holiday.
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#3 - On with the Dance
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 5 - Episode 1
Eaton Place is enveloped with uncertainty. Edward and Daisy have moved on and been replaced with Frederick Norton, James' servant from the war, and Lily. The newlyweds, Richard and Virginia, and her children, Alica and William, have plans to move into their own home. There's not enough work to keep everyone busy and the house is far too large for James to live there alone, so he decides it's time to sell the house and gives the servants a month's notice.
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#4 - The Joy Ride
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 5 - Episode 4
When James buys a small airplane, Virginia defies Richard, putting the entire household through quite an ordeal.
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#5 - The Hero's Farewell
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 4 - Episode 10
Lady Prudence commandeers the Bellamy drawing room for a worthy cause. Another London bombing, another close call, and another tragedy is heaped upon the tattered nerves of those at Eaton Place.
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#6 - The Sudden Storm
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 3 - Episode 13
On the verge of war, Mrs Bridges receives a marriage proposal but the gentleman quickly loses favor in her eyes. Edward and Daisy declare their love, as do Georgina and Billy, while James and Hazel's relationship hangs on by a thread. When Britain declares war on Germany, James is recalled to the military.
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#7 - Home Fires
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 4 - Episode 6
The reappearance of Gregory Wilmot throws Rose into a tailspin. Lady Prudence butts heads with Helen over a tea party for wounded officers.
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#8 - Disillusion
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 5 - Episode 7
Spring is in the air and Hudson has found love, but it comes at a price for the household. In the end, the object of his affection makes a sacrifice for him.
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#9 - Whom God hath Joined...
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 2 - Episode 4
Elizabeth comes home for Christmas without Lawrence. The Bellamys face another family crisis when it is discovered that Elizabeth is expecting a baby.
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#10 - Joke Over
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 5 - Episode 13
After an evening of dissipated behavior and a reckless drive into the countryside, Georgina must appear at a coroner's inquest, when one of the locals is killed.
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#11 - The Charmers
The Avengers - Season 3 - Episode 23
The opposition believe Steed is responsible for the death of their agent Vinkel. Steed, however, had nothing to do with the murder and, as a show of good faith, agrees to a swap of partners with Keller in a bid to find the real killer.
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#12 - Guest of Honour
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 2 - Episode 5
There is great excitement among the servants when King Edward VII attends a supper party at Eaton Place. During the evening the arrival of an unexpected visitor creates an emergency below stairs.
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#13 - Mandrake
The Avengers - Season 3 - Episode 18
After attending the funeral of an old friend in a lonely Cornish village cemetery, Steed discovers a plot to poison millionaires.
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#14 - Distant Thunder
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 3 - Episode 12
The summer brings a stifling heatwave, causing passions, emotions, and tempers to run hot. Georgina is staying at Eaton Place for the summer and has "come out" in society as a young debutante, Rose is regretting her decision regarding Gregory Wilmot, Hazel is recovering from her miscarriage, and James is letting his eye wander in an inappropriate and very dangerous direction.
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#15 - The Beastly Hun
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 4 - Episode 3
The bitter anti-German sentiment generated by the sinking of the Lusitania causes the Bellamy servants to consider their own attitudes when a local tradesman of German descent is attacked, along with his family. Hazel discovers that Hudson has been spreading scare stories around the servants' hall and displaying an exaggerated hatred of Germans.
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#16 - The Undertakers
The Avengers - Season 3 - Episode 2
All the occupants of a rest home, Adelphi Park, are multi-millionaires. And most of them are refusing to see anyone, including Professor Renter who was due to fly to America with Steed to show off his latest invention. His wife is unable or unwilling to help and, curiously, the neighbour, Madden, another millionaire, is missing.
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#17 - The Gilded Cage
The Avengers - Season 3 - Episode 7
Steed's trap for criminal mastermind J.P. Spaggs involves a brilliant plan to steal a million pounds in gold bullion. But when two detectives arrive at Steed's flat and arrest Cathy for Spagge's murder things don't seem to be going to plan.
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#18 - Miss Forrest
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 3 - Episode 1
It's two years later and Eaton Place has seen many changes. Richard is writing his late father-in-law's biography, assisted by Miss Hazel Forrest, his typist. James has been working in London ever since Phyllis broke off their engagement, and Miss Forrest has caught his eye. Daring to venture across the class boundaries once again, James invites her to dine with him, much to the chagrin of Hudson who finds this impropriety upsetting and when he's unable to hide his feelings, it provokes a confrontation with James. Lady Marjorie is looking forward to visiting Elizabeth who now lives in America. Her brother, Lord Hugo Southwold, and his new wife, Marion, are also going, as well as her maid, Roberts, who is giddy with excitement that she gets to sail on the maiden voyage of that magnificent new ship, the Titanic!
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#19 - Rose's Pigeon
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 3 - Episode 5
Alfred, the Bellamy's former footman from a few years ago, shows up on the doorstep, cold, wet, and hungry, with no where else to go. Although his behavior is erratic, Rose lets him in to eat and stay the night in a storage room. When he's discovered the next morning, Alfred panics and the situation quickly falls apart.
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#20 - What the Butler Saw
The Avengers - Season 4 - Episode 22
According to Steed's double-agent barber, one of three military men is a traitor. But which one? To find out, Steed becomes a butler, and Emma starts Operation Fascination to trap the woman-hungry Group Captain Miles.
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#21 - A Change of Scene
Upstairs, Downstairs - Season 3 - Episode 3
James attends a weekend hunting party where some guests attempt to set him up with his childhood chum, Lady Diana Russell, even though his best friend, Bunny, wants to marry her. Hudson accompanies James and steps up to lend a helping hand when the head butler, who appears to be suffering from Alzheimer's, falls short in his duties. He's later offered a job when the mistress of the house takes note of his capabilities.
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#22 - Dressed to Kill
The Avengers - Season 3 - Episode 14
An incoming missile attack, which is detected by all but one of the country's early warning stations, proves to be a false alarm. Steed finds himself attending an exclusive New Year's Eve fancy-dress party on a train. The train terminates at a remote, deserted station, and a guest is killed with an arrow.
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#23 - November Five
The Avengers - Season 3 - Episode 6
Michael Dyter, the newly elected MP for South-East Anglia is shot shortly after making his acceptance speech in which he had threatened to expose a major scandal involving the government. Steed knows that the subject of this was the recent theft of a nuclear warhead near London. So was Dyter killed to keep him quiet, and if so, by whom?
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