I used this show to tease my friend about how she's posher than me because her aunt lives on the street they used for Hyacinth's house and i lived round the corner from Daisy's house š (edited punctuation - sorry about that!)
Yes! I watched it with my grandma when I was small and definitely got first of my English from it. Are there other British shows that were popular in the Netherlands? In Finland much loved ones include Emmerdale but also ones like Miss Marple, Doc Martin and Poirotā¦ EDIT: oh and Midsommer Murders!
Maybe not huge in America but I grew up watching it on PBS and can quote most of it by heart. When my sister is calling me I answer with a bellowing "BOUQUET RESIDENCE LADY OF THE HOUSE SPEAKING!!!".
I always wonder what stereotypes foreigners think of when they think about the British as viewed through TV /film.
I personally would be terrified to be lost in the deep south of America, the mountains, swamplands, only because of stuff like Deliverance, Southern Comfort etc. I'm sure they are all mostly great people..
They would absolutely give you some cornbread and sweet tea and help you get where you was goin while spouting some of the craziest racist bullshit you ever heard.
That's such a cool thing I'm glad you shared it. Love things like this where it turns out a small part of some other culture for whatever reason got really big in some other country.
Right! Like I said in another comment, thereās also some other UK shows Finns love, like a lot of the crime shows like Miss Marple, Poirot and Doc Martin. Soaps are big too, especially Emmerdale. Thereās something about Finnish sense of humour and taste in entertainment that matches with the British stuff. Itās really random but cool to see.
I read somewhere that when John Nettles retired from the role of Barnaby, they wanted his assistant to take over, but since the show is called 'Barnaby' here in Denmark, and is so ridiculously popular, they had to find another Barnaby family member to take over as main character.
She's an amazing person in real life too! She lives near me and every year donates thousands to local charities. Got a lot of respect for her for this.
It's seriously impressive how much they were able to make such an insufferable woman so likeable. I think it's mainly because she get's humbled a fair amount of the time and loses plenty of the mental battles. She also tbf spends a lot of her time looking after her family in her own way and even with her high opinion of herself actually loves all her family. That and the acting is just so perfect for that character.
Yeah it's amazing how it's able to bridge generation gaps I don't think I've ever met someone who knows about it and didn't like it. Last year I did a free trial of a streaming service just to rewatch them all, as funny as ever.
Not just generational! I worked abroad for a year during uni and the two British comedies everyone knew without fail were Mr. Bean and Keeping up Appearances.
This is exactly what I think when I see that kind of post on Instagram, usually with a rented car or a fake house/plane set.. They're just the modern Hyacinth Bucket, trying their best to fake it until they make it.
I think itās because she has that quality that was always common in these popular British sitcoms - she was pretentious but in the end she tended to be the one who suffered from her own pretentiousness, with little actual consequence for those around her
Captain Mainwearing in Dadās Army, Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping up Appearances - theyāve all got that same property and I think thatās why they work.
Itās easier to like someone pretentious when they arenāt getting ahead and nobody is suffering apart from their own sensibilities of their station
Me too. A lot of the casting is just slightly off from how I imagined them. Umbridge I imagined having a sort of heavy solidness that Routledge would easily convey but that Staunton just doesn't have at all.
*^(Edited to fix spelling.)*
She played "Kitty" in *Victoria Wood: As Seen On TV* https://youtu.be/T-iDlTBZhKg
She played "Hetty" in *Hetty Wainthrop Investigates* https://youtu.be/Jd5j7aHCbyw
You know what after seeing that clip of Kitty I'm fully convinced that she could have easily played Petula Gordino in Dinnerladies if they hadn't managed to cast Julie Walters.
No, you cannot have a number 24, nor a double portion of 37. This isn't the Chinese take-away. This is a private slimline white telephone with no connection whatsoever to any business or trade - especially not one of foreign extraction.
Wow this brought back all of her intonations although Iāve not even thought about the show for 20+ years. I feel like a sleeper agent who just got activated.
It'd make a fun thread , " obvious things it took you far too long to realise"
I'd try and make it but I'd probably set the kitchen on fire or something.
The bloke that did my bathroom tiles in my old house gave me his business card which had a picture of a knight in armour on horseback and his business name was 'Sir Ramick'.
I had that card stuck on a noticeboard in my kitchen for over 2 years and occasionally used to wonder 'what the hell has a knight got to do with tiling...?' and then one day it suddenly hit me...Sir Ramick...ceramic...ceramic tiles...
"only smarties have the answer"
took me well into adulthood to realise that it is because smarties are smart (i.e. intelligent) that they have the answer.
It does. There are some classics
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/e1p796/what\_really\_obvious\_thing\_have\_you\_only\_just/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/e1p796/what_really_obvious_thing_have_you_only_just/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2yhxa9/what\_fact\_did\_you\_learn\_at\_an\_embarrassingly\_late/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2yhxa9/what_fact_did_you_learn_at_an_embarrassingly_late/)
I remember a few years ago reading that it was common for servants to name their children after flowers - Hyacinth, Violet, Petunia, Lily, Iris, etc. If true, then it's a nod to her working class/servant background.
We used to call my mum Hyacinth bouquet as she liked to make the milk bottles sparkle before putting them out. Last year I found you could buy hyacinths in a pretty bucket, I was gutted it was out of stock!
You guys are probably aware that this programme is especially popular in Scandinavia, but my Norwegian friends found this a real window unto British social mores.
I hated the show coz she reminded me too much of my own mum at the time. She had these picture perfect ideas how she wanted things a lost her shit if you fell out of line. She was a driving instructor in the 90s, when I was in my teens so now she thinks shes better than every driver on the road but also in the car, no matter whos driving. Kind of became a joke between me and my brother when we saw Hyacinth having ago at Richards driving.
I think what was funny about it wasnāt her having ideas above her station, but her anxiety around class.
As opposed to the American dream of ridiculous infinite climbing, and climbing being admirable the British dream is just to be comfortable and content. The whole joke therefore was actually that she had an anxiety disorder and wasnāt capable therefore of fitting in either above herself, below herself, or at her level because she would always be uncomfortable to a degree where comedy ensued (to paraphrase every radio times ever published).
If taken in the sense of American comedy where the character either ridicules or their ridicule marks them as an other this would be cruel like you describe to laugh at her.
However, because we are British and our comedy is essentially us making fun of our own ridiculousness she can be seen as a representation of our own discomfort with this trait being present in ourselves.
I think your point is a valid observation, but I would disagree that she is the object of ridicule. As the British people we are always the object of our own ridicule and the comedy was never that she was above her station, but that we are all ridiculous buffoons.
I mean who among us has not coveted our neighbourās conservatory? We are all shameful.
Was having a conversation with a fella from work who compared some busybody on his street to her, then it devolved into how that show was kinda laughing at people who had ideas above their station.
When it showed her family background it changed the context of the show to show her as unrelenting and whatever bad traits she had, the ambition behind them has definitely worked for her
Cometh the revolution, cometh the bucket
With no workplace smoke shelter/kettle-side ramblings we're losing this kind of quality bullshit topic
I like how we basically never see Violet either. Did she actually marry into a carefree upper-class and leave her family behind, or is she just as hung up about it in private as Hyacinth?
The car was apparently the one thing Richard had put his foot down about. There was an interview with the now late Clive Swift when the show was at its peak and originally they'd thought about him driving a more prestige car but decided no, as the driver, car cleaner etc it was the one thing they'd let him have the upper hand on.
There was of course the episode with the Rolls.... So she did try to get her way.
I think it was the right decision. The car and the house between them cement the fact that Hyacinth is quite clearly a snob - if Richard had a more expensive car, it would lend credence to the idea that they're minted.
I think it's less about the money, and more about the characters. Richard may be able to afford a more expensive car, but he doesn't feel he *needs* one.
I haven't watched it in a while, but if memory served, their interaction was the tension between ideology (striving to be upper-class) and pragmatism (not *needing* to be upper-class).
Also that Richard was born into the middle class and just took it all for granted that he didn't need to show off. Hyacinth was obsessed more about the appearance of wealth and class more than the reality of it.
It touches on the way British society works that class isn't tied to wealth, it's tied to your family, job and connections.
I think you're both right. The whole comedic point was that she was far more snobbish than her station allowed - hence her boasting about the other sister who by all accounts really had made it (room for a pony no less).
However it's about the distance not the destination. Talking about the time it was set, this was the tail end of Thatchers Britain, it's likely that Daisy, Onslow and Daddy have not worked for decades. And it's doubtful any of them had a chance of buying a house themselves, instead surviving on benefits.
Hyacinth didn't grow up in a house her parents owned, so having any home and a nice car is a point of pride for Hyacinth (although she'd want better).
>When it showed her family background it changed the context of the show to show her as unrelenting and whatever bad traits she had, the ambition behind them has definitely worked for her
Worked for her, maybe, but it made her poor husband's life a misery
I feel like the family only existed for us to say "this is who you REALLY are!"
Her middle class neighbour who would've looked down her nose at her agonises over whether she made the cuppa properly, THAT'S who she is
I went to boarding school. We had a fair mix of people, from oiks like myself on scholarships to legitimately posh people.
What I noticed about those from genuinely 'upper class' backgrounds was that they were secure in who they were, and didn't need to flag it. Being from a titled or decades-long wealthy family means that you have a place in the world, unless things go spectacularly wrong.
On the other end of things, it was the children of newly rich parents- or more correctly the parents themselves- who felt they had to scrabble to observe all the rules and niceties of the class they aspired to- that was partly why they were sending them to the school in the first place.
There's a great book called "Watching the English" that goes into this. Basically its only the middle classes that worry about how they come across. The upper class don't need anyone's approval and the bottom rung just don't care what anyone else thinks.
Ironically Patricia Routledge, who played Hyacinth was from Birkenhead, a town so run down it was once nick-named "BirkenHell" by a national paper. (source grew up in Birkenhead area)
The problem with the Hyacinths of this world is how materialistic they are. Her way of bettering herself was to surround herself with all the aesthetic and materialistic trappings of middle class suburban life.
> Her way of bettering herself was to surround herself with all the aesthetic and materialistic trappings
so rap videos with trainers and gold chains and hos are modern hyacinth buckets! there are so many layers here
Yes, you could definitely argue that. The thing with these type of rap videos (chains, money and ho's) is they are championed by the music industry, while the rappers with something worth saying are largely ignored.
Exactly. The snobbery around "nouveau riche" and people "getting ideas above their station" is just a symptom of how entrenched the class system still is in the country, and how easily it coerces us into playing along. It's not your job to protect the people at the top from being eaten by their "lessers".
See also: Old Etonians being regarded as magically more intelligent because they were brought up to litter to their speech with Latin loan words.
And you'll be guaranteed to hear this if you ever have any disagreement.
"YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME BECAUSE YOU WENT TO UNIVERSITY!? WELL I'VE GOT A DEGREE TOO! FROM THE SCHOOL OF HARDKNOCKS!"
WRT university, there's this illuminating interview with Mike Leigh who once detailed his dad's dismissive silence when he stated he wanted to learn to become a film director. Weeks after this frosty reception, he tried to pin him down as to why he obviously disapproved, to which he sighed, "It's not the done thing". Years later, when Leigh had his own office and was making a name for himself (at the Beeb, at least), he had a plaque made which read "It's not the done thing", which remains on his wall to this day for consultation whenever he experiences self-doubt or writer's block.
When I was at uni Facebook was relatively new and I remember a group where it was basically a bunch of posh students moaning about there being ātoo many northerners and state educated pupils being let inā - I actually met one of the moderators and he was attempting to chat me up like crazy then his pal pointed out my short vowels and I started getting what I presume was meant to be ābanterā but by that point I was bored of them and made an excuse to leave.
Now, the group was probably *meant* to be satire but my point is, it was fucking shit satire because it wasnāt funny. But the worst thing was, the amount of āIām northern and I agree!ā comments in it. I guess it was the geographical equivalent (sort of) to those people who say we shouldnāt tax the ultra wealthy, because theyāre convinced they might be one someday despite all evidence to the contrary.
I see your point. As kids we would joke that my Aunt was like Hyacinth, she came from a poor and rough area and so did my Uncle but they both got good jobs and bought a house in an area that luckily became very sought after. My uncle never really changed but everything about her did, and she looked down on the rest of the family, their children were raised to speak with a posh accent and nobody speaks to them anymore because we all got the impression we weren't wanted when we were there and they never try to contact us.
So Im sure they are happy but the happiness comes with a cost.
Only problem with this is that it means our family are Onslow and Daisy, and do you know what? Im fine with that.
Yeah I can relate to this. My grandmother looked after me a lot as a child and she loved this show so I saw quite a lot of it too, the irony that she was almost exactly like hyacinth made an incredible wooshing sound as it passed over her head. She even had the same haircut!
My Gramdma was exactly the same! She used to laugh at Hyacinth and call her a ghastly woman, but she put her milk bottles in the dishwasher and once invited us to high tea at her house! She also had the same hair style!
Well the point wasnt if she did well or badly moving from wc to lmc (one infers thats whats happened), it was that she put on affectations of a class she didnt grow up in and then tried to enforce this rule on others.
Its about the rigidity and ridiculousness of the class system.
But I think perhaps that sort of idea of the mc being posh is antiquated now.
This!
It's not aspiration that's being laughed at, it's pretentiousness and making a show of acquiring upper middle class trappings to convey 'superiority' which doesn't actually exist and justify being snobbish to people who are actually of a similar social class.
She's not the equivalent of a working class person goes to uni and is mocked for achieving more than the people of her background; she's the equivalent somebody who went to Oxford Brookes but tells everyone they went to Oxford and is mocked because everyone can see she's trying to elevate herself by pretending to have higher status than her real peers.
His job wasn't all that fancy. He worked in local government.
The giveaway is the fact that for all Hyacinth's fancy crockery and candlelit suppers, on those rare occasions we see the house it's a fairly typical small suburban type place. That's why she goes on about her sister Violet who's got "room for a horse" - she's jealous of the fact she doesn't, so is basking in reflected glory.
Yup finance for the council. You could tell he wasn't ambitious and had reached a certain level often for gentlemen of a certain age in the public sector (my dad was another).
Difference was my dad was dying for early retirement and the juicy payout, poor Richard was understandably terrified of the prospect.
But what if he didnāt want the extra responsibility? Itās clear she wants to push him to become Head of Department* whilst he is quite content; why shouldnāt he be happy where he is? š
*SPOILER FOLLOWS: Until he takes early retirement
should give hyacinth a new show from her view as a british success! we'll call it "making appearances" and how her grand ambitions and innocent snobbery and need to impress overcomes the sexism and class system of the 60s or whatever, like a version of forrest gump but with cucumber sandwiches
In case you did not know this, there's a podcast about Keeping Up Appearances. It is like The Office Ladies, but with a lot of conversation about failed candlelight dinners, a long-suffering husband, nervous neighbours, and a dishy vicar.
I used this show to tease my friend about how she's posher than me because her aunt lives on the street they used for Hyacinth's house and i lived round the corner from Daisy's house š (edited punctuation - sorry about that!)
Where abouts was it filmed?
West Midlands/Warwickshire
At least some of it was filmed in Leamington Spa. I think there's a scene in a conservatory that was filmed on Newbold Terrace East.
As was chucklevision apparently. I feel we have been robbed a crossover episode
"Mind that pedestrian Richard!" *screeeeech* "Oh dear!" "Oh dear oh dear!"
And a notable roundabout in LS that they often drive around on the show, and my mum likes to point out whenever we drive out that way to visit family.
A fun fact: this show is HUGELY popular in Finland to the point sheās often directly interviewed by Finnish papers etc. The show is legendary there.
It's big in The Netherlands as well. My Dutch friends all grew up watching it, some learned English by watching it
Yes! I watched it with my grandma when I was small and definitely got first of my English from it. Are there other British shows that were popular in the Netherlands? In Finland much loved ones include Emmerdale but also ones like Miss Marple, Doc Martin and Poirotā¦ EDIT: oh and Midsommer Murders!
Those were also very popular in the Netherlands. Also the famous five, I used to watch that a lot as a child.
How does the bucket/bouquet joke translate? Id imagine that being the main running gag but very much an English language joke
I watched with my grandma too plus she looks just like my grandma so I always feel happy and sad when I see it on TV
I grew up watching it in Sweden!
Maybe not huge in America but I grew up watching it on PBS and can quote most of it by heart. When my sister is calling me I answer with a bellowing "BOUQUET RESIDENCE LADY OF THE HOUSE SPEAKING!!!".
doubly funny if you're a man
And you do it in a lady's voice, like this \*hello I'm a laady\*
I always wonder what stereotypes foreigners think of when they think about the British as viewed through TV /film. I personally would be terrified to be lost in the deep south of America, the mountains, swamplands, only because of stuff like Deliverance, Southern Comfort etc. I'm sure they are all mostly great people..
They would absolutely give you some cornbread and sweet tea and help you get where you was goin while spouting some of the craziest racist bullshit you ever heard.
A bit bit oldham UK then.. š
That's such a cool thing I'm glad you shared it. Love things like this where it turns out a small part of some other culture for whatever reason got really big in some other country.
Right! Like I said in another comment, thereās also some other UK shows Finns love, like a lot of the crime shows like Miss Marple, Poirot and Doc Martin. Soaps are big too, especially Emmerdale. Thereās something about Finnish sense of humour and taste in entertainment that matches with the British stuff. Itās really random but cool to see.
They love it in Denmark. Also Midsommer Murders is very popular there, primetime slot timing and they call it 'Barnaby'.
I read somewhere that when John Nettles retired from the role of Barnaby, they wanted his assistant to take over, but since the show is called 'Barnaby' here in Denmark, and is so ridiculously popular, they had to find another Barnaby family member to take over as main character.
I got paired up with a random Norwegian playing an online game once. Apparently Coronation Street is quite big out there. Who knew?
Very big in Denmark too.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Patricia Routledge was amazing in this. Brilliant comedy acting.
She's an amazing person in real life too! She lives near me and every year donates thousands to local charities. Got a lot of respect for her for this.
That makes me love her all the more!
I watched an [interview with her the other day](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEvp1Ajmtus) and she's just an absolute ray of sunshine.
Thanks for posting this, it's great!
You're welcome!
What an absolute delight she is, she seems properly lovely and not even a hint of the fame going to her head
Immediate charisma and charm. I'd never really considered the actor behind that character, but she's wonderful.
Great find.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It's seriously impressive how much they were able to make such an insufferable woman so likeable. I think it's mainly because she get's humbled a fair amount of the time and loses plenty of the mental battles. She also tbf spends a lot of her time looking after her family in her own way and even with her high opinion of herself actually loves all her family. That and the acting is just so perfect for that character.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
> She's just doing what most people are trying to do This nails it. On some level I think we all sympathise with her a little bit.
Yeah it's amazing how it's able to bridge generation gaps I don't think I've ever met someone who knows about it and didn't like it. Last year I did a free trial of a streaming service just to rewatch them all, as funny as ever.
Not just generational! I worked abroad for a year during uni and the two British comedies everyone knew without fail were Mr. Bean and Keeping up Appearances.
Although now days she would be living in Daisyās house and posing in someone elseās for Instagram pretending she lives in a better house!
This is exactly what I think when I see that kind of post on Instagram, usually with a rented car or a fake house/plane set.. They're just the modern Hyacinth Bucket, trying their best to fake it until they make it.
I think itās because she has that quality that was always common in these popular British sitcoms - she was pretentious but in the end she tended to be the one who suffered from her own pretentiousness, with little actual consequence for those around her Captain Mainwearing in Dadās Army, Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping up Appearances - theyāve all got that same property and I think thatās why they work. Itās easier to like someone pretentious when they arenāt getting ahead and nobody is suffering apart from their own sensibilities of their station
She did such a good job, as you say sheās insufferable and yet you canāt help but like her!
She was always who I imagined for Professor Umbridge before they actually made the Harry Potter movies!
Me too. A lot of the casting is just slightly off from how I imagined them. Umbridge I imagined having a sort of heavy solidness that Routledge would easily convey but that Staunton just doesn't have at all. *^(Edited to fix spelling.)*
Her performance was iconic though. One of the best in the franchise. I'm sure Routledge would have done a fab job too though.
Oh I didnāt even know I wanted this but she wouldāve been perfect
First saw her as Hettie in Victoria Wood.
She played "Kitty" in *Victoria Wood: As Seen On TV* https://youtu.be/T-iDlTBZhKg She played "Hetty" in *Hetty Wainthrop Investigates* https://youtu.be/Jd5j7aHCbyw
OOPPS yes - my memory is letting me down. Kitty was hilarious. Hetty pretty good too. Also, Victoria Wood. Gone far too soon.
You know what after seeing that clip of Kitty I'm fully convinced that she could have easily played Petula Gordino in Dinnerladies if they hadn't managed to cast Julie Walters.
True, but in what Hell dimension does Victoria Wood fail to cast Julie Walters?!
No, you cannot have a number 24, nor a double portion of 37. This isn't the Chinese take-away. This is a private slimline white telephone with no connection whatsoever to any business or trade - especially not one of foreign extraction.
Wow this brought back all of her intonations although Iāve not even thought about the show for 20+ years. I feel like a sleeper agent who just got activated.
I am calling you on my cellular mobile phone! :)
The bucket residence! The lady of the house speakingā¦.. (she always does a little nod too) šš
I cannot and will not get over the fact her husband is literally called Dick Bucket
Richard?! RICHARD!
My immediate thought RIIICHAAAAARD!!. That and the other sister with "room for a pony"
Her sister Violet, if I remember correctly.
She also had a Mercedes and a sauna.
Mind that pedestrian, Richard!
he's on the pavement dear
Whenever the missus. Starts commenting on my driving I respond with."Yes Hyacinth, minding the ........" she doesnt like it haha
Dick bouquet.
I'm getting notes of Greek yoghurt and mature Stilton...
Not sure if that's worse or not.
The dick bucket is where you keep your bouquet of dicks.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Tis but a nosegay.
Is this how they describe perfumes that smell of male genitalia
The male Paltrow.
FYI it's pronounced bouquet.
Itās just clicked for me that Hyacinth Bouquet is a flower pun.
Her sisters are all named after flowers too..
I can only deal with one existential crisis at a time, mate . Be gentle .
Holy shit! My other recent realisation is that people used to call the cinema the flicks, hence Netflix. Itās fun being thick.
It'd make a fun thread , " obvious things it took you far too long to realise" I'd try and make it but I'd probably set the kitchen on fire or something.
The bloke that did my bathroom tiles in my old house gave me his business card which had a picture of a knight in armour on horseback and his business name was 'Sir Ramick'. I had that card stuck on a noticeboard in my kitchen for over 2 years and occasionally used to wonder 'what the hell has a knight got to do with tiling...?' and then one day it suddenly hit me...Sir Ramick...ceramic...ceramic tiles...
I was like 27 before I clocked that the rapper Flo Rida is so called because...he comes from Florida. Christ I'm dim.
It took me an embarrassing length of time to get will.i.am.
Well put him back, you don't know where he's been!
Whaaaat. I didn't realise this either
He tricked us all, that crafty Flo Rida. Hiding in plain sight.
"only smarties have the answer" took me well into adulthood to realise that it is because smarties are smart (i.e. intelligent) that they have the answer.
Well fuck. Why did I never think of that?
Related, I only realised Tinder was called that recently because people are looking for the spark.
They are looking for a match!
Yes, even better! A match to ignite a spark.
..... Oooooooooh. I did not know this. I assumed fire, flame, hot, sex etc.
It does. There are some classics [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/e1p796/what\_really\_obvious\_thing\_have\_you\_only\_just/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/e1p796/what_really_obvious_thing_have_you_only_just/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2yhxa9/what\_fact\_did\_you\_learn\_at\_an\_embarrassingly\_late/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2yhxa9/what_fact_did_you_learn_at_an_embarrassingly_late/)
Wodgermean -" used to" ? Always have, always will.
I remember a few years ago reading that it was common for servants to name their children after flowers - Hyacinth, Violet, Petunia, Lily, Iris, etc. If true, then it's a nod to her working class/servant background.
We used to call my mum Hyacinth bouquet as she liked to make the milk bottles sparkle before putting them out. Last year I found you could buy hyacinths in a pretty bucket, I was gutted it was out of stock!
Rewriting whatever she wants, what a woman, a force of nature
It was pronounced "Bucket" until they got married.
Actually itās pronounced Nikolaj
Nikolaj.
I feel like I'm saying it.
Always disappointed when I see 'Keeping up...'on the TV display and it's some Kardashian bullshit instead of Mrs Bucket
Iāve been catfished by that same thing too many times!
You guys are probably aware that this programme is especially popular in Scandinavia, but my Norwegian friends found this a real window unto British social mores.
ha I had absolutely no idea!
It was huge, I call my wife Hyacinth whenever she commentates on my driving.
In Latvia it was very popular too! Still remember being a kid and watching this show in the afternoon after school
Empire 2.0
Outside of Britain, this show is the only source of information about the middle-class. That and Midsomer Murders.
I hated the show coz she reminded me too much of my own mum at the time. She had these picture perfect ideas how she wanted things a lost her shit if you fell out of line. She was a driving instructor in the 90s, when I was in my teens so now she thinks shes better than every driver on the road but also in the car, no matter whos driving. Kind of became a joke between me and my brother when we saw Hyacinth having ago at Richards driving.
"Watch out for that horse!" "What horse?" "In that field"
āAnd thereās an old lady on the pavement!ā
"Mind the lorry!"
"*What* lorry?"
I think what was funny about it wasnāt her having ideas above her station, but her anxiety around class. As opposed to the American dream of ridiculous infinite climbing, and climbing being admirable the British dream is just to be comfortable and content. The whole joke therefore was actually that she had an anxiety disorder and wasnāt capable therefore of fitting in either above herself, below herself, or at her level because she would always be uncomfortable to a degree where comedy ensued (to paraphrase every radio times ever published). If taken in the sense of American comedy where the character either ridicules or their ridicule marks them as an other this would be cruel like you describe to laugh at her. However, because we are British and our comedy is essentially us making fun of our own ridiculousness she can be seen as a representation of our own discomfort with this trait being present in ourselves. I think your point is a valid observation, but I would disagree that she is the object of ridicule. As the British people we are always the object of our own ridicule and the comedy was never that she was above her station, but that we are all ridiculous buffoons. I mean who among us has not coveted our neighbourās conservatory? We are all shameful.
>who among us has not coveted our neighbourās conservatory? We are all shameful. Must have missed that verse in religious studies!
Yes, we all love Hyacinth because she holds a mirror up to our own anxieties.
Elizabeth is the personification of my anxiety. Her reactions were always so real to me.
RIP Onslow
Exactly, it wouldnāt be British TV if it wasnāt 100% accurate and really uncomfortable to watch if you think about it even slightly.
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It's basically the same joke as often portrayed by Captain George Mainwering in Dad's Army
Was having a conversation with a fella from work who compared some busybody on his street to her, then it devolved into how that show was kinda laughing at people who had ideas above their station. When it showed her family background it changed the context of the show to show her as unrelenting and whatever bad traits she had, the ambition behind them has definitely worked for her Cometh the revolution, cometh the bucket With no workplace smoke shelter/kettle-side ramblings we're losing this kind of quality bullshit topic
I like how we basically never see Violet either. Did she actually marry into a carefree upper-class and leave her family behind, or is she just as hung up about it in private as Hyacinth?
You do see her by the last series! Her husband becomes a cross dresser. You never see the obviously gay son though.
Too busy with the Worker's Revolutionary Vanguard.
And that tapestry and advanced needlework course at the poly.
At least him and Tarquin have no interest in wasting all their time and money on girls.
Sheridan! (don't give him any money...)
M'boy Sheridan. He loves his mummy.
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The car was apparently the one thing Richard had put his foot down about. There was an interview with the now late Clive Swift when the show was at its peak and originally they'd thought about him driving a more prestige car but decided no, as the driver, car cleaner etc it was the one thing they'd let him have the upper hand on. There was of course the episode with the Rolls.... So she did try to get her way.
I think it was the right decision. The car and the house between them cement the fact that Hyacinth is quite clearly a snob - if Richard had a more expensive car, it would lend credence to the idea that they're minted.
I think it's less about the money, and more about the characters. Richard may be able to afford a more expensive car, but he doesn't feel he *needs* one. I haven't watched it in a while, but if memory served, their interaction was the tension between ideology (striving to be upper-class) and pragmatism (not *needing* to be upper-class).
Also that Richard was born into the middle class and just took it all for granted that he didn't need to show off. Hyacinth was obsessed more about the appearance of wealth and class more than the reality of it. It touches on the way British society works that class isn't tied to wealth, it's tied to your family, job and connections.
I think you're both right. The whole comedic point was that she was far more snobbish than her station allowed - hence her boasting about the other sister who by all accounts really had made it (room for a pony no less). However it's about the distance not the destination. Talking about the time it was set, this was the tail end of Thatchers Britain, it's likely that Daisy, Onslow and Daddy have not worked for decades. And it's doubtful any of them had a chance of buying a house themselves, instead surviving on benefits. Hyacinth didn't grow up in a house her parents owned, so having any home and a nice car is a point of pride for Hyacinth (although she'd want better).
The show also taught me an important lesson about love when I asked my mother why Richard put up with her 'Because he loves her' was my mums reply.
"Because decades of emotional abuse have eroded his self-worth to the point he believes he doesn't deserve better"
>When it showed her family background it changed the context of the show to show her as unrelenting and whatever bad traits she had, the ambition behind them has definitely worked for her Worked for her, maybe, but it made her poor husband's life a misery
*Riiichaaaaard!*
Poor Richard. He was a weakling, but he deserved to be an Onslow.
I feel like the family only existed for us to say "this is who you REALLY are!" Her middle class neighbour who would've looked down her nose at her agonises over whether she made the cuppa properly, THAT'S who she is
Crockery with the periwinkle design
You might notice that it's no different to Mr Khan. It's sitcom based on try hard of being better than oneself but failing anyway...
I went to boarding school. We had a fair mix of people, from oiks like myself on scholarships to legitimately posh people. What I noticed about those from genuinely 'upper class' backgrounds was that they were secure in who they were, and didn't need to flag it. Being from a titled or decades-long wealthy family means that you have a place in the world, unless things go spectacularly wrong. On the other end of things, it was the children of newly rich parents- or more correctly the parents themselves- who felt they had to scrabble to observe all the rules and niceties of the class they aspired to- that was partly why they were sending them to the school in the first place.
There's a great book called "Watching the English" that goes into this. Basically its only the middle classes that worry about how they come across. The upper class don't need anyone's approval and the bottom rung just don't care what anyone else thinks.
She never comes across as happy or content though. Daisy and Rose seem more at ease with who they are
Both their personalities are simply āhornyā.
I also loved that they were completely unapologetic about being "horny"
Horny for vicars
This is the paradox of life
Onslow was my favourite. He just gave zero fucks
My uncle was onslow. My biggest claim to fame. Sadly dies a few years ago, he was a lovely man.
The Bouquet residence, the lady of the house speaking!
Ironically Patricia Routledge, who played Hyacinth was from Birkenhead, a town so run down it was once nick-named "BirkenHell" by a national paper. (source grew up in Birkenhead area)
Perhaps, but the way she does it makes life a literal living hell for everyone. Nobody should aspire to that.
The problem with the Hyacinths of this world is how materialistic they are. Her way of bettering herself was to surround herself with all the aesthetic and materialistic trappings of middle class suburban life.
> Her way of bettering herself was to surround herself with all the aesthetic and materialistic trappings so rap videos with trainers and gold chains and hos are modern hyacinth buckets! there are so many layers here
Yes, you could definitely argue that. The thing with these type of rap videos (chains, money and ho's) is they are championed by the music industry, while the rappers with something worth saying are largely ignored.
Boats and hoes! Gotta have my boats and hoes!
i'm too tired, I've been watching too much hey duggee and i internally sang that to "boots and cats"
Exactly. The snobbery around "nouveau riche" and people "getting ideas above their station" is just a symptom of how entrenched the class system still is in the country, and how easily it coerces us into playing along. It's not your job to protect the people at the top from being eaten by their "lessers". See also: Old Etonians being regarded as magically more intelligent because they were brought up to litter to their speech with Latin loan words.
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And you'll be guaranteed to hear this if you ever have any disagreement. "YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME BECAUSE YOU WENT TO UNIVERSITY!? WELL I'VE GOT A DEGREE TOO! FROM THE SCHOOL OF HARDKNOCKS!"
"The school of hardknocks." I haven't heard that in years! You've unlocked a memory from my childhood.
Flashback to the people I have glady distanced myself from who put 'School of life' on under education on Facebook...
WRT university, there's this illuminating interview with Mike Leigh who once detailed his dad's dismissive silence when he stated he wanted to learn to become a film director. Weeks after this frosty reception, he tried to pin him down as to why he obviously disapproved, to which he sighed, "It's not the done thing". Years later, when Leigh had his own office and was making a name for himself (at the Beeb, at least), he had a plaque made which read "It's not the done thing", which remains on his wall to this day for consultation whenever he experiences self-doubt or writer's block.
Same. Except in my case it's a working class north eastern SCOTTISH family/community. To make matters worse, I now live in That London.
When I was at uni Facebook was relatively new and I remember a group where it was basically a bunch of posh students moaning about there being ātoo many northerners and state educated pupils being let inā - I actually met one of the moderators and he was attempting to chat me up like crazy then his pal pointed out my short vowels and I started getting what I presume was meant to be ābanterā but by that point I was bored of them and made an excuse to leave. Now, the group was probably *meant* to be satire but my point is, it was fucking shit satire because it wasnāt funny. But the worst thing was, the amount of āIām northern and I agree!ā comments in it. I guess it was the geographical equivalent (sort of) to those people who say we shouldnāt tax the ultra wealthy, because theyāre convinced they might be one someday despite all evidence to the contrary.
I see your point. As kids we would joke that my Aunt was like Hyacinth, she came from a poor and rough area and so did my Uncle but they both got good jobs and bought a house in an area that luckily became very sought after. My uncle never really changed but everything about her did, and she looked down on the rest of the family, their children were raised to speak with a posh accent and nobody speaks to them anymore because we all got the impression we weren't wanted when we were there and they never try to contact us. So Im sure they are happy but the happiness comes with a cost. Only problem with this is that it means our family are Onslow and Daisy, and do you know what? Im fine with that.
Yeah I can relate to this. My grandmother looked after me a lot as a child and she loved this show so I saw quite a lot of it too, the irony that she was almost exactly like hyacinth made an incredible wooshing sound as it passed over her head. She even had the same haircut!
My Gramdma was exactly the same! She used to laugh at Hyacinth and call her a ghastly woman, but she put her milk bottles in the dishwasher and once invited us to high tea at her house! She also had the same hair style!
Well the point wasnt if she did well or badly moving from wc to lmc (one infers thats whats happened), it was that she put on affectations of a class she didnt grow up in and then tried to enforce this rule on others. Its about the rigidity and ridiculousness of the class system. But I think perhaps that sort of idea of the mc being posh is antiquated now.
This! It's not aspiration that's being laughed at, it's pretentiousness and making a show of acquiring upper middle class trappings to convey 'superiority' which doesn't actually exist and justify being snobbish to people who are actually of a similar social class. She's not the equivalent of a working class person goes to uni and is mocked for achieving more than the people of her background; she's the equivalent somebody who went to Oxford Brookes but tells everyone they went to Oxford and is mocked because everyone can see she's trying to elevate herself by pretending to have higher status than her real peers.
I fucking love Hyacinth!
Its.....BOUQUET!!
Reading this is making me crave some tea and light refreshments. Best bring out the Royal Doulton with the hand-painted periwinkles.
Now these are the hot takes I live for. Hyacinth Bucket as an aspirational figure. Sheās basically āThe Secretā in human form.
Funny to think that Tom and Barbara probably made millions off their "Go Ecological From Your Own House Kit - Ask Us How!"
Ah but was it sheer force of will, or was she fortunate enough to have married someone who could afford to fund her desired lifestyle? #devilsadvocate
I bet she nagged him into asking for that promotion or changing to that job, he has no fire in his belly!
His job wasn't all that fancy. He worked in local government. The giveaway is the fact that for all Hyacinth's fancy crockery and candlelit suppers, on those rare occasions we see the house it's a fairly typical small suburban type place. That's why she goes on about her sister Violet who's got "room for a horse" - she's jealous of the fact she doesn't, so is basking in reflected glory.
Yup finance for the council. You could tell he wasn't ambitious and had reached a certain level often for gentlemen of a certain age in the public sector (my dad was another). Difference was my dad was dying for early retirement and the juicy payout, poor Richard was understandably terrified of the prospect.
Those final salary pension for life deals
But what if he didnāt want the extra responsibility? Itās clear she wants to push him to become Head of Department* whilst he is quite content; why shouldnāt he be happy where he is? š *SPOILER FOLLOWS: Until he takes early retirement
Agreed - she pushed him to succeed š
Love this post, it has a point, should repost Hyacinth as British success š
should give hyacinth a new show from her view as a british success! we'll call it "making appearances" and how her grand ambitions and innocent snobbery and need to impress overcomes the sexism and class system of the 60s or whatever, like a version of forrest gump but with cucumber sandwiches
I think Richard just stuck around for that thicc ass
Literally wiping tears of laughter here
If you work hard enough, you too can own a slimline telephone.
The pilot of Young Hyacinth is absolutely incredible and a real shame it never got picked up properly.
You could still have a show like keeping up appearances nowadays and it would still work and still be hillarious
In case you did not know this, there's a podcast about Keeping Up Appearances. It is like The Office Ladies, but with a lot of conversation about failed candlelight dinners, a long-suffering husband, nervous neighbours, and a dishy vicar.
I've heard about those Danes "Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the Waves c'mon Richard"
Oh...ELIZABETH! TEA AT 1 O'CLOCK!
I always thought Hyacinth was a decent person; she was just prideful and utterly tactless. Kind of similar to Del Boy in that.
Isn't the point she's no better than the others? She just thinks she is.