She punctured the pretensions of Middle England’s grandes dames in the 1990s, with no occasion too trifling for her Sunday best, a big hat and a withering put-down.
Now Hyacinth Bucket, immortalised by actress Patricia Routledge in the hit 1990s BBC comedy Keeping Up Appearances, is back – but not as we know her.
As these exclusive pictures reveal, Hyacinth is returning to our screens in a prequel, and it reveals how she had a remarkably humble start in life, in stark contrast to the suburban idyll she ruled over in her later years.
Tough start: Kerry Howard as young Hyacinth in the new show (left) and Patricia Routledge in Keeping Up Appearances in the 1990s (right)
In the new show, set in the late 1950s, she shares a cramped cottage with her down-at-heel family and is forced to work as a maid for her father’s wartime RAF squadron leader. She even has to share a bed with her sisters Violet, Daisy and Rose.
Hyacinth is yet to meet Richard, her long-suffering husband played by Clive Swift in the original series, but is going steady with a young man called William.
Early days: Hyacinth, her father and sisters from left, Rose, Daisy and Violet
Sunday best: With husband Richard, brother-in-law Onslow, Daisy and Rose
Kerry Howard, who plays the young Hyacinth, says: ‘I grew up watching Patricia Routledge. She inspired me to be an actress. Hyacinth’s early years explain why she is the way she is.’
The show will be screened in September on BBC1 – but one person who won’t be keeping up appearances is Miss Routledge herself.
Now 87, she dismisses the Corporation’s remake, saying: ‘They must be desperate. Remind me to switch it off.’
Đăng nhận xét