List of Keeping Up Appearances characters

Synopsis

This page is a list of main characters for the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, which was from 1990 to 1995.

Hyacinth and her family

Hyacinth Bucket

The show's protagonist is the social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket (who insists that her surname is pronounced 'Bouquet' with the accent on the second syllable). Hyacinth's primary aims in life are to impress people, particularly those of the upper classes, and to give the impression that she is of high social standing, despite her fairly average status. Those around her despise her snobbery, but she is a genuinely kind-hearted and loving person. Hyacinth tries to avoid her poorer relatives (Daisy, Onslow, Rose and Daddy) and to hide the fact that she was born into the working-class in order to maintain her vaunted social status, but she loves her family dearly (especially in the times of the year it gets dark early) and will rush to their aid in times of need. If people were to find out, she would immediately revert from pretentious middle-class woman putting on airs and graces to working-class social climber, since in English society no one can fully escape the social class one was born into. This facet of the show often miss notice by persons not familiar with the intricacies of English hierarchical society.

Keeping Up Appearances

Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC, centred on the life of eccentric and snobbish middle class social climber Hyacinth Bucket, who insists that her surname is pronounced "Bouquet". The sitcom follows Hyacinth in her attempts to prove her social superiority and to gain standing with those she considers upper class; attempts that are constantly hampered by her decidedly lower-class extended family whom she desperately seeks to hide. Much of the humour comes from the culture clash between Hyacinth's vision of herself and the reality of her working class background, plus the farcical situations she finds herself in as she battles to protect her social credibility. The show has many running jokes, and spawned five series and 44 episodes; four of which are Christmas specials. Keeping Up Appearances was a great success in the UK and also captured large audiences in the US, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands, but ceased production in 1995 when Routledge wanted to move on to other projects. Since its original release, all five series—including Christmas specials—have been available on DVD. It is regularly repeated worldwide (Public television stations including PBS member stations in the US; BBC One, Gold, and Drama in the UK and Ireland). It is also available for viewing on Netflix.

Podcasts:

PLAYLIST TIME:

Keeping Up

by: Arthur Russell

Keeping, keeping, keeping, keeping
Keeping up, keeping up, keeping up
You like it when they look at you
You like it that I can't catch you
Keeping up, keeping up with the feeling
Oh yeah, getting to know what you like
And what you love
Keeping up, keeping up, I'm trying to keep up
When there's when there's no end in sight
Keeping up, trying keep up
Keeping up, trying keep up
Wanted to see what makes me go
And keep on going
When there's no end in sight
Heartbeat in me
Won't go slow
not when it's knowing
That you might be back tonight
Keeping up
With the love, yeah
Can't beleive you now
Thought about that
Can't beleive me now
forgot about that
You can't beleive in love
Forgot about that
that you're letting me try




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