Scripted series · BBC One
Keeping Up Appearances
The Full Bouquet
Who's in it
Cast
The principal ensemble across the run of the series.
Patricia Routledge
Hyacinth Bucket
40 eps
Clive Swift
Richard Bucket
40 eps
Judy Cornwell
Daisy
40 eps
Geoffrey Hughes
Onslow
40 eps
Josephine Tewson
Elizabeth 'Liz' Warden
40 eps
David Griffin
Emmet
34 eps
Mary Millar
Rose
34 eps
Shirley Stelfox
Rose
6 eps
Dinah Sheridan
The Hotel Guest
1 eps
Jeanne Mockford
Mrs. Marjorie East
1 eps
Jon Glover
Roger
1 eps
Gerald Sim
The Vicar
1 eps
Jean Anderson
Mrs. Fortescue
1 eps
Dicken Ashworth
Boris
1 eps
Jennifer Daniel
Mrs. Lennox
1 eps
Gretchen Franklin
Daddy's Fiance
1 eps
Liz Gebhardt
The Angry Woman
1 eps
Tony Aitken
TV Repairman
1 eps
Royce Mills
Dorian
1 eps
Sue Lloyd
Mrs. Drummond
1 eps
Bruce Montague
His Lordship
1 eps
Geraldine Newman
The Chairwoman
1 eps
Ian Lavender
The Security Representative
1 eps
Derek Waring
Mr. Cooper-Bassett
1 eps
Timothy Carlton
The Salesman
1 eps
John Arnatt
Sir Edward
1 eps
Jack Smethurst
Man in Phone Booth
1 eps
Charmian May
Councillor Mrs. Nugent
3 eps
Norman Lovett
Mr. Duxbury
1 eps
Christopher Mitchell
The Porter
1 eps
Jonny Lee Miller
The Youth
1 eps
David Warwick
Assistant
1 eps
Marcia Warren
Bunty
1 eps
Michael Bilton
His Lordship
1 eps
David Simeon
The Auctioneer
1 eps
Frederick Jaeger
Millburn
1 eps
Nigel Davenport
The Commodore
1 eps
Liz Daniels
His Wife
1 eps
Stuart Fell
The Driver
1 eps
Angus Lennie
Mr. Farrini
1 eps
The Nutevio profile
TV DNA
How Keeping Up Appearances actually feels to watch, measured on the traits our editors track across every series.
Signature profile
Keeping Up Appearances reads strongest on Humour, Character Depth and Bingeability.
How often the series is genuinely funny, by design.
How fully written and psychologically layered the ensemble is.
How hard it is to stop after one episode.
How much each hour depends on the one before it.
How often an episode ends on a hook you can't ignore.
The sustained pressure the series keeps you under.
How much the series is designed to affect you.
Visual ambition — scale, craft and set-piece filmmaking.
The scale, internal logic and texture of the world.
The story
What it's about
Hyacinth Bucket (whose name, she insists, is pronounced "Bouquet") is a suburban housewife in the West Midlands. She would be the first to tell you that she is a gracious hostess, a respected citizen, and a well-connected member of high society. If you don't believe that, just ask her best friend Elizabeth, held captive in Hyacinth's kitchen; or the postmen and neighbours who bristle at the sound of her voice; or Richard, her weary and compliant husband.
In fact, Hyacinth's reputation could be as perfect as her new lounge set, if not for her senile father's love of running wild in the nip. Oh, and she would prefer it if her brother-in-law was a sharper dresser. And that her husband was more ambitious. And that her sisters were more presentable. And do take your shoes off before you come in the house, dear. Mind that you don't brush against the wallpaper.
The run
Seasons
5 seasons · 40 episodes.
Season 0 · Complete
Specials
199125 episodes
Christmas may come but once a year, but for arch-snob Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet, if you please), disaster, drama and humiliation – all obstacles on the ladder to social-climbing success – are far more frequent. In these Christmas Specials we see a delightful cruise on the QE2 start in a less-than-delightful muddy field. We see a glorious English Civil War pageant, with Hyacinth as Queen Henrietta Maria, go royally wrong when the cast fails to turn up and her unsavoury relatives step into the breach. And we see that even The Season of Good Will isn’t immune from woe, as a sherry-fuelled Richard, dressed as Santa, brings Hyacinth tidings devoid of any comfort and joy.
Best episode · S00E02 Sea Fever
Season 1 · Complete
Season 1
19906 episodes
7.9IMDbBest episode · S01E03 Stately Home
Season 2 · Complete
Season 2
199110 episodes
7.9IMDbBest episode · S02E04 Hyacinth Tees Off
Season 3 · Complete
Season 3
19927 episodes
8.0IMDbBest episode · S03E04 How to Go on Holiday without Really Trying
Season 4 · Complete
Season 4
19937 episodes
7.8IMDbBest episode · S04E07 Let There Be Light
Season 5 · Complete
Season 5
199510 episodes
7.3IMDbBest episode · S05E04 A Riverside Picnic
Where the series peaks
Best Episodes
The hours that define the show, ranked by audience response and editorial signal.
S03E04
How to Go on Holiday without Really Trying
Hyacinth takes a trip to the travel agents for some "quality" holiday brochures. Afterwards, Onslow decides to take Richard in hand and show him how to 'enjoy' life.
- Directed by Harold Snoad
S02E09
The Three-Piece Suite
Hyacinth is very excited at the prospect of having her new three piece suite, an exact replica of the one at Sandringham House, delivered. She will also give Daisy and Onslow her old suite, provided they pick it up themselves. But of course these two events are likely to collide at some point, creating an insurmountable disaster.
- Directed by Harold Snoad
- Written by Roy Clarke
S02E06
Onslow's Birthday
Hyacinth is dreading an invite to Onslow's birthday party, but changes her mind when finding out she and Richard will be picked up by Rose's wealthy Greek boyfriend. Thus Hyacinth holds a gathering at her house to impress the neighbours as she departs in the luxury vehicle. However her hopes die when a hearse arrives instead.
- Directed by Harold Snoad
- Written by Roy Clarke
S02E04
Hyacinth Tees Off
The Major invites the Buckets for a golfing weekend at a luxury hotel. All is well until Onslow and Daisy turn up unexpectedly to collect Rose after she has spent a raunchy weekend away with a Mr Smith. Inevitably, when Hyacinth realises her family are there, she fears for her social standing. Adding to her dilemma is the amorous intentions of the Major.
- Directed by Harold Snoad
- Written by Roy Clarke
S01E03
Stately Home
Hyacinth and Richard visit a stately home where the leading lady hopes to meet a member of the aristocratic family. However she fears her social status will be sabotaged by Onslow, Daisy and Rose, who turn up unexpectedly. Thus Hyacinth drags Richard through the ground's private gardens to hide from the lower-class clan.
- Directed by Harold Snoad
- Written by Roy Clarke
S01E04
The Charity Shop
It is Liz and Hyacinth's day to help Mrs Nugent at the charity shop, and on their way there, Hyacinth has to make a visit to Onslow and Daisy's to remove a woman (played by Gretchen Franklin) from Daddy's room, refusing to leave. Meanwhile Rose intends to give up men, and arrives at the charity shop to donate her raunchy underwear.
- Directed by Harold Snoad
- Written by Roy Clarke
Recently aired
Latest Episodes
S00E25
Young Hyacinth
S00E09
Life Lessons from Onslow
S00E12
Pebble Mill Interview
S00E11
Interview with Patricia Routledge
S00E08
Comedy Connections - Keeping Up Appearances
Behind the series
Created by
Showrunners, creators, executive producers and the writers who set the voice of the series.
The craft
Key Crew
Directing, writing, production, camera, music and editing.
Recognition
Awards
1 win
Zilveren Televizier-Tulp
1 win · latest 1995
- WinnerZilveren Televizier-Tulp1995
Keeping Up Appearances · Keeping Up Appearances
Where to watch
Streaming
Availability verified against regional listings.
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