Keeping Up Appearances

One of the many shows I used to watch with my nan as a kid was Keeping Up Appearances. I didn't know how to appreciate it at the time because I was very young, but I always thought the character, Hyacinth was so funny. Watcing the show as an adult made it apreciate it even more. So many talented actors took part in the show and it feels very real. Hyacinth reminds me of a modern day influencer where she tries to make herself posher than she really is. I think many can relate to her even though the modern say social media didn't exist at the time.

For example, the insistance that Bucket is pronounced as bouquet. How everytime she started every phone call with: "The Bucket (pronounced bouquet" Residence, the lady of the house speaking!" Even though she pronounced it as bouquet, she still spelt it as bucket which I think makes it even more funnier. People seem to be so obsessed with their own reputation nowadays and Hyacinth is a perfect characterisation of that.

Keeping Up Appearances brings out the street's character. It looks and feels like a typical British neighbourhood before the millenium. Hyacinth always tries to sound more posh and higher class than she really is. Her husband Richard, goes along with it all out of an act of love even if he would rather read his newspaper in peace.

Hyacinth likes to think and believes she is like the Queen in which everybody is in love with her and envies her style. And we see this couldn't be any further away from the truth when we see people trying to run away the moment they hear her shrewd voice. Then they also cower away when they hear her off-key operatics.

In reality, Patricia Routlegde who plays Hyacinth was a talented actress who was trained in the theatre and has been a beloved actress for decades. Hycainth Bucket is her most famous ones. Even in her more serious roles I can't help but see Hyacinth in her.

In real life, I think we would all be annoyed and fed up with Hyacinth. But Patricia made the character her own and gave her a special charm. She went above and beyond with the role which made Hyacinth Bucket lovable and entertaining during her many disasters.

I will never forget the time where Hyacinth and her husband were trying to rent a boat and she thinks she has the wrong key, but it's actuallt the wrong boat. How she made her neighbours shiver at the mere mention of her name and the constant tea spilling.

Canned laughter is a very common thing used in sitcoms at the time. But the laughs were real. And they felt real as well. I remember laughing the first time I saw Hyacinth fall in multiple bushes trying to maintain her perfect image of a perfect housewife.

I also love how different Hyacinth is from her sisters. Daisy always seems content reading her books. Rose has her heart broken by married men. I love the dynamics between Daisy and her husband Onslow. I always thought they were sweet. They felt like people you knew from your street. Onslow's reaction to Rose and Hycacinths.

Another element that I really liked now, but didn't appreciate at the time was that we never saw Hyacinth's son. We see lots of scenes with her on the phone to him where he asks for money and it's always implied that he's gay. Everyone will have thier own idea that her son Sheridon looks and sounds like based on the off-screen interactions. They leave a lot to the viewers imagination.

Watching clips of Keeping Up Appearances after Patricia Routlegde's death made me fall in love with the show again.