Eileen Atkins

I know her from Doc Martin.

I just know her from Gosford Park and Poirot's Murder on the Orient Express

Colin Farrell wanted to tap that.

I saw her do A Room of One's Own at Arena Stage in DC a million years ago. She made a good Virginia Woolf. That play seems to be relevant again in 2022 just as it was in 1929.

Hand of God

She has been a major presence on the UK stage for decades.

I've seen her in a few things as well. Always a strong presence. Also, she's one of the people behind the Upstairs Downstairs tv series.

Her Desert Island Discs appearance was very entertaining.

Don't miss this movie made especially for DL, she is the villainess Vanity Fair.

OP "feels" Dame Eileen Atkins is forgotten, and OP knows nothing about Dame Eileen Atkins.

OP = Quarter-a-thread troll.

A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN with Eileen Atkins, another great British television drama.

Dame Eileen Atkins conceived idea for original British television drama "Upstairs/Downstairs.

Ms. Atkins and Jean Marsh (who played parlour maid Rose Buck in original Upstairs/Downstairs), were tapped by BBC for the ill fated remake of Upstairs/Downstairs, but things just didn't work out.

You can't go home again, and BBC simply was taking Upstairs/Downstairs remake to places Dame Eileen didn't feel was right. As most of know British dramas have changed much since 1970's or even 1980's; things have to be sexed up I suppose to sell.

In any event the remake was dreadful and wasn't picked up again after first season.

💕 Loved her on Doc Martin

Only reason one watched remake of Upstairs/Downstairs was to gaze upon Ed Stoppard

She was a cunt of the highest order, and of reeked of cheap wine. What else would you like to know?

I did not care for the Upstairs Downstairs remake. The original 1971-1975 version is the only one to watch.

R17

Apparently feeling was not unique, hence series ending after first season.

Her magnum opus was playing an Italian nun who gets to exorcise Joan Collin's possessed baby in I Don't Want To Be Born.

I've read that she's awful to work with (as Maggie Smith points out above). And she's highly respected.

She is referenced in the Kathleen Turner thread.

Awful to work with you say. Should we warn Sebastian Croft?

R5 - I prefer Kristin Scott Thomas doing this monologue. The whole thing is not online but here's a bit of it.

OP "feels" that Eileen Atkins is "forgotten about." (Oh, dear.)

This would be news to Dame Eileen Atkins, even at her age of 88.

What is with these sad/cynical thread proliferators who use the usual clickbait tactics to get some "good feelings" about themselves to prove they can use the DL not to feel "forgotten about"?

And the cunt OP can't use Google, apparently.

I love her diet plan.

I love her on Doc Martin and she had a KILLER scene in the first season of The Crown. Her father is dead and Elizabeth receives curtsies from her sister and mother. Then Queen Mary arrives in full mourning gear and does a curtsy right to the floor, never taking her eyes off Elizabeth. It’s the best scene in the show.

I saw her with Vanessa Redgrave in Vita & Virginia. VR was Woolf, EA was Sackville-West. A memorable night of theater, about 25 years ago.

Watch Tea With the Dames. You'll get to know all about Eileen and her friends Maggie and Judi.

Ohhh! Ed Stoppard!

Eileen Atkins and Sebastian Croft on stage:

R29, don't forget Joan Plowright! She is also in "Tea With The Dames". It's worth watching. I saw it with my Mom a couple years ago.

Watch the Jonathan Ross clip at the end. Colin Farrell once tried to do her.

[quote]Apparently feeling was not unique, hence series ending after first season.

?!?! There was a second series.

Eileen Atkins was nominated for an Emmy for the 2010 remake but lost to Maggie Smith for Downton. They both played dowagers.

Jean Smart was also nominated and lost to Kate Winslet for Mildred Pierce.

Keeley Hawes and Claire Foy went on to have great careers.

One of our best actors.

Tea with the Dames was a hoot!

R34, I think you mean Jean Marsh, not Jean Smart.

Um, Eileen Atkins and Jean Marsh were lovers.

Nobody knew that here?

Also, the Upstairs Downstairs revival had two seasons and Atkins left after the first one because Marsh died. She'd only appeared as a favor to Marsh and because she was a creator of the original show.

I think people who were watching out of nostalgia certainly abandoned the show after the two were gone.

I liked that Claire Foy played a complete bitch in this version.

Someone had better tell Jean Marsh that she's dead R37.

I think Jean Marsh was recovering from a minor stroke/heart attack during the Upstairs Downstairs revival and that is why she was not as involved as originally planned.

Btw, Marsh is also known for appearing in the original Doctor Who series several times. She was briefly married in the 1950's to Jon Pertwee (the Third Doctor Who) but never seems to have remarried or had children.

Atkins was in Cold Mountain.

The remake of Upstairs Downstairs was only 3 hour long episodes written by Heidi Thomas who had adapted Cranford, which won Eileen Atkins a best actress BAFTA and best supporting actress Emmy. Atkins also appeared in Ballet Shoes, also adapted by Heidi Thomas.

The first series of Downton ran from Sep - Nov 2010 and then Upstairs started in December 2010.

Comparisons between the two were made but UD was far less soapy than DA and it had a better aesthetic. Some of the shots in the first series were beautiful. The upper class hatred and suspicion of Jews was covered in the second series.

Heidi Thomas had the rare achievement of 2 shows running consecutively on BBC One in its primetime Sunday slot - the first series of Call The Midwife was at 8pm and the second series of Upstairs at 9pm.

"Someone had better tell Jean Marsh that she's dead"

I buried that bitch!

She got out?

She is phenomenal in the film version of THE LOST LANGUAGE OF CRANES, as a woman who has the great misfortune to have both a homosexual son and husband.

She is also one of the very few "posh" leading actresses to come from genuinely working-class circumstances (her mother was a barmaid).

Eileen Atkins has had a very long and distinguished career. But I suppose OP is correct that she hasn't had as big a career as Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. Unlike them she hasn't become as well-known in the U.S. or won Oscars.

She was married to Julian Glover at one point.

She’s a funny lady

R27's scene

I liked the reboot of Upstairs, Downstairs, but it was more of drama than a melodrama. It was barely a reboot. The only thing that really survived was the setting. But I can see why it didn't catch fire.

^ LOL... shit, I forgot about Jean Marsh! LOL.

Eileen Atkins is a great actress…but she’s also the cuntiest cunt who ever cunted.

She had a small, but pivotal role in the movie of the play Wit. This is totally one of those best supporting actress Oscars for only a few minutes of screen time that’s justifiable.

I liked her in The Crown as Queen Mary.

Her sex tape was hot.

Judi should have won her Oscar for Mrs Brown and Lynn Redgrave for God's and Monsters.

Maggie should have won her second for Gosford Park where she was wonderful, not California Suite which is a bit dated.

Eileen was great in Doc Martin, a real comfort watch series

I've seen Tea with Mussolini but don't recall Joan. Maggie and Cher were wonderful though.

Eileen Atkins and Sebastian Croft have begun rehearsals for 4000 Miles with Sir Richard Eyre.

The Lost Language of Cranes (UK 1992) streaming on vimeo /

w Eileen Atkins and Brian Cox (Succession)

R55 Eileen is a small lady.

Years ago, there was a thread "The Nastiest Person on Broadway" parts 1 and 2. There were some genuine insiders on that thread dishing many British stage stars and their state side behavior when appearing on Broadway. There was a very hilarious/scary account of a feud that developed between Eileen Atkins and Kathleen Turner when they both appeared in a Broadway play together. I can't remember the details, and the threads are no longer available. Most likely they were removed for legal reasons.

I, for one, loved the reboot of UPSTAIRS/DOWNSTAIRS but then, I never saw the original series for comparison. Though, as a poster said upthread, it seems like really only the setting was retained form the original. I think its major problem was coming out just after DOWNTON ABBEY's great initial success and being unfavorably compared. even though IMHO U/D was the superior series. And, dare I say? I think the second season was better than the first, after Dame Eileen left.

Eileen Atkins and Sebastian Croft in 4000 Miles.

Dame is getting old.