Beacon Hill
GenreDrama
ComposerMarvin Hamlisch
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes11 (2 unaired)
Production
Executive producerBeryl Vertue
ProducerJacqueline Babbin
Running time60 minutes
Production companyRobert Stigwood Organization
Original release
NetworkCBS
ReleaseAugust 25 (1975-08-25) 
November 4, 1975 (1975-11-04)

Beacon Hill is a prime time period drama series which aired on CBS in 1975. Set after World War I in Boston's Beacon Hill area, the show was conceived as an Americanized version of the popular British series Upstairs, Downstairs (1971–1975) and focused on the wealthy Irish-American Lassiter family and their Irish immigrant servants, who reside together on Louisburg Square.[1][2]

The show was produced by Jacqueline Babbin[1] and Beryl Vertue, the former literary agent of Upstairs, Downstairs co-creator Jean Marsh.[3][4]

Production

The first episode cost $900,000 to produce, and the music was composed by Marvin Hamlisch.[1] Christopher Schemering of The Soap Opera Encyclopedia called Beacon Hill "the most touted prime-time soap since the Lana Turner-George Hamilton debacle The Survivors".[1]

The series premiered on August 25, 1975, with an "impressive audience" of "43% of people watching TV" that evening, but it could not sustain those ratings.[1] Schemering wrote that "the overly large cast and fragmented stories did not allow the audience to get its bearings."[1] The show was cancelled after 11 weeks (two further episodes remained unaired) with its last episode airing on November 4, 1975.[1]

Cast and characters

The show starred Stephen Elliott as patriarch Benjamin Lassiter, a self-made businessman and éminence grise at Boston City Hall, and Nancy Marchand as his wife Mary, an elegant society woman from a wealthy family. They have five children; eldest daughter Maude (Maeve McGuire), who is married to yachting enthusiast Richard Palmer (Edward Herrmann); middle daughter Emily (DeAnn Mears), who is married to stockbroker Trevor Bullock (Roy Cooper) and is the mother of the spoilt Betsy (Linda Purl); "plain jane" Rosamond (Kitty Winn), who helps out the family business; bohemian Fawn (Kathryn Walker), who is having an affair with her Italian piano teacher Giorgio Bellonci (Michael Nouri); and Robert, the Lassiters’ only son, who has returned from France after losing an arm in World War I.

The servants consist of Arthur Hacker (George Rose), the family butler; his wife Emmeline (Beatrice Straight), the head housekeeper; his niece Maureen Mahaffey (Susan Blanchard), who works as a maid; his nephew Brian Mallory (Paul Ryan Rudd), the chauffeur who is having an affair with Rosamond; former chauffeur Harry Emmet (Barry Snider); footman Terence O'Hara (David Rounds); cook William Piper (Richard Ward) and his son Grant (Don Blakely); Marilyn Gardiner (Holland Taylor), Mary's personal assistant and secretary; and maids Eleanor (Sydney Swire) and Kate (Lisa Pelican).

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUS viewers
(millions)
1"Pilot"Fielder CookSidney CarrollAugust 25, 1975 (1975-08-25)23.1[5]
2"The Colonel and the Fawn"Burt BrinckerhoffIrving Gaynor NeimanSeptember 2, 1975 (1975-09-02)17.6
3"The Marblehead Club"Peter LevinDavid WiltseSeptember 9, 1975 (1975-09-09)14.6
4"The Poor Little Thing"Peter LevinStory by: Sidney Carroll
Teleplay by: David Wiltse
September 16, 1975 (1975-09-16)15.2
5"The Soldiers"Peter LevinDavid WiltseSeptember 23, 1975 (1975-09-23)12.2
6"The Shining Example"Peter LevinSidney CarrollSeptember 30, 1975 (1975-09-30)14.3
7"The Speakeasy"Peter LevinDavid WiltseOctober 7, 1975 (1975-10-07)12.7
8"The Million Dollar Gate"Peter LevinAllan SloaneOctober 14, 1975 (1975-10-14)9.7
9"The Suitors"Paul LammersDavid WiltseOctober 21, 1975 (1975-10-21)8.2
10"The Test"Peter LevinStory by: Sidney Carroll
Teleplay by: George Baxt
October 28, 1975 (1975-10-28)10.8
11"The Pretenders"Mel FerberStory by: Anne Howard Bailey
Teleplay by: Irving Gaynor Neiman
November 4, 1975 (1975-11-04)10.5
12"The Debut"unknownunknownunairedunaired
13"The Visit"unknownunknownunairedunaired

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Schemering, Christopher (September 1985). The Soap Opera Encyclopedia (1st ed.). pp. 38–39. ISBN 0-345-32459-5.
  2. Andrews, Bart; Dunning, Brad (1980). The Worst TV Shows Ever. New York: E. P. Dutton. pp. 7–14. ISBN 0525475923.
  3. "Beryl Vertue OBE: Producer and Chairman". Hartswood Films. 2012. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  4. "Beryl Vertue". BBC. 16 June 2004. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  5. Bruce B. Morris, Prime Time Network Serials: Episode Guides, Casts and Credits for 37 Continuing Television Dramas, 1964-1993, McFarland and Company, 1997.
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