upstairs downstairs underwater

I’ve decided to entertain myself this weekend with more episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs. I’m only on season three, filmed in 1973. I find the whole viewing fascinating for so many reasons. But I’m only going to post one here.

Spoiler alert. They eliminate a major character in this series by sending her on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. Well, I don’t think I need to explain what happened to her. And really, there aren’t a lot of original details about that fateful voyage… except a haphazard speculation of what happened. In discussing the lack of life boats aboard, a wealthy barrister shrugged and said, well White Star Line had to make room on the deck to ensure that the wealthy would pay a premium price for their luxury seats. It kept the cost of steerage lower… but I don’t know if the gamble of losing one’s life is worth a lower cost of a ticket.

I’ve thought about Titanic a lot since I was ten years old and saw Robert Ballard’s first photos… but I always thought we learned something from that horrific tragedy. But hearing that off the cuff fictional dialogue made me realize… really, we are still sparing the life boats for the third and second class so the first class will have less aggravation and fill the coffers of the business class. All while speeding towards the iceberg.