Although she’s been seen only in syndication for the last thirty years, Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced, as she so frequently corrected, “BOUQUET”) was the ultimate in pretention. Constantly striving to reach into an imagined social hierarchy, she was thwarted and embarrassed by her circle of family and neighbors at almost every turn.
If you missed it, iconic British actress and singer Patricia Routledge, actually Dame Katherine Patricia Routledge, died this past week at age 96. Ms Routledge had a distinguished stage, film, and television career spanning decades, but her years as Hyacinth in the beloved BBC sitcom, Keeping Up Appearances, that made her readily recognizable to millions of viewers around the world. If you’ve never seen the show, it’s worth considerable amusement. She went on later to play an amateur detective in the series, Hettie Waintropp Investigates.
Hyacinth tried so hard to elevate her social standing. And those events and opportunities almost always backfired. She tried to distance herself from her sisters, Daisy and Rose. Daisy lived in a slum with her unemployed husband, Onslow, and her slutty sister, Rose. The sisters” father, “Daddy” carried away by dementia and still fighting World War I, lived upstairs. Daddy, a “once brilliant mind”, as Hyacinth described him, would escape from time to time, requiring search and embarrassing rescues. Hyacinth’s other sister, Violet, was married to a “turf accountant”, which is to say, he was a horse racing bookie. They lived well, as Hyacinth was eager to point out, because Violet had “a Mercedes and room for a pony.”
Standing beside, or actually several steps behind her, was her faithful, hapless husband, Richard. Long-suffering and infinitely patient, played by the late actor Clive Swift, he was a mid-level civil servant who was constantly being pushed forward for career advancement by Hyacinth. For poor Richard, the phrase “early retirement” carried all the luster of a fatal disease diagnosis. Also long-suffering and frequently rattled was Hyacinth’s neighbor, Elizabeth. Elizabeth became so nervous in Hyacinth’s presence that her morning coffee usually ended up all over the kitchen.
Hyacinth and Richard were active in the church – active meaning that she drove the Vicar and his wife nuts. They called her, “the Bucket woman”. They, along with the members of the church Women’s Guild, tended to run and hide whenever Hyacinth was making an appearance. The Vicar, referred to as the “dishy vicar” by her sister Rose, was constantly hiding from Hyacinth and Rose, because of his highly suspicious wife.
Living with Elizabeth next door to the Buckets was her brother, Emmet. He was a musician, into whose musical events Hyacinth was constantly trying to insert herself. Actually, Patricia Routledge was a trained singer, and had performed in a number of musicals. As Hyacinth, she hid it well, with Emmet complaining, “She’s going to sing at me. I know she will.” And she did – she’d burst into song at the mere sight of poor Emmet. Two characters were never seen in the show, but mentioned frequently. One was Hyacinth’s neighborhood nemesis, Mrs. Barker-Finch, who was implied to be a constant obstacle to her social ambitions. We never see her, but it’s assumed that her house is within sight of the Bucket residence. The other, much more prominent, is the Bucket’s son, Sheridan. He is never seen, but comes up regularly in Hyacinth’s phone conversations. Sheridan is at university, where he’s switched his focus, much to his father’s displeasure, from “maths” to “embroidery”. There is typically a comment about their “psychic bond with his mummy”. We hear Richard yelling in the background that he’s getting “no more money”, with a dismissive wave from Hyacinth, followed quickly by, “You need how much, dear?”
Many phrases and references have entered the lexicon of Keeping Up Appearances fans the world over. Hyacinth’s dinner parties were christened “Candlelight Suppers”, indicating the degree of elegance for which she was striving. On one such event, she thought she was entertaining the head of a chain of nurseries, so she invented the “indoor/outdoor barbeque”, with the house so full of large plants that nobody could see each other. Her renowned teas were served on “Royal Doulton with hand-painted periwinkles”. (I was in a Royal Doulton outlet store once, and asked the clerk if they had anything with periwinkles. She was not amused.). She frequently referred to her “slim line” telephone, very fashionable in the 1990’s. In fact, some of the funniest moments come about as phone calls. Hyacinth always answers, “the Lady of the House speaking”. In one episode, Hyacinth was preparing an elaborate picnic on a riverbank spot she’d picked out. Of course, when she and Richard and their guests had all lugged her carloads of picnic accoutrements to the place that she’d selected, a large dredge was digging it up. The term, “riparian entertainment”, though, expanded our vocabulary when all the guests had to look it up. (It means “on the river bank”). And, as we’d expect, Hyacinth was obsessed with anything relating to royalty. Like her new living room furniture, or as she called it, her “three-piece suite, an exact replica of one at Sandringham”. It was supposed to arrive in a delivery truck “with the Royal Warrant on the side”. That plan too went astray.
Hyacinth’s unemployed brother-in-law, Onslow, who pretty much drank beer and watched television, which he turned on by smacking it smartly on the side, has given us the term, “bone idle”. From time to time, he and Daisy would head out in their old car, which starts up like a cannon shot and accompanying belch of smoke. That is regularly outside the Bucket residence, to Hyacinth’s eternal despair and embarrassment. Undoubtedly, Mrs. Barker-Finch is watching from behind the curtains.
As we bid a fond farewell to Hyacinth Bucket, we thank you for so many humorous moments, and years of playful silliness. We will continue to enjoy those moments, and hope that you have a full, candlelit and elegant table in the great beyond, loaded with “munchiettes” and perhaps a bottle or two of Lady Ursula’s home-made “scrumpy”.
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