MovieChat Forums > 2point4 Children (1991) Discussion > Question for Andrew Marshall - Upstairs

Question for Andrew Marshall - Upstairs

posted 13 years ago by rich_brown-229-906038
2 replies | jump to latest

Hello,

I was wondering, if anybody could answer, why the structure of upstairs of the house changes so much in the last series? Throughout there had been two landings, one with David's room and the bathroom and then another with Jenny's room, Bill/Ben's room and the ensuite. In the last series we see Bill and Declan walking across a flat landing from the front of the house to David's old room. Was there a particular reason for the change or was it just a practical issue when filming?

Thanks for any answers!

[–] andrewpaulmarshall 13 years ago

Hello there,

The simple answer is: the budget. The double level upstairs requires rostra to raise the upper level which adds a great deal to the cost of the set. Although the sets were kept in storage between series so they could be re-used, the rostra would not be part of this and would have to be built every time. As the upstairs is not shown very much in this series, it wasn't viable to spend the money. This was a decision I hated making as we were well aware that the integrity of the house in the viewers' minds is integral to the believability of the show, but it was rather forced on us by the BBCs (then as now) shortage of money. None of us was very happy about it, but there was no choice really.

I hope that answers it for you.

AM

[–] rich_brown-229-906038 13 years ago

Thanks for the reply. Shame about that but understandable.