TV on DVD: The new 'Upstairs Downstairs'

Upstairs Downstairs

SERIES This month's new PBS "Masterpiece" saga of life at London's posh 165 Eaton Place stars original '70s series star-creator Jean Marsh (downstairs, supervising servants), co-creator Eileen Atkins (upstairs, the eccentric doyenne returned from India) and sleek aristocrats Keeley Hawes and Ed Stoppard. It's a worthy successor to the enduring highbrow-soap original, but much shorter, at three hours. (A second season of six hours starts filming this fall.)

EXTRAS "Behind Closed Doors," rich 35-minute peek at cast/crew bringing the "rules" of the house back to life in a 1930s setting.

LIST PRICE $35 for two discs, out Tuesday from BBC Video.

Also out Tuesday

HUMAN PLANET John Hurt narrates this BBC docuseries, containing nine episodes (Discovery compressed it to six), which means three hours of footage not seen Stateside; $40 DVD/$50 Blu-ray Disc, BBC.

THE UNIVERSE MEGASET All 63 episodes from five seasons; "Beyond the Big Bang" documentary; Blu-ray also includes 3-D "7 Wonders of the Solar System" disc; $150 for 19 DVDs/$180 for 16 Bu-ray, History.

DOC MARTIN: SERIES 1-4 Martin Clunes stars in the first four seasons of WLIW's Wednesday night Brit fave; $100 for nine DVDs, Acorn.

GROWING PAINS: SEASON 2 Alan Thicke's '80s Long Island-set familycom finally continues on DVD (five years later!); $30, Warner.