Davies was ahead of his time with the concept for this show, much of which seems more like something one would find on air now. I was so disappointed to find out that, not only is this nearly 20 years off air, but that there are only two seasons. This show has so much going on for viewers. Yes, the first three episodes are a bit tedious. But SOOOOOO worth it. I'm in the middle of season two and absolutely heartbroken that there isn't more coming. While I already respected Davies and his work on Dr. Who, this really trumps some of that. And if you are familiar with his Dr. Who work, you know that a Davies episode is going to take everything you know, or think you know, and turn it on it's head. This show does that every scene. And you are there going "wait, no, no, he didn't, he just didn't, NOOOOOOO!" and loving every minute of it while he does it. Unlike many other period dramas, this one really keeps true to the time. The characters, the dress, the 1920s, it's all so expertly crafted.

Having just read most of the previous reviews, I can say that pretty much everything has already been said. For what it's worth I'll throw in my two cents, which is this: Watching the series on Netflix, I've gotten up to Episode 8, I believe it is. I'm into the second season and find now that I cannot continue watching. They lost me after the first episode of the second season with the change of actors in the roles of Stephen and Ruth. I don't recall ever seeing this happen before. Usually if an actor leaves, the character they're playing goes along with them. But to change actors mid-way? It's crazy, to me.At first I didn't know who the new "Stephen" was. I thought he was a new character. Likewise with Ruth. The change of these two ruined the series for me. I had grown to like it; at the very beginning I thought I wouldn't continue watching it, as, someone very adequately expressed in a previous review, the characters are almost all reprehensible. But then I got over it and continued watching, even liking it. That is, until the producers decided that we, the viewers, wouldn't notice, or care, if out of the blue, two of the main characters suddenly looked and acted different.So, it's curtains for me on The Grand. Too bad...

What really struck me about this series was the numerous similarities between the characters in The Grand and Upstairs/Downstairs. As the Grand characters developed, I easily linked them to similar characters in the original classic U/D. Immediately evident is the sharp class distinction between the rich and poor. The Bannermans upstairs so resembled the Bellamys in U/D. Both husbands were well meaning oafs too busy to recognize the problems of their family members. They each had a despicable brother. Both wives had an affair though they claimed to love their husbands. Both sons were severely damaged by WWI and both owned a pistol. Both daughters were rebellious. Four members of each family with a strong grandmother showing up periodically. The roles of both head porter Collins and Head Butler Hudson were almost interchangeable. Both very observant, often shocked yet always subservient to their masters. Mr. Collins had Clive and Hudson had Edward as their loyal assistants. Head maid Kate was much like head maid Rose in U/D, always looking after the problem peers Monica and Sarah. Both series had one of the downstairs girls dying at the end of a rope. Each series had a villainous character downstairs, tormenting Monica at the Grand and Sarah in U/D (Lady Marjorie's ladies maid). The main difference in the two series is that few of the characters in the Grand were likable. Poor Susan Hampshire labored mightily for us to empathize with her Madam character but even her immense talents could not make Esme likable. Marcus Bannerman was a classic villain, well played by Mark McGann. While one can easily watch Upstairs/Downstairs repeatedly, The Grand is just too sordid for more than one viewing. The acting is excellent, the settings impressive and while it captures the essence of the period, it's not worth a second look.

"The Grand" is nothing like "Upstairs, Downstairs" or "The Duchess of Duke Street", or even like the original "Forsyte Saga" series. It doesn't possess their superlative qualities, their excellent, realistic production values. Those series had sympathetic characters, and by the time you were done watching them you felt like you were being wrenched away from beloved family members! There is no such feeling here with "The Grand" and its cast of largely unsavory characters. It's actually a relief to STOP watching this series! All the characters, even the kindest one - Kate the servant girl - are out for Numero Uno, they are selfish to the core, and there is little feeling of bonding or real caring between them - and that is why one of their own ends up swinging from the gallows. In "Upstairs, Downstairs" we know that the aristocracy cares about their servants living below. In "The Grand" that feeling is almost completely lacking. Several times during the show long term servants are threatened to be fired, for example, and then almost immediately they are re-instated. "Oops, sorry." No one behaved that way back in 1920. Your "yes" meant "yes", and your "no" meant "no".The writing is not cohesive or spellbinding enough to keep your attention going for long. Ridiculous mistakes were made in the scripts for these shows: for instance, why would the police arrive to arrest Monica the servant girl for murder in the public foyer of the hotel, without first going upstairs to look at the dead man and the evidence? Bizarre and extremely unrealistic. Who wrote this, a nine year old?Then we have the smarmy situation of a man lusting after his brother's wife - for the entire part one and into part two of the series, and then the story line is just dropped abruptly like a hot potato, and it goes into other unrealistic directions - including black market baby selling and more prostitution stories! Who cares about these reprehensible characters?It looked to me like the writer was just grasping at straws....what can I come up with next that's titillating enough to hold their attention? Then they change two major cast members at the start of series two, which disrupts the feeling of the entire show and its flow of events; in addition, since part two was made a year or so after part one, all the cast members who were kept on immediately looked older.But the worst flaw in "The Grand" is one that seems to be common today for too many writers and producers and directors of historical series and films. That is they insist on applying modern cultural and societal mores to a time period which was much more conservative than our own, and which kept these issues - if they even came up at all - private and between families. Not broadcast to an entire hotel filled with strangers. Again, doing this does not endear an intelligent audience to a vintage period story, because it is artificial and forced, almost as if someone is trying to push their own immoral agenda on their audience.Skip it.