{{Short description|1976 British film by Robert Young}} {{Italic title}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}} {{Use British English|date=May 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = Keep It Up Downstairs | image = File:Keep It Up Downstairs.jpg | caption = | director = Robert Young | writer = Hazel Adair | producer = Hazel Adair <br /> Mark Forstater | starring = Diana Dors <br /> Jack Wild <br /> William Rushton | narrator = | cinematography = Alan Pudney | editing = Mike Campbell | music = Michael Nyman | studio = Pyramid Films | distributor = Thorn EMI | released = {{Film date|1976|07|29|df=yes}} | runtime = 94 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = | gross = }} '''''Keep It Up Downstairs''''' (also known as '''''Can You Keep It Up Downstairs?''''' and '''''My Favorite Butler'''''), is a 1976 British period sex comedy film, directed by Robert Young and starring Diana Dors, Jack Wild and William Rushton.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Keep It Up Downstairs |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150029621 |access-date=29 November 2023 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> It was written by Hazel Adair.
==Plot== The film follows the adventures of the sex-crazed inhabitants of the bankrupt Cockshute Castle in 1904, and the attempts of Lord and Lady Cockshute to find a rich wife for their uninterested inventor son Peregrine.
==Cast== * Diana Dors as Daisy Dureneck * Jack Wild as Peregrine Cockshute * William Rushton as Snotty Shuttleworth * Aimi MacDonald as Christabelle St. Clair * Françoise Pascal as Mimi * Neil Hallett as Percy Hampton * Mark Singleton as Lord Cockshute * Julian Orchard as Bishop * Simon Brent as Rogers * Sue Longhurst as Lady Cockshute * John Blythe as Francis Dureneck * Carmen Silvera as Lady Bottomley * Seretta Wilson as Betsy-Ann Dureneck * Anthony Kenyon as Mellons * Olivia Munday as Lady Kitty Cockshute * April Olrich as Duchess * Sally Harrison as Maud * Mary Millington as Polly
==Production== Filmed at Elstree Studios and on location at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire. A version exists with hardcore inserts; these were shot with body doubles for the main stars.<ref>Sheridan, Simon (2011). ''Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema''. Titan Books Ltd</ref>
== Music == The score was by Michael Nyman, his first for a commercially released film.
==Critical response== ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' said "A joyless 'romp' that is soporifically heavy-handed with its phallic imagery and double meanings (endless references to "big ones" and "getting it off"), ''Keep It Up Downstairs'' bungles the tempting possibility of a ribald melange of ''Upstairs Downstairs'' and ''The Go-Between'' [1971] school of sensitive historical drama. The cast, required to bare breasts and buttocks at regular intervals, is able to make no headway against the inane script and consistently mistimed direction."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1976 |title=Keep It Up Downstairs |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305837010 |journal=Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=43 |issue=504 |pages=102 |id={{ProQuest|1305837010}} }}</ref>
''The Daily Telegraph'' called the film "a dire sex farce featuring a bed-hopping aristocratic family."<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 August 2003 |title=Kent Walton |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1439897/Kent-Walton.html |access-date=8 December 2025 |website=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|0074736}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20161016175140/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6adeb015 Keep It Up Downstairs] at BFI *[https://letterboxd.com/film/keep-it-up-downstairs/ Keep It Up Downstairs] at Letterbox DVD *[https://web.archive.org/web/20180403011546/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/501387/Keep-It-Up-Downstairs/ Keep It Up Downstairs] at TCMDB
{{Robert Young}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keep It Up Downstairs}} Category:1976 films Category:Films set in 1904 Category:Films shot at EMI-Elstree Studios Category:1976 English-language films Category:Films directed by Robert Young Category:1970s sex comedy films Category:1970s historical comedy films Category:British sex comedy films Category:British historical comedy films Category:Films set in England Category:Films scored by Michael Nyman Category:1976 comedy films Category:1976 British films Category:English-language sex comedy films Category:English-language historical comedy films