Editing Keeping Up Appearances (section)

==Premise==
{{More citations needed section|date=December 2024}}
[[Hyacinth Bucket]] ([[Patricia Routledge]])&nbsp;– who insists her surname is pronounced ''Bouquet'' (although her husband Richard has said, "It was always 'Bucket' until I met you!")<ref>{{cite episode |series=Keeping Up Appearances |series-no=5 |number=3 |time=8:57 |quote=Yes, I'll give you my name and address. It's "Bouquet." B-u-c-k-e-t. No, it is "Bouquet."}}</ref>&nbsp;– is an overbearing, social-climbing snob, originally from a lower-class background, whose main mission in life is to impress others with her refinement and pretended affluence.

She is terrified that her background will be revealed and goes to great lengths to hide it. Hyacinth likes to spend her days visiting [[English country house|stately homes]] (convinced she will meet and strike up a friendship with the [[British upper class|upper-class]] owners, especially if they are part of the [[landed gentry]] or [[Peerage of the United Kingdom|peerage]]) and hosting "executive-style" candlelight suppers (with her [[Royal Worcester]] [[Ceramic glaze|double-glazed]] Avignon [[Bone china|china]] and [[Royal Doulton]] china with "the hand-painted [[Vinca|periwinkles]]").<ref>{{cite episode |series=Keeping Up Appearances |series-no=5 |number=3 |time=19:28 |quote=It houses my Royal Doulton with the hand-painted periwinkles.}}</ref>

She ostentatiously brags about her possessions, including her "white slimline telephone with automatic redial", which she always answers with "The Bouquet residence, the lady of the house speaking."<ref>{{cite episode |series=Keeping Up Appearances |series-no=5 |number=1 |time=5:46}}</ref> She frequently receives misdialled numbers for a Chinese takeaway, angering her, insisting that the takeway change its phone number. She speaks in an exaggerated [[Received Pronunciation|RP]]-style accent with northern undertones, while her relatives speak in broad northern accents. Her neighbours speak in milder RP accents. When flustered, Hyacinth reverts to her native accent.

Hyacinth's attempts to impress makes the lives of those around her difficult; her continual efforts to improve her social position usually involve inviting her unwilling neighbours and friends to "exclusive candlelight suppers". Although Hyacinth is not deterred by the lack of response to her attempts, her friends, neighbours, and acquaintances live in fear of being invited, and usually make frantic attempts to excuse themselves.

Her husband Richard ([[Clive Swift]]) bears the brunt of the suffering. He initially worked for the [[Local government in England|council]] in "Finance and General Purposes", but at the beginning of series three, reluctantly accepts early retirement. Though Hyacinth describes his role as "a power in local authority", he appears to be no more than a bureaucratic functionary. Although he loves her with a long-suffering endurance, he is notably exasperated by her plans and her habit of making extravagant and unnecessary purchases.

Although she lives to impress others, Hyacinth regularly competes with her middle-class neighbours (whom she considers snobbish showoffs) such as Sonia Barker-Finch, Delia Wheelwright and Lydia Hawksworth (who alone of Hyacinth's rivals seems to be an actual snob, as she disdains [[kiwifruit]] as "lower middle class"). Hyacinth sometimes says things like "I haven't a snobbish bone in my body" or "I can't abide such snobbery like that" when talking about those she considers her competition.

Always hindering Hyacinth's best efforts to impress, and providing an unwelcome reminder of her less-than-refined roots, are her working-class sisters [[Daisy (Keeping Up Appearances)|Daisy]] ([[Judy Cornwell]]) and [[Rose (Keeping Up Appearances)|Rose]] ([[Shirley Stelfox]] in series one; [[Mary Millar]] thereafter), and Daisy's proudly "bone idle" husband [[Onslow (Keeping Up Appearances)|Onslow]] ([[Geoffrey Hughes (actor)|Geoffrey Hughes]]). They, along with [[Daddy (Keeping Up Appearances)|Hyacinth's senile father]], frequently turn up inconveniently (usually in their clapped-out [[Ford Cortina#Mark IV (1976–1979)|Ford Cortina]] – which always makes a characteristic backfire when it arrives), with Hyacinth going to great lengths to avoid them (saying: "Richard, you know I love my family, but that's no reason why I should have to acknowledge them in broad daylight!"). Rose is very sexually aggressive and promiscuous, adding to Hyacinth's embarrassment. Although Hyacinth is embarrassed by Onslow's laziness and unkempt character, Richard and Onslow get along very well, while Daisy's cheerful nature wins over anyone she meets from Hyacinth's preferred social circle.

Hyacinth's senile father frequently has flashbacks to the [[World War II|Second World War]], and often exhibits bizarre behaviour, sometimes involving embarrassing situations with women (Onslow describes him as "barmy"). Two relatives of whom Hyacinth is not ashamed are her wealthy sister Violet ([[Anna Dawson]]) and her [[Unseen character|unseen]] son Sheridan. Violet frequently telephones Hyacinth for advice, allowing her to loudly announce to anyone in earshot, "It's my sister Violet&nbsp;– the one with a [[Mercedes-Benz|Mercedes]], swimming pool/[[sauna]] and room for a pony". However, Violet's social acceptability is damaged by the eccentric behaviour of her [[cross-dressing]], [[Equestrianism|equestrian]]-loving [[turf accountant]] husband Bruce,<ref>Surname unclear. There is a sign outside Violet and Bruce's house reading "The Paddocks", although it's unclear from the context if it's the name of the house, or if Bruce's surname is "Paddock".</ref> whom she attacks because of his behaviour.

Hyacinth also tries to impress people with the intellectual prowess of her beloved son Sheridan (who actually only takes a course in needlework at a [[Polytechnic (United Kingdom)|polytechnic]]). Hyacinth boasts about the "psychic" closeness of their relationship and how often he writes and telephones her, although he never writes and only telephones his mother to ask for money, much to the despair of Richard.<ref>{{cite episode |series=Keeping Up Appearances |series-no=5 |number=1 |time=1:03 |quote=Do you think Sheridan's voice is getting deeper?" "It's still asking for money, I know that.}}</ref> Hyacinth is blissfully oblivious of the seemingly obvious hints that Sheridan, who lives with a man named Tarquin (who makes his own curtains, wears silk [[Pajamas|pyjamas]], and has won prizes for embroidery), is gay,<ref name="bbckua">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/keepingupappearances/|title=Keeping Up Appearances|website=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> but Richard appears to have realised this, asking Hyacinth if she has ever wondered why Sheridan shows no interest in girls.

Hyacinth's neighbour Elizabeth "Liz" Warden ([[Josephine Tewson]]) is frequently invited round for coffee. Though she is ordinarily calm, Elizabeth's nerves go to pieces in Hyacinth's house, causing her to smash Hyacinth's china and spill coffee and biscuits on Hyacinth's Burmese rug or table.<ref>{{cite episode |series=Keeping Up Appearances |series-no=5 |number=3 |time=13:40}}</ref> She is married with a daughter away at university, yet her husband works abroad and, like Sheridan, neither character ever appears. While everyone else usually addresses her simply as "Liz", Hyacinth almost always calls her by her full name.

Elizabeth is occasionally able to "one-up" Hyacinth herself by reminding her neighbour that her daughter is at university, while Sheridan is studying at a mere polytechnic. Liz's brother [[Emmet Hawksworth|Emmet]] ([[David Griffin (actor)|David Griffin]]) moves in with her at the beginning of series two, after a messy divorce. Hyacinth, upon learning that Emmet is a musician, frequently and abruptly sings out-of-key at him to try to get a part in one of his productions, making him terrified of leaving the house, lest she see him ("She'll sing at me!"). Emmet's problems are made worse by Hyacinth's mistaken belief that his frightened reactions indicate that he is infatuated with her, which, in fact, could not be further from the truth.

Hyacinth frequently confronts the postman with complaints, harassing him to the point that he will go to extreme lengths not to face her; she often forces workmen and other visitors to her home to remove their shoes before entering. Michael, the vicar of the local church ([[Jeremy Gittins]]) is also loath to face the overbearing Hyacinth, to whom he refers (behind her back) as "the Bucket woman". The vicar and his wife sometimes exact comic revenge on Hyacinth for her snobbishness; on one occasion, when she was one of a group of volunteer helpers at the church, the vicar's wife saw to it that Hyacinth's hand went up prematurely and assigned her the job of cleaning the church hall toilets.