Downton Abbey (2010– )

Beginning in the years leading up to World War I, the drama centers on the Crawley family and their servants.

Creator:

Julian Fellowes

Stars:

Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville, Brendan Coyle

Won 2 Golden Globes. Another 26 wins & 72 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Elizabeth McGovern	...	Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham (28 episodes, 2010-2013)
Lesley Nicol	...	Mrs. Patmore (28 episodes, 2010-2013)
Hugh Bonneville	...	Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham (27 episodes, 2010-2013)
Laura Carmichael	...	Lady Edith Crawley (27 episodes, 2010-2013)
Jim Carter	...	Charles Carson (27 episodes, 2010-2013)
Brendan Coyle	...	John Bates (27 episodes, 2010-2013)
Michelle Dockery	...	Lady Mary Crawley (27 episodes, 2010-2013)
Siobhan Finneran	...	Sarah O'Brien (27 episodes, 2010-2013)
Joanne Froggatt	...	Anna Smith (27 episodes, 2010-2013)
Rob James-Collier	...	Thomas Barrow (27 episodes, 2010-2013)
Phyllis Logan	...	Mrs. Hughes (27 episodes, 2010-2013)
Sophie McShera	...	Daisy Mason (27 episodes, 2010-2013)
Maggie Smith	...	Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham (27 episodes, 2010-2013)
Dan Stevens	...	Matthew Crawley (25 episodes, 2010-2012)
Penelope Wilton	...	Isobel Crawley (25 episodes, 2010-2012)
Allen Leech	...	Tom Branson (22 episodes, 2010-2013)
Jessica Brown Findlay	...	Lady Sybil Crawley (20 episodes, 2010-2012)
Kevin Doyle	...	Joseph Molesley (20 episodes, 2010-2013)
David Robb	...	Dr. Clarkson (17 episodes, 2010-2012)
Amy Nuttall	...	Ethel Parks (16 episodes, 2011-2012)
Ed Speleers	...	Jimmy Kent (14 episodes, 2012-2013)
Thomas Howes	...	William Mason (12 episodes, 2010-2011)
Matt Milne	...	Alfred Nugent (12 episodes, 2012-2013)

Storyline

Lord Crawley sees his family heritage, especially the grand country home Downton Abbey, as his mission in life. The death of his heir aboard the Titanic means distant cousin Matthew Crawley, a Manchester lawyer, suddenly is next in line and accepts moving onto the vast estate with his even more modernist, socially engaged mother, who clashes with his lordship's domineering, conservative mother, the dowager. Marrying off the daughters is another concern. Meanwhile, the butler presides over a staff which serves the family, but also lead most of their entire lives in the servants' quarters, intriguing amongst themselves.

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Plot Keywords:

servant | estate | heir | lawyer | butler | 

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Taglines:

War changes everything

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

ITV [uk] Masterpiece Downton Abbey PBS [usa]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Also Known As:

Masterpiece Classic

Filming Locations:

Waddesdon Manor, Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Carnival Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

65 min 65 min 48 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the first series was broadcast, Julian Fellowes, the creator and executive producer, was annoyed at newspaper articles which printed viewers' criticisms of anachronisms (e.g. TV aerials and double yellow lines in shot), especially the newspapers' assumptions that *all* such criticisms were valid - for example the word "boyfriend" was wrongly thought to be an anachronism when in fact it appeared in print in 1889, long before the time when Downton Abbey was set. At the time, he said "They think to show how smart they are by picking holes in the programme to promote their own poshness and to show that their knowledge is greater than your knowledge". However in an article in Radio Times on 17 September 2011, coinciding with the start of the second series, Fellowes apologised and commented "I behaved rather badly by getting the hump".

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Goofs

Although Robert and Cora Crawley both have blue eyes, their daughter, Mary, has brown eyes. This was thought biologically impossible in the Davenport Model (1907), although not very common, two blue-eyed parents can produce children with brown eyes. Eye color is a complex trait that depends on the state of several interacting genes. The gene that usually decides the issue (blue eyes or brown eyes) is the OCA2 gene on chromosome 15. But it comes in different strengths. A person with a weak form of the OCA2 gene will have blue eyes. Likewise a person with a strong form will have brown eyes, but individuals also have other eye-color genes that each has a say in the final eye-color outcome. For example, if one of these lesser genes is strong, it can make the weak form (blue) of OCA2 work much more effectively - almost like the strong form (brown). Then the eye color may be brown. In fact, the resulting color can be any shade of brown, hazel, green or blue depending on the interactions.

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Connections

Referenced in Dancing with the Stars: 2012 Semi-Final (2012)

User Reviews

Beautifully produced, and for me one of the better programmes airing this year

I have to say I loved Downton Abbey, and thought it was one of the better programmes airing this year along with Luther, Sherlock and the stunning Channel 4 drama Mo. Downton Abbey was beautifully produced, well cast and interesting, when it was first advertised it looked as though ITV had a hit and from the first episode I think Downton Abbey lived up to that expectation.

I for one loved how elegant Downton Abbey was. The photography was beautiful and skillful, while the scenery was breathtaking and the costumes were exquisite. The scoring was also very good, often very hypnotic and beautiful. The direction was controlled, the episodes were well paced and for me the characters were believable my favourites being Violet and Robert.

The writing in general was another strength. It was witty in a subtle way, is often funny and could be heart warming and poignant too, the best coming from Violet and Mrs Hughes I felt. The only bit of dialogue that rang false, and this is such a minor criticism, is Robert's "Downton is my third parent and my fourth child" which came across as somewhat cheesy. And the stories were well written and as believable as the characters, not to mention pretty original.

And of course the acting was excellent. Maggie Smith was perfect as Violet. She plays this sort of character well, and she had such good timing and dialogue. Plus I love her in costume. Hugh Bonneville was dashing, and I cannot get over how beautiful Michelle Dockery was here. Jessica Brown-Findlay was also fine as another of my favourite characters Lady Sybil, and Phyllis Logan was always good value though I would love to see more of her if and when the series returns.

In conclusion, Downton Abbey was a wonderful series thanks to the great cast and production values especially and I cannot wait to see more. 10/10 Bethany Cox