Downton Abbey:

[MikeK]

This PBS Masterpice special airs at 9PM, Sundays. In addition to being very entertaining it is an interesting and exceptionally revealing look at the relationship between the nobility and the servant class in England's post-Victorian era. While we middle-class, relatively belligerent Americans harbor an innate contempt for the concept of voluntary servitude the ultra-civilized Brits had refined the arrangement to the level of a dignified and respected profession.

The Remains of The Day, (Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson) was the first movie I'd seen that showed the servants of an aristocrat's house to be more than animated, impersonal fixtures. Gosford Park took a step closer in terms of relationship but treats the servants as secondary objects. Downton Abbey focuses on the lives and personal experiences in the structured hierarchy of servants who tend the house of a high-ranking British lord.

 

[Madeline]

I've seen a couple of episodes and I'm hooked. You're right...it's fascinating.

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Hey Queenie, `member me? I'm the one who climbed yer fence an' brought you dat batch o' special brownies ya liked so well...

The Queen loves to spot mistakes in Downton Abbey
Sunday Sep 6, 2015 | When Downton Abbey returns to screens for the last time later this month, one hawk-eyed fan in particular will be ready to pounce on any historical inaccuracies the producers allow to slip through the net.

The Queen, it has emerged, is a huge fan of the series, and loves nothing better than to point out the mistakes that have become a whole sub-plot in themselves for devotees of the show. Brian Hoey, the author of At Home With The Queen, revealed that Downton came up in a recent conversation with a worker at Buckingham Palace.

The cast of Downton Abbey.

He told The Daily Telegraph: "We were talking about Trooping the Colour and how the Queen always notices if anything is not quite right, such as one young officer she spotted wearing his medals in the wrong order not long ago. "Apparently she is exactly the same when she is watching the television. She loves watching Downton Abbey and pointing out things they have got wrong, partly because she is familiar with Highclere Castle, where it is filmed. She used to stay there as a guest of the Carnarvon family. "She is the same when she is watching anything on television. In one programme she was watching, the Queen noticed that a British officer was wearing medals that were from the wrong era. It was set in the First World War but the medals he was wearing did not come in until the Second World War."

The Queen is not the only royal Downton watcher - the Duchess of Cambridge is known to be a "huge" fan, and makes the Duke of Cambridge watch it with her, and the Duchess of Cornwall never misses an episode, though the Prince of Wales is less keen. Downton Abbey employs the royal commentator Alastair Bruce as its historical adviser, but his advice is not always heeded and a string of historical anomalies have cropped up. In an episode set in 1912, a 1921 Model T Ford was being used. In another, there was a piano rendition of a song written six years after the episode was set. Such late 20th century devices as television aerials, double yellow lines and a PVC conservatory have also made appearances, and in a publicity photograph for the fifth series a plastic water bottle had been left on the fireplace.

Mr Hoey said the Queen also loves watching Dad's Army, perhaps because she remembers the Home Guard platoon based at Windsor Castle during the war. She is also a fan of Last of the Summer Wine and, surprisingly, the X Factor. During her visit to Ireland in 2011 she told Mary Byrne, a former contestant on the ITV1 talent show, that her staff record X Factor for her and she watches it the next day.

The Queen loves to spot mistakes in Downton Abbey - Entertainment - NZ Herald News

 

[g5000]

First season was great. Rich in detail. Luxurious.

After the pretty stuff wears off, becomes an intolerably boring soap opera.

 

[MikeK]

First season was great. Rich in detail. Luxurious.

After the pretty stuff wears off, becomes an intolerably boring soap opera.

That depends on one's level of interest in the seldom considered relationship between what was most commonly known as Upstairs and Downstairs, i.e., aristocrats and the servant class. In most examples, dramatizations in which servants are a visible presence in British theater they occur as incidental and as insignificant as furniture pieces.

The success of the 1970s' Upstairs/Downstairs television series was based entirely on consideration of this relationship and Downton Abbey is an especially well-crafted version of the same theme. Aside from that aspect, the cast, the sets and the wardrobe of this production are exceptional. I thoroughly enjoyed every second of every episode and I will sadly miss Downton Abbey when its final season ends nest year.

In fact I plan to start dropping some DVD-set Christmas gift hints.

 

[g5000]

First season was great. Rich in detail. Luxurious.

After the pretty stuff wears off, becomes an intolerably boring soap opera.

That depends on one's level of interest in the seldom considered relationship between what was most commonly known as Upstairs and Downstairs, i.e., aristocrats and the servant class. In most examples, dramatizations in which servants are a visible presence in British theater they occur as incidental and as insignificant as furniture pieces.

The success of the 1970s' Upstairs/Downstairs television series was based entirely on consideration of this relationship and Downton Abbey is an especially well-crafted version of the same theme. Aside from that aspect, the cast, the sets and the wardrobe of this production are exceptional. I thoroughly enjoyed every second of every episode and I will sadly miss Downton Abbey when its final season ends nest year.

In fact I plan to start dropping some DVD-set Christmas gift hints.

The 1970s Upstairs/Downstairs was also a soap opera!

In fact, when I first saw Downton Abbey, that soap immediately sprang to mind.

 

[waltky]

Lady Mary got married again...

... would like to see the show end...

... kinda like St. Elsewhere did.

 

[MikeK]

I'm afraid the end is near for Downton Abbey, which is my very favorite tv series, and the loss will be like the death of a dear friend. I will be deeply saddened by the final curtain, which I believe might be the next episode.

Preparation for the end in nearly complete. Carson and Mrs. Hughes are married and have a cottage. Mrs. Patmore is opening a B & B. Thomas Barrow, the arch villain, has punished himself by attempting suicide, and so is redeemed. Daisy has become literate and faces a future other than service. Bates and Anna are expecting a baby. Mary is getting married (although I pity her husband). I believe Edith's love will return to her in the final episode and the only dangling participle is Branson, the chauffer-turned-widowed- nobleman. But I'm sure Fellows has something happy in store for him in the final episode.

Downton Abbey deserves as many Emmys as it can possibly have.