Downton Abbey
As part of the backstory, the main character, Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, had resolved his father's past financial difficulties by marrying Cora Levinson, an American heiress.Of several subplots, one involves John Bates, Lord Grantham's new valet and former Boer War batman, and Thomas Barrow, an ambitious young footman, who resents the former for taking a position he had desired for himself.Mary, while acknowledging her feelings for Matthew, becomes engaged to Sir Richard Carlisle, a powerful and overbearing newspaper mogul who was instrumental in uncovering the Marconi scandal, but their relationship is rocky.Lady Sybil, the youngest Crawley daughter, beginning to find her aristocratic life stifling, falls in love with Tom Branson, the new chauffeur of Irish descent with strong socialist leanings.Robert learns that the bulk of the family's fortune (including Cora's dowry) has been lost due to his impetuous investment in the Grand Trunk Railway.The family, except Branson, visits Violet's niece Susan, her husband "Shrimpie", the Marquess of Flintshire; and their daughter Rose, in Scotland, accompanied by Matthew and a very pregnant Mary.Mary returns to Downton with Anna and gives birth to the new heir, but Matthew dies in a car crash while driving home from the hospital after seeing his newborn son.The downstairs story also involves a love square between Daisy (now promoted to assistant cook), Ivy (the new kitchen maid) & the 2 footmen Jimmy & Alfred, which ends up in all parties recognising that they were pursuing the wrong person.In the Christmas special set mainly in London, Sampson, a card sharp, steals a letter written by the future Edward VIII, then Prince of Wales, to his mistress, Rose's friend Freda Dudley Ward, which if made public would create a scandal; the entire Crawley family connives to retrieve it, although it is Bates who extracts the letter from Sampson's overcoat, and it is returned to Mrs Dudley Ward.Simon Bricker, an art expert interested in one of Downton's paintings, shows his true intentions toward Cora and is thrown out by Robert, causing a temporary rift between the couple.Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes disagree on where to hold their wedding reception, but eventually choose to have it at the schoolhouse, during which Tom reappears with Sybil, having returned to Downton for good.Allen Leech as Tom Branson begins the series as the family chauffeur, but falls in love with Lady Sybil, marries her and later becomes the agent for the estate.Joining the cast in series three is Lily James as Lady Rose MacClare, a cousin whose mother is Violet's niece Susan, the Marchioness of Flintshire, and who is sent to live with the Crawleys because her parents are serving the empire in India and, later, remains there because of family problems.Suitors for Lady Mary's affections during the series include Tom Cullen as Lord Gillingham, Julian Ovenden as Charles Blake, and Matthew Goode as Henry Talbot.Downton Abbey's senior household staff are portrayed by Jim Carter as Mr Carson, the butler, and Phyllis Logan as Mrs Hughes, the housekeeper.Matt Milne joined the cast as Alfred Nugent, O'Brien's nephew, the awkward new footman for series three and four, and Raquel Cassidy plays Baxter, Cora's new lady's maid, who was hired to replace Edna Braithwaithe, who was sacked.The series is set in Downton Abbey, a Yorkshire country house, which is the home and seat of the Earl and Countess of Grantham, along with their three daughters and other family members.Each series follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family, their friends, and their servants during the reign of King George V. Gareth Neame of Carnival Films conceived the idea of an Edwardian-era TV drama set in a country house and approached Fellowes, who had won an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) for Gosford Park.The TV series Downton Abbey – written and created by Fellowes – was originally planned as a spin-off of Gosford Park, but instead was developed as a stand-alone property inspired by the film, set decades earlier.[19] Many historical locations and aristocratic mansions have been used to film various scenes: The fictional Haxby Park, the estate Sir Richard Carlisle intends to buy in series two, is part of Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire.[20] Byfleet Manor in Surrey is the location for the Dower house, home to Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham,[21] while West Wycombe Park in Buckinghamshire is used for the interior scenes of Lady Rosamund (Samantha Bond)'s London residence in Belgrave Square.[24] Greys Court near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire was used as the family's secondary property, which they proposed moving into and calling "Downton Place" due to financial difficulties in series three.[60] James Fenton wrote in The New York Review of Books, "it is noticeable that the aristocrats in the series, even the ones who are supposed to be the most ridiculous, never lapse into the most offensive kind of upper-class drawl one would expect of them."[61] Jerry Bowyer argued in Forbes that the sympathy for aristocracy is over-stated, and that the show is simply more balanced than most period dramas, which he believes have had a tendency to demonise or ridicule upper class characters.In its clear delineation between the goodies and the baddies, in its regulated dosages of highs and lows, the show is welcome counter-programming to the slow-burning despair and moral ambiguity of most quality drama on television right now.A. Gill said that the show is "everything I despise and despair of on British television: National Trust sentimentality, costumed comfort drama that flogs an embarrassing, demeaning, and bogus vision of the place I live in.The character of Ross was partially based on Leslie Hutchinson ("Hutch"), a real-life 1920s jazz singer who had an affair with a number of women in high society, among them Edwina Mountbatten."[100] A "tremendous amount of research" went into recreating the servants' quarters at Ealing Studios because Highclere Castle, where many of the upstairs scenes are filmed,[101] was not adequate for representing the "downstairs" life at the fictional manor house.It was nicknamed the "Downton Abbey law" because it addressed the same issue that affects Lady Mary Crawley, who cannot inherit the estate because it must pass to a male heir.[120][121] While a separate series, Fellowes hinted in interviews that some members of Downton's Crawley family, as well as Martha Levinson, Cora's mother, could appear in the new show.
Downton Abbey (film)Historical dramaJulian FellowesShelagh StephensonTina PeplerHugh BonnevilleJessica Brown FindlayLaura CarmichaelJim CarterBrendan CoyleMichelle DockerySiobhan FinneranJoanne FroggattPhyllis LoganThomas HowesRob James-CollierRose LeslieElizabeth McGovernSophie McSheraLesley NicolMaggie SmithDan StevensPenelope WiltonAmy NuttallKevin DoyleAllen LeechMatt MilneEd SpeleersLily JamesDavid RobbCara TheoboldRaquel CassidyTom CullenJulian OvendenMichael FoxMatthew GoodeHarry Hadden-PatonJohn Lunnlist of episodesGareth NeameRebecca EatonHighclere CastleSingle-cameraCarnival FilmsWGBH-TVMasterpiece ClassicYorkshirecountry estatearistocraticdomestic servantsEdwardian eraBritish social hierarchysinking of the TitanicFirst World WarSpanish influenza pandemicMarconi scandalIrish War of IndependenceIrish Free StateTeapot Dome scandalBritish general election of 1923Beer Hall Putschinterwar periodBritish aristocracynumerous accoladesGolden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television FilmPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries or MovieGuinness World RecordsPrimetime Emmy Awardcostume dramaBrideshead Revisitedfilm adaptationUniversal PicturesFocus FeaturesList of Downton Abbey episodesDownton Abbey (series 1)Earl of Granthamfamily estateYorkshire regionfee tailmale heirsAmerican heiressheir presumptivesinking of RMS Titanicupper-middle-classBoer Warbatmanfootmanlady's maidclosetedhomosexualEdwardian EnglandnoticeRoyal Army Medical Corpsassassination of Archduke Franz FerdinandDownton Abbey (series 2)Battle of the Somme1918 Spanish flu pandemicconvalescent hospitalBritish ArmyLiberalconscriptionorderlyscullery maidparalysed from the waist downSpanish fluphonographbutlercommutedsocialistelopementDownton Abbey (series 3)Grand Trunk Railwaybreast cancerbenignAnglo-Irisheclampsialand agentMarquessScotlandDownton Abbey (series 4)Bombaycomes of agedivorceGermanycitizenshipHitler