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Downton Abbey (PBS 2010-2015)

Huntn

Huntn

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
May 5, 2008
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The Misty Mountains
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Yes, a bit late to start a thread on a show that is over, but as my wife is on her third day of binge watching this, and I find myself pulled in for several episodes at a time, I have to say that this show is a great achievement in the annals of TV. Following in the footsteps of Upstairs Downstairs, it is in the same vein, and does tremendous job of illustrating British Aristocracy in the early 20th Century, their relationship with the help, at least in one family, a class society, along with the changes the 20th century brought to the working class in England, and the eventual breakdown of the class system.

If you have not seen this, and like historical drama/soap operas, this is a show you should not miss. I am amazed at how well the music enhances the story environment. I used the term soap opera, but that is not really accurate, where social situations and love affairs tend to be exaggerate, this is better described as human relationships, drama, and human interest.

Note we first watched this when it was released.
 
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I love a hundred things about Downton Abbey, and it's very re-watchable. One of my favorite actors on it, Jeremy Swift who played Spratt, is also Higgins in Ted Lasso. Great range, eh?

As I mentioned in another thread, Maggie Smith's character's snide asides are worth the wait.
 
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Namara said:
I love a hundred things about Downton Abbey, and it's very re-watchable. One of my favorite actors on it, Jeremy Swift who played Spratt, is also Higgins in Ted Lasso. Great range, eh?

As I mentioned in another thread, Maggie Smith's character's snide asides are worth the wait.
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Maggie Smith steals almost every scene she is in.

Above all, I loved her - Maggie Smith's (as the Dowager Countess) - scenes with Penelope Wilton (as Isobel Crawley); sheer pleasure.
 
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Jullian Fellowes, the creator and writer of DA was born into a very minor aristocratic family at a time when the aristocracy was in steep decline. He has other stuff, both books and TV that are worth investigating if you like this sort of thing. Check him out:
www.imdb.com

Julian Fellowes | Writer, Actor, Producer

Known for: Gosford Park, Downton Abbey, From Time to Time
www.imdb.com www.imdb.com
 
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One last bit of trivia then I promise I’ll shut up and go away: Fellowes won the Oscar for best Screen Play for Gosford Park when Downtown Abbey was filming. He shows up on set to show off his Oscar. One of the props guys stuck a lamp shade on the Oscar and put it on a table where, if you know where to look, it can be seen briefly in one scene.
 
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Longkeg said:
One last bit of trivia then I promise I’ll shut up and go away: Fellowes won the Oscar for best Screen Play for Gosford Park when Downtown Abbey was filming. He shows up on set to show off his Oscar. One of the props guys stuck a lamp shade on the Oscar and put it on a table where, if you know where to look, it can be seen briefly in one scene.
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Gosford Park was very good, - a sort of homage to the 1920s country house murder mystery - and I think the success of the movie gave Fellowes the idea for Downton Abbey, one where he married a few different genres - a story based on class differences (which the Brits do very well), historical drama (another Brit strength), a good soap opera with an excellent ensemble cast but exceptionally high production values (and again, the Brits are brilliant at seriously good soap opera), but adding the spice of historical drama to this, yet one where the traditions and values of soap opera story telling determined how the story was told.

And, it is brilliant.
 
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Namara said:
I love a hundred things about Downton Abbey, and it's very re-watchable. One of my favorite actors on it, Jeremy Swift who played Spratt, is also Higgins in Ted Lasso. Great range, eh?

As I mentioned in another thread, Maggie Smith's character's snide asides are worth the wait.
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He may not be my favorite, but is a valuable addition to the cast and I like him. :)
 
Huntn said:
He may not be my favorite, but is a valuable addition to the cast and I like him. :)
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One of the strengths of Downton Abbey is the ensemble playing of the cast; almost every character gets a story, a plot, sometimes an arc which takes several years of the series to complete.

Another strength is the extensive number of strong roles for the female characters, and how the script and narrative allows them to relate with one another - the Mary, Edith relationship is a superb example of this - entirely separately from how they may interact with any of the male characters.
 
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Scepticalscribe said:
One of the strengths of Downton Abbey is the ensemble playing of the cast; almost every character gets a story, a plot, sometimes an arc which takes several years of the series to complete.

Another strength is the extensive number of strong roles for the female characters, and how the script and narrative allows them to relate with one another - the Mary, Edith relationship is a superb example of this - entirely separately from how they may interact with any of the male characters.
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And the other thing I liked was the character development the series allowed its characters; for example, Mary, Edith, and Tom were all very different people (yet, remained still the same in some ways) from who - or what - they had been when first introduced, back in series 1, a decade and a half earlier, by the measurement of time in the story.
 
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"Downton Abbey" was simply an astonishing and phenomenal television series, one to which I looked forward every year. I've got the entire series on DVD plus the film on DVD as well.

Absolutely, character development within the various plot lines really made the series so appealing and truly outstanding; viewers might not necessarily have been interested in a particular plot line or sub-plot line, but they were often invested in the characters and therefore curious about how they were going to be affected by whatever the action in the story was. Each of the primary characters definitely showed growth as they progressed through the series and the years, which again made everything so much more believable and convincing.

The acting was superb, the characters were superbly developed, the sets were fantastic and beautiful to the eye....a series worthy of winning all the awards and faithful viewers that it did.
 
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Clix Pix said:
"Downton Abbey" was simply an astonishing and phenomenal television series, one to which I looked forward every year. I've got the entire series on DVD plus the film on DVD as well.

Absolutely, character development within the various plot lines really made the series so appealing and truly outstanding; viewers might not necessarily have been interested in a particular plot line or sub-plot line, but they were often invested in the characters and therefore curious about how they were going to be affected by whatever the action in the story was. Each of the primary characters definitely showed growth as they progressed through the series and the years, which again made everything so much more believable and convincing.

The acting was superb, the characters were superbly developed, the sets were fantastic and beautiful to the eye....a series worthy of winning all the awards and faithful viewers that it did.
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The fact that much of the series, and many of the scenes, were actually shot in, around, and outside - Highclere Castle - a genuine castle (dating from the 17th century) belonging to an ancient aristocratic family - added to the sense of authenticity that the series strove to achieve.

Ironically, many of the "downstairs" (especially the kitchen) scenes, were not authentic (they were shot in the London studios), because Highclere Castle (perfecty understandably, as a lived in stately home) had modernised their kitchens to such an extent that they could not have been passed off as something from early in the twentieth century, whereas, most of the upstairs shots were filmed on location in Highclere Castle; this gave the series a real sense of authenticity that no studio shots could have replicated.
 
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Great show that I’ve watched over and over (and just bought from iTunes to ensure that I can watch it whenever I want) but one of my few complaints is the music. It’s very limited. The same themes are used and reused through all of the seasons. Every romantic scene has the same theme. Every dramatic screen has the same theme. Every heart-tugging scene has the same theme. Its just very very noticeable after multiple watchings
 
Gjwilly said:
but one of my few complaints is the music. It’s very limited. The same themes are used and reused through all of the seasons.
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Sorry but I have to disagree. The soundtrack provides continuity across all seasons. Though a modern composition, the music is vaguely reminiscent of the English Impressionism (think Vaughn Williams) that was being composed in the early 20th century. It would be a shame if the music ever got in the way of the story.
 
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Longkeg said:
One last bit of trivia then I promise I’ll shut up and go away: Fellowes won the Oscar for best Screen Play for Gosford Park when Downtown Abbey was filming. He shows up on set to show off his Oscar. One of the props guys stuck a lamp shade on the Oscar and put it on a table where, if you know where to look, it can be seen briefly in one scene.
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Pray tell
 
One year, in advance of the series for that season being broadcast, a number of stills were released; one of these stills - to my brother's delighted amusement (he sent it to me) - inadvertently featured a modern plastic water bottle, forgotten and unnoticed, on a mantlepiece, where it had evidently been set down (and subsequently forgottne) between takes.
 
Longkeg said:
He shows up on set to show off his Oscar. One of the props guys stuck a lamp shade on the Oscar and put it on a table where, if you know where to look, it can be seen briefly in one scene.
Click to expand...

Any idea which season/episode?
 
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