I'm surprised a topic hasn't already been made about this; created and almost entirely written by the Oscar award winning writer, director and actor Julian Fellowes (who won the award for Best Original Screenplay for the similar Gosford Park) the seven part period drama has debuted to great reviews and a stellar 7.6 million viewers last night and is due to air in America in January. Set in pre-WWI England, just after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, it centers on the dramas of the Crawley family and their servants;

 

The first episode kicks off as the natural heir to Robert, Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonnerville) who would have inherited his title and the Downton Abbey estate - his cousin and his only son (who was also set to marry Robert's eldest daughter, the rather cold Mary (Michelle Dockery)) drown after the Titanic sinks. Due to a legally binding contract, Mary is unable to take the title, which means a random distant relative will get everything the family have worked for: but not if the Earl's mother Violet (a wonderful Maggie Grace) and Robert's wife, Cora, Countess of Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern) have anything to do with it. Cripple Bates (Brendan Coyle) who fought alongside Robert in the Boer war, arrives on the scene as Robert's valet. Which leads to the ambitious first footman Thomas (who wanted to be Robert's valet to move up in the world) and the equally conniving Lady's maid Sarah, plotting to get him fired. Meanwhile Plan A of Violet and Cora's plan to get Mary to inherit the title gets underway, by helping Mary grab the man of her dreams, the Duke of Crowborough (Charlie Cox), who is in fact having a secret affair with Thomas, who plans to blackmail him about the whole thing. It's enough to leave the writers of Eastenders heads spinning.

 

It's very well directed, the acting competent (Maggie Smith and Hugh Bonnerville being the clear stand outs). It was greatly structured and written, which allowed us to get to grip with the numerous characters quickly, and managed to let almost all get a moment to shine in the hour and a half running time.

 

Has anyone else watched it, and if you have what do you think? Who was your favourite character? More importantly, will you be tuning in again next week?

 

Here is the rather wonderful trailer:

 

Edited September 22, 201410 yr by J▼hnkm

There's no way my housemates would let me watch this so I intend on catching up online tonight. Maggie Smith is beyond incredible and the trailers look fantastic so I'll likely love it. It's been ages since there's been a decent period drama!

It has its moments but really does risk slipping into 'dull' mode for a lot of it. The evil overly ambitious footman is WONDERFUL.

It was definatly more than decent, period dramas arent usually something that I tend to enjoy that much but this looked very good from the trailers (and who doesnt love Maggie Smith?). An extremly strong cast (most of the episode was spent trying to figure out where I'd seen the Kitchen Maid before) filled with a number of actors I enjoy.

The plot was quite gripping, certainly enough for me to be looking forward to future episodes.

 

ITV definatly finally managed to pull something decent suprisingly.

Isn't there a gay kiss in this with Rob James Collier who is gorgeous?

OH MY GOD. This was absolutely extraordinary. Some of the acting/dialogue is just incredible.

 

The scene where the maid took Bates supper was so moving. The whole episode veered between hilarious/touching/HIGH DRAMA at breakneck pace. Love.

It was very Upstairs Downstairs at times. Younger members may need to ask their parents.

 

There were rather too many "This is what it was like in 1912" moments at the start. Electricity was this new-fangled thing but why would you want it in the kitchen?, maids mustn't be seen by "his Lordship", people would discover major news like the sinking of the Titanic in the newspaper, maids shared a bedroom etc. All true but perhaps a bit overdone. It was still decent enough though and, as others have said, anything with Maggie Smith is almost guaranteed to be good.

Isn't there a gay kiss in this with Rob James Collier who is gorgeous?

Yes, and he is rather lovely isn't he?

He reminded me, surprisingly enough, of Andy Burnham!

 

The kiss....

I was so annoyed! Totally no internet yesterday and I was dying to start a topic on this. There aren't many new dramas that come to TV that I make a point of setting time aside to watch ... but this was one of them. I agree with Tony in that at times (just a few mind) it dragged a tiny bit .... but it was well worth sticking with. Some good ex-Corrie actors there ... Rob Collier (who looks more at home in this kind of thing) and the superb Joanne Froggatt - excellent in everything she's doen both in Corrie and out of it.

 

My husband couldn't get over the ancient looking Mrs Hughes (he used to fancy her like mad when she was Lady Jayne in Lovejoy) and Jim Carter superb as the butler.

 

The actress who playes the senior maid (the one who tripped Bates) is excellent too ... I do hope the character gets her comeuppance.

 

Kath

 

I must add ... my main reason for making a point to watch was Maggie Smith ... but I honestly think the whole cast matches her. Penelope Wilton is in it next week too ... another great actress. Elizabeth McGovern does a good job too. To be honest ... I can't fault any of them.

Edited September 28, 201014 yr by Kathyp

OH MY GOD. This was absolutely extraordinary. Some of the acting/dialogue is just incredible.

 

The scene where the maid took Bates supper was so moving. The whole episode veered between hilarious/touching/HIGH DRAMA at breakneck pace. Love.

I totally agree with you Jark, although the scene I found most moving was when the head maid asked the head butler, if he ever wished things had turned out differently, and if he would rather have a family of his own. That scene did bring a tear to my eye. And I can understand where your coming from Suedehead, but I thought it just towed the line from having too much exposition - in my opinion it was both educational and helped structure the plot e.g. it starts in the morning and showed their morning routine and ended pretty much at night and their night routine. It's a good way of helping it flow and helping the audience understand what is going on and how things in this era worked. I did think some of the earlier dialogue was clumsy at times, and while it must have looked good on paper, it sounded quite a mouthful when said aloud, the line I'm thinking of, but I can't remember exactly, was when Robert was talking about the sinking of the Titanic. I found the Lady's maid delicilously vindictive, I remember genuinely gasping when she tripped Bates over. Like Kathy P said, I hope she gets her comeuppance, because whereas the footman had at least a reason to want to get rid of Bates (to get his job) she was only plotting agasint him because she's a stuck up, utter bitch. The best bit is, judging from the trailer, we haven't even seen the peak of the drama yet. Fabulous!

 

Also Suedehead, it does indeed remind me of Upstairs Downstairs, my mum used to watch it all the time on a saturday morning :lol: I'm also going to make more of an effort to watch Gosford Park the whole way through, my mum has it on DVD, but I've only seen the first five minutes or so.

Edited September 29, 201014 yr by Daniel II

I watched Gosford Park for the first time in a few years tonight. It's very good but there are some levels it doesn't really work on, as a murder 'mystery' for starters, and a couple of the plot lines like the Scottish butler who is actually

an American actor

and we're supposed to be shocked/care are just a bit too SILLY.

 

Obviously Downton has only had one episode so far but on early impressions it looks like it will work on more levels than Gosford did, especially what with it not trying to shoehorn a silly murder mystery in there. I must say though Maggie Smith's performance in Gosford is AB-solutely incredible. Her delivery of every line is just GOLD.

 

"Don't, don't, don't clap, it'll just encourage him and he'll go on, and on, and on..."

 

"Difficult colour, green. Very tricky."

 

Those lines don't sound that funny written like that but I ROARED watching it.

Maggie Smith is fantastic but this show didn't really do much for me. Don't hate it but don't love it either.

"What is a weekend?" :lol: A great line from the wonderful Maggie Smith.

Anyone any ideas as to why Bates should say that he's the 'last person to judge someone'.

 

Tonight's episode was even better than the first ... and the music ... its just so lush! This series has a film like quality to it ... it doesn't look like a TV program.

 

Kath

Anyone any ideas as to why Bates should say that he's the 'last person to judge someone'.

 

Tonight's episode was even better than the first ... and the music ... its just so lush! This series has a film like quality to it ... it doesn't look like a TV program.

 

Kath

There's obviously more between Bates and Lord Muck than we know so far. Presumably Bates knows something that he could use to blackmail the toff.

There's obviously more between Bates and Lord Muck than we know so far. Presumably Bates knows something that he could use to blackmail the toff.

 

Me too! I don't think blackmail has anything to do with it though ... I think its just affection. Lord Grantham said earlier that it wasn't until a year into their marriage that he actually fell in love with Cora. I think that he and Bates had a sexual relationship themselves.

 

Kath

Me too! I don't think blackmail has anything to do with it though ... I think its just affection. Lord Grantham said earlier that it wasn't until a year into their marriage that he actually fell in love with Cora. I think that he and Bates had a sexual relationship themselves.

 

Kath

I wouldn't go that far, I think you may be reading more into it than there actually is. Bates said it wasn't his place to judge Carson or any other man, I don't think he was hinting at some past history.

 

Regardless I think now that they have set up the plot, setting and rather expansive set of characters last week, this episode was a lot more streamlined, although there wasn't as many emotional beats as there was last week. Also, Sarah's comments about Cora makes me think she may possibly do more evil things in the future than simply tripping someone over, although now it's maybe me that is reading too much into something :lol: but her comments about murdering Cora in the night, might have been said in jest, but considering what we know of her ruthless and rebellious naute, I wouldn't put it past her. And seeing as how we are only two episodes in, their are numerous ways the show could go down, and considering Gosford Park, I wouldn't be suprised if someone was murdered somewhere down the line.

 

Back to this episode anyway, the standout has to be Maggie Grace, I loved seeing Violet's rivarly with Mrs. Crawley, hopefully it will continue next week now that they are forced to share power, but I can see them grudingly becoming friends in the future.

 

Also, I think Kathy hit the nail on the head for why I'm loving this show so much, the score is just absolutely gorgeous, and adds extra melodrama to any scene it is featured in. Combined with the slick direction, it really does seem that it wouldn't be out of place on the big screen. Thankfully, there were fewer adverts this week. Also it looks like Thomas gets some more action next week, a bit of a gay romance doesn't go amiss.

Edited October 3, 201014 yr by Daniel II

I wouldn't go that far, I think you may be reading more into it than there actually is. Bates said it wasn't his place to judge Carson or any other man, I don't think he was hinting at some past history.

 

Regardless I think now that they have set up th plot, setting and rather expansive set of characters last week, this episode was a lot more streamlined, although there wasn't as many emotional beats as there was last week. Also, Sarah's comments about the Cora makes me think she may possibly do more evil things in the future than simply tripping someone over, although now it's maybe me that is reading too much into something :lol: but her comments about murdering Cora in the night, might have been said in jest, but considering what we know of her ruthless and rebellious naute, I wouldn't put it past her. And seeing as how we are only two episodes in, their are numerous ways the show could go down, and considering Gosford Park, I wouldn't be suprised if someone was murdered somewhere down the line.

 

Back to this episode anyway, the standout has to be Maggie Grace, I loved seeing Violet's rivarly with Mrs. Crawley, hopefully it will continue next week now that they are forced to share power, but I can see them grudingly becoming friends in the future.

 

Also, I think Kathy hit the nail on the head of why I'm loving this show so much, the score is just absolutely gorgeous, and adds extra melodrama to any scene it is featured in. Combined with the slick direction, it really does seem that it wouldn't be out of place on the big screen. Thankfully, there were fewer adverts this week.

 

I'm certain there will be a murder in it. I even think the 'murder weapon' was actually featured in the first episode.

 

Kath