Downton Abbey: Season 1
  • Network: PBS , ITV1 , ITV
  • Series Premiere Date: Jan 9, 2011
  • Season #: 1 , 2 , 3
User Score
8.6 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 183 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 169 out of 183
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 183
  3. Negative: 9 out of 183

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  1. maclaughlin
    Oct 8, 2012
    3
    Although the sets, the costumes, the music, and the direction all work to create a captivating world, the writing is sloppy and is more in the realm of a soap opera or a cartoon than an intelligent drama. Instead of showing the lives of convincing characters, the people of Downton Abbey are often one-dimensional and far too repetitive. The show's villains are entirely without motivation, worse than the moustache-twirling villains from Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons. The plots, somehow, are both predictable and absurd, and the characters complain, for years, about problems that are far too easy to resolve.… Expand
  2. marylynsim
    Jan 23, 2011
    0
    Okay, I just finished tonight's episode and that's it for me. I can't take anymore. If I ever hear it's actually ending, I may check in to see how. I wonder if the producers/writers, whatever, thought they were making another "Upstairs/Downstairs"? If so, they weren't. That was a fantastic series.
  3. Giggleflower
    May 29, 2012
    2
    If you like or miss soap operas this is a good choice, it is well written, acted and the characters are likable or even lovable. But I don't like soap operas

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
92 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 14 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. Hitfix
    Reviewed by: Alan Sepinwall
    Feb 14, 2011
    60
    Now, I wouldn't say I loved it. Parts of it I didn't even like. I became quite engaged with what was going on downstairs with the servants, while I found virtually everything having to do with the Granthams (at least the parts unrelated to how they dealt with the staff) a chore to get through.
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  2. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Peter Swanson
    Jan 10, 2011
    88
    For every Mrs. Patmore, the cook who wants nothing more than to stay in service the remainder of her life, there is a housemaid such as Gwen (Rose Leslie), who dreams of becoming a secretary in a modern office. It's these dichotomies, and the way they exist within both the Abbey itself (half the rooms have electricity and half don't) and its multifaceted inhabitants that make Downton Abbey not only the best soap opera currently on television, but one of the most relevant as well.
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  3. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Mary McNamara
    Jan 9, 2011
    100
    Downton Abbey, which premieres Sunday, is this generation's "Upstairs, Downstairs," both in theme--the daily dramas of a titled British family and their many servants--and in stature.
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