X
- 2010
- TV-PG
- PBS
- 2010
- TV-PG
- PBS
- 2010
- TV-PG
- PBS
- 2010
- TV-PG
- PBS
Downton Abbey
6 Seasons
Season 1 Premiere: Sep 26, 2010
80
8.1
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 141 Critic Reviews
80
89% Positive
126 Reviews
126 Reviews
10% Mixed
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
1% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 141 Critic Reviews
80
89% Positive
126 Reviews
126 Reviews
10% Mixed
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
1% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Judging from the first eight hours, it truly will be grand. Downton Abbey looks for all the world as though it’s steaming steadily toward happy or at least contented endings for one and all.
Watching Downton Abbey is like curling up with a really satisfying book, and I can't think of a better way to get through one of the crueler months of winter. This is one of those shows that after finishing it, I immediately began to envy those who had yet to experience the pleasure.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 907 User Ratings
8.1
85% Positive
773 Ratings
773 Ratings
7% Mixed
62 Ratings
62 Ratings
8% Negative
72 Ratings
72 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 907 User Ratings
8.1
85% Positive
773 Ratings
773 Ratings
7% Mixed
62 Ratings
62 Ratings
8% Negative
72 Ratings
72 Ratings
British television at it's finest.
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It will be hard to do better than this.
What can i say? Since I saw the first season I've been an unconditional fan of Downton Abbey. I think it's one of the most historically accurate and refined series of recent years.
Over the course of six seasons, we have been following the life and adventures of the Crawley family, which has lived in Downton Abbey for generations. We also follow the lives of house servants, with all their quarrels, ambitions to rise in life, and leave behind service in the big house. And it is rare to find a series with as much respect and appreciation for historical rigor as it has shown over the six seasons. An enormous effort has been made to make real the historical period in which everything happens, which does not exceed fifteen years (1912-1926). A short time span between the six to seven years the show aired, which allowed the cast's natural aging to dispense with make-up gimmicks to forge the characters' aging.
The script, created and written by Julian Fellowes, is interesting and covers well hot topics from that historical period: the sinking of the Titanic, the First World War, the political turn of Russia, the rise of ****, the emancipation of women, the loss of influence of aristocratic families etc. We can really see how all this has changed society, political life, mentality. We felt transported to that time to see how this noble family had a way of life threatened with extinction by the rapid advancement of time. Serious themes, in fact, but lightly approached and with room for moments of perfectly British humor, in charge of strong characters like Violet, who is against everything modern, and Mrs. Pattmore, always with a sharp tongue. There are no villains here ... despite some classic antagonists appearing in certain seasons (such as Bates's ex-wife) the one who comes closest to a villain is first footman Thomas Barrow, although last season be a true redemption for the character. In addition to it, we have some situations where generally good or neutral characters antagonize each other. This is the case of the Crawley sisters, where rivalry and mutual grudge prevail, while blood ties unite them, or Violet and Isobel, who cherish mutual love and hatred.
The cast is excellent and congratulations. Maggie Smith, a veteran, never disappoints us by impersonating the perfect Victorian lady. Hugh Bonneville was perfect in the role of Robert. Laura Carmichael and Michelle Dockery are amazing in the roles of the Crawley sisters. Jim Carter is the perfect butler and makes a great pair with Phyllis Logan. A word of appreciation, too, for Elizabeth McGovern, Jessica Findlay, Brendan Coyle, Joanne Froggatt, Robert James-Collier, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Penelope Wilton, Kevin Doyle, Siobhan Finneran, Dan Stevens, Lily James, Jeremy Swift, Sue Johnston and Zoe Boyle.
With sleek production and smooth photography, magnificent scenery (Highclere Castle's choice was very wise and made the house an additional character to the plot, which proves that I am right when advocating location shooting rather than abusive use of the green screen Downton Abbey is a true time machine. Grand, magnificent, it is certainly one of the best period television series of this decade.
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As sweet as treacle tart, the third season of Downton Abbey arrives reasonably fresh and warm. [11 Jan 2013, p.74]
The cast is so uniformly good, frankly, it’s tempting not to single anyone out, and Fellowes continues to juggle the dizzying assortment of plots with what appears to be effortless ease. That said, one can see him repeating himself in some of the flourishes as the season progresses.
On the one hand, our love of the characters makes it more than possible to overlook the sloppiness of the scripts. On the other, though, it's because we do know these characters so well that we notice the inconsistencies in the first place. Again, none of this detracts significantly from our enjoyment of the series.
Writer/series creator Julian Fellowes weaves together an engrossing tapestry of stories, although some of them stretch credulity or peter out.
Let's not kid ourselves, this is mainly escapist entertainment fare.... I'm sorry, but I cannot feel good about watching a drama that celebrates--yes, celebrates--one class of people oppressing another.
One of the dullest and worst series, I can't understand why you've been doing this for 5 years.
The actors are excellent, but the stories etc. are so bad for me. Cultivated boredom spreads with every episode.
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One of the dumbest edwardian england shows there is. Where do I start? Sheesh, first of all if you want an excellent series get the Upstairs Downstairs 70's show, downton copies so many characters from that it's almost copyright level. Another great series is Brideshead Revisited from the early 80's. But Downton is so cringy and it's very sad how so many think this piece of garbage is so great. The social programming sjw stuff is all over this series as well, adding a further level of cringe and false revisionism. The cliches are all in there as well. This series makes mountains out of molehills and trumps it up as "drama" with the music and way overblown acting. The whole character who dies suddenly is so implausible and stupid it's laughable. Then the **** daughter plays some heroine to be pitied etc The whole show is about a bunch of greedy vapid people worried about money and property, all with plastic smiles and manners so fake it hurts. England at that time was thoroughly material greed infested and worked for those who are always at the bottom of that satanic creed, since before the Cross. Most of classic English lit of the period is about this theme of inheriting and horse trading for wealthy sons and daughters, ****, Austen, etc etc A bunch of pretty words, showy titles and uniforms belies the reality of the wretched english. This show is so bad that S1 is as good as it gets, I've seen through S3 and just couldn't watch it past that it's so bad.
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Production Company:
- Carnival Film & Television
- Masterpiece Theatre
Initial Release Date: Sep 26, 2010
Number of seasons: 6 Seasons
Rating: TV-PG
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 3 Wins & 11 Nominations
Primetime Emmy Awards
• 15 Wins & 69 Nominations
Online Film & Television Association
• 3 Wins & 58 Nominations
