After six seasons I’m still
wondering why a guy like me became a fan of the British TV series Downton
Abbey. Not just a run-of-the-mill fan –
a rabid fan. I would rather miss dinner than an episode of Downton.
For the uninitiated, Downton is a
period drama following the lives of the aristocratic Crawleys and their
domestic servants at their magnificent old castle in the English countryside. It is set in the years running through
the First World War and into the 1920s.
Downton first aired in Britain in
the fall of 2010 and the sixth season, said to be the last, ran last fall. The
series is aired later in North America with the sixth season now underway on
American PBS, where I watch it.
The show, a sophisticated soap opera, has become wildly
popular in Canada and the United States, attracting many prominent viewers.
Michelle Obama is said to be an avid viewer, as are Chelsea Clinton and her
parents. Other prominent fans are actors Sandra Bullock and Harrison Ford.
Boxer Mike Tyson has said he likes the show and hopes
to land a role in it.
Those folks are among the
estimated 120
million viewers who tune into Downton in 220 countries and territories.
For me, Downton offers relief from
the constant mayhem shovelled out to North American TV audiences. It’s nice to
watch drama unfold without shouting, shooting, wild smash’em up car chases, and
increasingly inventive forms of physical violence. When I want to see that kind
of stuff I can shut off the TV and drive to Toronto.
I also appreciate Downton Abbey
because I know there is an end to it. Many North American series clunk along
with hundreds of episodes over many years. They keep going long after their
most interesting stories and characters have been exhausted.
Downton usually has seven or eight
episodes per season. When a season ends in late February or early March, that’s
it for the year. Nothing more until next January and by then you really are looking
forward to its return.
Much of our North American TV fare
looks and sounds like reality TV. Little is left for the imagination.
Downton is packed with subtleties.
The expressions and dialogue of the characters are delicate and intelligent.
The characters are no less nasty, sometimes even brutal, than those on North
American TV, but it is nastiness delivered with finesse.
One of the nastier characters is
Thomas Barrow, the scheming under butler. He’s not likeable, but once into the
story you realize he is struggling with his homosexuality, which was a crime in
the 1920s. The viewer comes to understand why he is the way he is and develops
compassion for him.
As devastating as Barrow is with
cutting remarks, the show’s champion zinger slinger is unquestionably Lady
Grantham, the aged mother of Robert Crawley, the earl of Downton. She is played
by the famous British actress Maggie Smith.
One of her classic zingers is
delivered early in Downton’s history when she is told that one of her
granddaughters is entitled to her opinion.
“No,
she isn't until she is married--then her husband will tell her what her
opinions are.”
In
another scene, her granddaughter Lady Mary tells her sharply:
“How many times am I to be ordered to marry
the man sitting next to me at dinner.”
“As many times as it takes,” Lady Grantham
shoots back.
All the characters in Downton Abbey are
complex and well fleshed out. Dislikable as some are, the more you see of them
the more likeable they become, despite their faults.
Lord Grantham is an example. He is a military
man of honour and conviction and an upholder of British upper
class beliefs. The world he knew is falling apart and he is not sure how
to handle that.
Despite this he is not a stereotypical English
aristocrat bitter about his lot. He displays compassion and treats his servants
almost like family.
Downton Abbey is a flashback to a
time no less complicated than today, but a time when life’s problems were faced
not as an unfortunate victim, but as a determined person with quiet resolve.
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