Downton Abbey - best comedy drama

I am surprised there is no thread about Downton Abbey - a classic masterpiece with humour that is thoroughly enjoyable.

In the first episode I thought there were too many characters and too much going on (slightly hard for my wife and I to follow with our young daughter in the room). After a couple of episodes I really started loving this high quality eventful drama. The second time I watched series 1 and 2 I was able to better appreciate/notice all of the humour - much of it subtle. For a classic drama it is at a quicker (better) pace than other classic dramas.

This is the best drama I have ever enjoyed, although there is plenty of sadness (set around the early 1900s before, during and after the First World War), the characters are fantastic and the wit is simply brilliant.

It includes the legendary Maggie Smith and many other terrific actors. A couple of actors from sitcoms: Penelope Wilton (Ever Decreasing Circles) and Nigel Havers (Yes Minister/Yes, PM).

It reminds me a bit of the sitcom You Rang, M'Lord? (one of my favourites).

Nigel Havers wasn't in Yes Minister or Yes, Prime Minister, maybe you're thinking of Don't Wait Up, or you're confusing him with Paul Eddington?

I enjoyed Series 1 of DA, but it's been in a tailspin of ever more cheap and ridiculous plotlines since then. I'm also finding the glorification of the class system quite distasteful now.

Quote: Harridan @ November 23 2012, 7:36 AM GMT

I enjoyed Series 1 of DA, but it's been in a tailspin of ever more cheap and ridiculous plotlines since then. I'm also finding the glorification of the class system quite distasteful now.

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My feelings precisely *touches forelock*

*curtseys*

Oh how I hate this. The kind of glossy nonsense we used to sell to the yanks. A programme that hides its lack of substance behind gauzy closeups, costumes and vintage cars. Crap dialogue in the mouths of actors who should know better. I would take this kind of chocolate box sludge and make it compulsory viewing in prisons. That would teach em

I'm surprised to find I really enjoy this show. That said, I've only just started on the second series, so I may change my tune quite quickly if the rumours about it going to shit are true.

Quote: Harridan @ November 23 2012, 7:36 AM GMT

I'm also finding the glorification of the class system quite distasteful now.

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Is it really glorification? as a period drama set in a stately home in the post Edwardian era where aristocrats had live in servants, the drama is obviously going to be built around the whole concept of the class divide...it's the central theme of the drama so that's what we get..drama, upstairs and down.

Quote: Shandonbelle @ November 23 2012, 7:25 PM GMT

Is it really glorification? as a period drama set in a stately home in the post Edwardian era where aristocrats had live in servants, the drama is obviously going to be built around the whole concept of the class divide...it's the central theme of the drama so that's what we get..drama, upstairs and down.

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Quite.

Quote: Shandonbelle @ November 23 2012, 7:25 PM GMT

Is it really glorification? as a period drama set in a stately home in the post Edwardian era where aristocrats had live in servants, the drama is obviously going to be built around the whole concept of the class divide...it's the central theme of the drama so that's what we get..drama, upstairs and down.

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It's glorification in the sense that even though it's set at a period of massive social upheaval, after series 1 it doesn't do anything more than pay lip service to ideas of women's liberation, socialist movements and the role of the middle class, and the solution to all problems seems to be for every character to know their place. Sybil, Branson and Matthew (he's so dull I just had to look up his name!) were the only characters who demonstrated any class conflict in series 1, but since then they all dropped those ideas. Branson holds out longest, but the most recent series sees him distancing himself from his ideology and condemning the evil Irish Republicans for turning out a noble family from their home, and except for the occasional outburst he essentially becomes one of the nobility and adopts their lifestyle.

Particularly with the 2nd and 3rd series it seems that Julian Fellowes is really pushing his Conservative ideology on us. So much emphasis is put on the idea that the lavish lives of the nobility are essential to the livelihoods of the working folk that it's hard not to see parallels with current Conservative ideas about tax breaks for 'job creators'.

Quote: Harridan @ November 23 2012, 8:25 PM GMT

Branson holds out longest, but the most recent series sees him distancing himself from his ideology and condemning the evil Irish Republicans for turning out a noble family from their home

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I'm sorry, are your politics somewhere to the left of Stalin, or were we watching different edits of the programme? He expressed empathy for individuals forced out of their home, seeing their belongings destroyed, but never comdemned the republicans' stance. He matured and acknowledged that not everyone and everything was as black-and-white as he'd previously seen it to be, but didn't change his ultimate belief in Irish independence or the wider political and social causes to which he subscribed. He showed himself to be principled, but pragmatic and compassionate too.

Quote: Aaron @ November 23 2012, 9:09 PM GMT

I'm sorry, are your politics somewhere to the left of Stalin, or were we watching different edits of the programme? He expressed empathy for individuals forced out of their home, seeing their belongings destroyed, but never comdemned the republicans' stance. He matured and acknowledged that not everyone and everything was as black-and-white as he'd previously seen it to be, but didn't change his ultimate belief in Irish independence or the wider political and social causes to which he subscribed. He showed himself to be principled, but pragmatic and compassionate too.

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Sorry, I was unclear. I recognise that that was what was supposed to be happening within the context of the programme, but it was rather cynical and manipulative of Fellowes, I felt. Rather than having the character maintain an active political role opposing social inequality but having that opinion nuanced by his ties to a wealthy family, instead he is put in a position where some of the worst aspects of socialism are violently demonstrated to him and he is exiled from his country. So now the revolutionary wears a dinner suit, plays cricket and manages an estate.

Ah, I see what you mean. Yes, I think I'd broadly agree with that. I suspect though, that Series 4 will see his change of circumstance balanced somewhat. That he'll be shown more to be trying to effect change at Downton and bring down those social barriers, rather than him perhaps having sold out, which although is not how I saw it, I certainly agree could be read into the way Fellowes developed and progressed his story to the end of Series 3. But we shall see.

Left of Stalin? that's Hitler isn't it?

Pretty much. But that's a whole other barrel of monkeys.

The politically disingenuous aspect of the show is that the portrayal of the master-servant relationship is idealised to the point of misrepresenting the historical reality. The Crawleys are quite sickeningly benign.