Watch DOWNTON ABBEY | Masterpiece | PBS
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Last night, I watched episode one of the Masterpiece Classic presentation of Downton Abbey, and I loved it. The miniseries will continue to air for the next three weeks, each Sunday at 9 ET/ PT on PBS. If you missed the first offering, you can watch free online for a limited time, on PBS’s site: Masterpiece | Watch | PBS. The series will also release on DVD and Blu-ray tomorrow, January 11th: Masterpiece Classic: Downton Abbey [DVD]
Downton Abbey is named for the English estate around which it revolves. Set in the Edwardian period, the first episode begins right after the sinking of the Titanic, in April of 1912. This is a time of tension between encroaching modernity and enduring old traditions. This tension is not only played out in the servants’ distrust of electricity, but in Mary’s marriage prospects—the desire of the British nobility for money vs. the contempt of that same object of desire. It’s complicated. The series centers on the Crawley family: Robert, Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville); Cora, Countess of Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern); their daughters Mary (Michelle Dockery), Edith (Laura Carmichael), and Sybil (Jessica Brown-Findlay); and most importantly, Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith). Maggie Smith gets all the best lines, and she is perfection. Perfection, I tell you. These characters are thrown into a crisis of inheritance, due to the entail of the estate (all you Jane Austen fans don’t need to be informed about entails). But that’s not all. We also get a glimpse into the lives of their servants, most notably including the new valet, Bates (Brendan Coyle). I spent most of the first episode wanting to give him a hug. Anyway, I won’t spoil any of the details, but you simply must watch if you enjoy sparkling dialogue and period drama. You also might want to join in on the Twitter party. Just follow the hashtag #DowntonPBS. Enjoy!
I LOVE that series! I’ve watched the whole first season (on dvd) and it is amazing!
I wanted to give Bates a hug too!lol
My favorite character is Anna(the maid, or first maid,,or it’s confusing!) She’s the most genuine character and she’s just a good person. She could be boring but she’s not.
Anyway, glad you like the series too. They will start shooting season 2 soon I think.. I can’t wait!
Yeah, Anna seems really sweet, but the first episode didn’t give us too much of her yet. She has a lot of potential. So happy to hear about season 2!
Yeah, it’s true. She wasn’t in the first episode a lot but each character gets his or her moment to shine during the season, which is really great!
You don’t have to like all the characters but you can kind of understand why they’re doing what they are doing. (If that makes any sense! lol)
I got my Mum the first season of this for Christmas and she loved it! She keeps trying to get me to watch it, maybe one day