On a grander scale, suddenly all the predictable succession plans have gone terribly awry, and unheard of questions now loom large - Who will be the new heir to the earldom? And what will happen to this distinguished estate, now in jeopardy? Mary’s grief is short lived as she sets her sights on another suitor, the Duke of Crowborough (Charlie Cox).Īs the drama unfolds among the aristocrats of Downton Abbey, changes are happening amidst the servants as well. It’s personally agonizing (momentarily) for daughter Mary who was supposed to marry Patrick. Robert, Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), his American heiress wife Cora (Elizabeth McGovern), and their three daughters, Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery), Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) and Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) along with Robert’s mother Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith) have lived largely uncomplicated lives.īut the sinking of the Titanic hits home in an unexpected and dramatic way - Lord Grantham’s heir, James Crawley, and his son Patrick have perished. It’s 1912, and life in the Edwardian country house of Downton Abbey is idyllic and bustling for the Crawley family, aided by their cadre of servants.
Here is a synopsis of episode 1 from Masterpiece. Along with the drama of the upstairs residents of Downton Abbey, Fellowes gives equal measure to the downstairs servants whose lives, though devoted (or not) to the family they serve, are as complicated and mesmerizing. Even though this drama is set one hundred years after any of Jane Austen’s famous novels, viewers will see similarities in social stricture, culture, and in writer Fellowes’ gentle nod to Austen in plot and dialogue. Staring Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith and a large and impressive ensemble cast, the axis of the plot centers on English inheritance laws and the present Earl of Grantham (Bonneville) and his wife Cora’s (McGovern) efforts to advantageously marry off their three daughters, Austen-style. Never one to turn down a superbly-acted, multilayered, and opulently produced period drama with big-ass bonnets the size of Texas, this series created and written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) was top on my list of must-see TV for the season. A huge hit when it aired in the UK last Fall, this new four-part Edwardian drama is set in an English grand manor house before the opening of WWI. It is easy to see why they selected Downton Abbey to open their celebratory 40th anniversary season. British period dramas have been the staple fare on Masterpiece Theatre on PBS (now Masterpiece Classic) for decades.
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