Heads Up Anglophiles (or period drama lovers)!

PBS is currently showing this wonderful period costume drama, which was a sensational success in the UK last year, I had heard rave reviews about it from numerous UK friends and relations.

Courtesy of Wikipedia - The drama's first season is set in the fictional Downton Abbey, stately home of the Earl of Grantham, early in the reign of King George V, during the two years prior to the Great War and commencing with news of the sinking of the Titanic, an event which triggers much of the storyline. It follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants. In particular it follows the problems of 'the entail', after the known heirs are both killed and an unknown heir falls into line to inherit the estate.

The first series cost an estimated £1 million an hour to film, making Downton Abbey the most expensive British TV show ever produced. It is also the most successful British period drama since Brideshead Revisited, with UK ratings exceeding 10 million viewers.
 

It features the illustrious Dame Maggie Smith, one of our best character actresses playing the Dowager Duchess and she is supported by a fine cast. The story moves along at a good pace and the locations and costumes are just lush. It also has a few moments in the first episode that made both of us laugh out loud.

It is being shown on Sunday nights on PBS, but they are repeating the first episode over the next few days. Check your local PBS schedule HERE

If you have been a fan of British costume drama's in the past then you will love this, it is without doubt at the top of the tree of period dramas.