Downton Abbey

OK so I am really late with this one. I heard about it, saw the pictures and knew it was a huge TV phenomenon but the timing was bad - the celebrated British series started in 2010 but I sailed around the world until 2018 and there was just so much I could catch up on my vacations. Often I felt as I have returned from out of space, because so many things happened in the meantime - neighbours had died, new babies were born, there was a lot of new music and movies, new books ... - I would hoard as much as I could for my next ship assignment but eventually it became clear that one lifetime is not enough to soak everything in. 

Anyway - I had glanced at Netflix and there it was, Downton Abbey in all its glory. And I must say that I fell for it like a sucker. Like a silly fly right into a spider's web. I mean, after years of reading historical novels, I was conditioned to love anything that is British, costumed and has this kind of cast. Even the first 10 minutes - a unforgettable introduction to a huge mansion where servants are busy ants and aristocrats are lazying upstairs - already got me hooked, with servants ironing the newspapers (so the lord won't get dirty fingers from the print) that bring the news about sinking of Titanic. And this changes everything because with the ship went two heirs to this estate (the lord has only daughters and they don't count). This means that the new inheritor must be some distant cousin who (gasp) works as attorney and when he and his widowed mother move to a house nearby, the whole mansion is against them. It would eventually make more sense to get him married to one of the lord's daughters but they were brought as spoiled brats and would not lower themselves to marry someone who is attorney. So the saga goes on and on.

The sheer explosion of visual beauty - interiors, exteriors, costumes, hairstyles, jewellery - the attention to details, the poise of the butlers and the nonchalance of aristocrats, is hypnotising. It all reminded me on "Gosford Park" and that was not accidental as both share the same creator Julian Fellowes who had also decided that series must include Maggie Smith. And now we come to the cast - it feels like there is a cast of hundreds but actually the story really follows around sixteen characters (which is complicated enough, though it flows effortlessly). Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern are Earl and his American wife (its wonderful to see her again after so many years) who have three daughters: Lady Mary, Lady Edith and Lady Sybil. The girls initially appear spoiled and bored but somehow trough the series we start feeling sympathy for them. Maggie Smith is delightful dowager grandmother who might be the quintessential British aristocrat, sarcastic and witty - she steals every single scene. Dan Stevens is a distant cousin who inherits the estate and excellent Penelope Wilton his strong willed mother who is the only one who can stand up to the old dowager. And these are just characters upstairs - servants downstairs are world in itself, with their own bosses, leaders, followers, good and bad guys, love affairs, etc. 

I have binged on the first season without doing anything else and loved it - was a little embarrassed that it took me so long to discover it and could not really share my enthusiasm with the world because basically everybody knew about it already. Last night I even moved into season two - at this point I can tell its turning into soap opera with never ending bubbles, but its so skilfully done that I don't mind. I am aware this is not a genuine historical fact but a TV entertainment - still, lots of attention was paid in creation of it. Irresistible and addictive, this is a top shelf costume soap opera.