# Downton Abbey (2010)

> The aristocratic Crawley family and their servants at a Yorkshire estate navigate love, duty and the changing British social order after the Edwardian era.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/31209

## Facts

- Seasons: 6
- Episodes: 47
- Episode runtime: 66 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Julian Fellowes
- Network: ITV1
- Cast: Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Joanne Froggatt, Hugh Bonneville, Phyllis Logan, Jessica Brown Findlay, Elizabeth McGovern
- TMDB rating: 8.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606375/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: genteel, wistful, witty, warm, melancholic

## What critics say

Critics and audiences broadly admired the lavish production design, ensemble acting and sweeping period storytelling, with the show's appeal rooted in its blend of upstairs and downstairs drama.

## Synopsis

Downton Abbey (2010-2015) is a British period drama series created by Julian Fellowes for ITV1. Set in post-Edwardian Yorkshire, it follows the aristocratic Crawley family at their country estate and the servants who keep it running. Dowager Countess Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith) guards tradition with withering wit, while Lord Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville) and his daughters Mary (Michelle Dockery), Edith (Laura Carmichael) and Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) juggle inheritance worries, romance and marriage prospects. Below stairs, head butler Charles Carson (Jim Carter), housekeeper Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan) and valet John Bates (Brendan Coyle) manage their own loyalties and secrets. Each episode is built from dinners, social calls, staff disputes and household crises, while historical events steadily reshape the estate across six seasons of 47 episodes in total. The result is a warm, decorous, sometimes melancholy saga of an English country house in transition. Fans of The Crown, Upstairs Downstairs and The Forsyte Saga will find resonance in its polished costume drama and its class-divided ensemble.

## Shows like Downton Abbey

- [Cranford (2007)](https://ember.film/tv/13285)
- [Jane Eyre (2006)](https://ember.film/tv/12909)
- [Upstairs, Downstairs (1971)](https://ember.film/tv/462)
- [The Forsyte Saga (2002)](https://ember.film/tv/17628)
- [Sanditon (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/78590)
- [Parade's End (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/36399)
- [Jeeves and Wooster (1990)](https://ember.film/tv/997)
- [To the Manor Born (1979)](https://ember.film/tv/112)
- [Call the Midwife (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/36515)
- [North & South (2004)](https://ember.film/tv/12717)

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