Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey is a British historical period drama television series set in the early 20th century, created by Julian Fellowes. The series first aired on ITV in the United Kingdom on 26 September 2010, and in the United States on PBS, which supported production of the series as part of its Masterpiece Classic anthology, on 9 January 2011. The series, set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey between 1912 and 1926, depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their domestic servants in the post-Edwardian era—with the great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy. Events depicted throughout the series include news of the sinking of the Titanic in the first series; the outbreak of the First World War, the Spanish influenza pandemic, and the Marconi scandal in the second series; the Irish War of Independence leading to the formation of the Irish Free State in the third series; the Teapot Dome scandal in the fourth series; and the British general election of 1923, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, and the Beer Hall Putsch in the fifth series. The sixth and final series introduces the rise of the working class during the interwar period and hints towards the eventual decline of the British aristocracy. Downton Abbey has received acclaim from television critics and won numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie. It was recognised by Guinness World Records as the most critically acclaimed English-language television series of 2011. It earned the most nominations of any international television series in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, with twenty-seven in total (after two series). It was the most watched television series on both ITV and PBS, and subsequently became the most successful British costume drama series since the 1981 television serial of Brideshead Revisited. On 26 March 2015, Carnival Films and ITV announced that the sixth series would be the last. It aired on ITV between 20 September 2015 and 8 November 2015. The final episode, serving as the annual Christmas special, was broadcast on 25 December 2015. A film adaptation was confirmed on 13 July 2018.

Year:
2010
5,905 Views

[Sarah O'Brien is talking about Matthew and Isobel Crawley]

Sarah O'Brien:
I'm sorry but *I* have standards. And if anyone thinks I'm going to pull my forelock and curtsey to this Mister Nobody from Nowhere...

[Lady Cora comes into the Servants' Hall. All the servants stand up]

Cora, Countess of Grantham:
O'Brien! Were you discussing Mr Crawley?

Sarah O'Brien:
Yes, My Lady.

Cora, Countess of Grantham:
Is it your place to do so?

Sarah O'Brien:
I've got my opinions, My Lady, same as anybody.

[Mrs Hughes comes in]

Mrs. Hughes:
Can I help Your Ladyship?

Cora, Countess of Grantham:
[to Mrs Hughes] This is the button that's missing from my new evening coat. I found it lying on the gravel. But I was shocked at the talk I heard as I came in. [to O'Brien] Mr Crawley is His Lordship's cousin and heir. You *will*, therefore, please accord him the respect that he is entitled to.

Sarah O'Brien:
But you don't like him yourself, milady. You never wanted him to come...

Cora, Countess of Grantham:
You're sailing *perilously* close to the wind, O'Brien. If we're to be friends, you will *not* speak in that way again about the Crawleys, or *any* member of Lord Grantham's family. Now I'm going up to rest. Wake me at the dressing gong.

[Lady Cora walks out of the room]

Thomas:
I don't think that's fair - not here in the Servants' Hall.

Sarah O'Brien:
I agree. If she was a *real* lady, she wouldn't have come down here. She'd have rung for me and given me the button, that's all.

Thomas:
This isn't her territory. We can say what we like down here.

Mrs. Hughes:
Who says?

Thomas:
The Law - and Parliament. There *is* such a thing as free speech.

Mrs. Hughes:
Not when *I'm* in charge! Don't push your luck, Thomas. Now, tea's over. Back to work!

[Mrs Hughes leaves]

Sarah O'Brien:
Friends! Who does she think she's fooling. *We're* not friends.

Anna:
No?

Sarah O'Brien:
No. And you're not friends with the girls, neither. We're servants, you and me, and they pay us to do as we're told. That's all.

Isobel Crawley:
May I have a word?

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham:
Can it wait?

Isobel Crawley:
No it cannot wait. I've just come from downstairs where I learned that my timetable has been wantonly disregarded.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham:
If you mean the new lunchtime, the wretched servants were having to eat at 11 and then starve until their tea at 6 so...

Isobel Crawley:
I also discovered that you tore up the nurses timetable.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham:
I haven't torn up anything.

Isobel Crawley:
Of course, it would be foolish to accuse you of being unprofessional since you've never had a profession in your life.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham:
Now, just a minute...

Isobel Crawley:
You may think you have the right to ordain the universe, but in this field...

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham:
No, not in this field, in this house yes I do have the right given me by Dr Clarkson and by the law of the land. This is my house and I am in charge right alongside you and if you would stop your bullying...

Isobel Crawley:
That's enough. I will not listen to this. If I am not appreciated here I will seek some other place where I will make a difference.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham:
Good.

Isobel Crawley:
I mean it. I cannot operate where I am not valued. You must see that.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham:
Certainly.

Isobel Crawley:
I shall go. I will.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham:
Perhaps it would be best.

Isobel Crawley:
I repeat. I mean it.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham:
I'm sure you do. And so do I.

Henry Talbot:
Sorry about that, there was rather a queue.

Tom Branson:
It's popular, that's a good sign.

Henry Talbot:
Oh, you don't know the place? [Tom shakes head]

Lady Mary Crawley:
You'll laugh at me, but I've hardly ever been in a public house. Matthew wasn't really a pub man, and Papa goes into the Grantham Arms about once a year to have a drink with the tenants.

Henry Talbot:
Well I'm afraid my life is an altogether rougher affair.

Lady Mary Crawley:
[Smiling widely] Consider me warned.

Tom Branson:
So the car's a success?

Henry Talbot:
Well, I wasn't convinced it would be, but it is. You must have a go sometime.

Tom Branson:
I hope that's a real offer.

Henry Talbot:
You know, I didn't realize you were so keen, Tom. Blast! You could have driven there today.

Tom Branson:
You know I came to Downton as a chauffeur

Henry Talbot:
Oh, Mary told me. But then, not every chauffeur has a real love for cars.

Tom Branson:
That's true enough.

Henry Talbot:
[Turning to Mary] I'll tell you who was talking about you the other day: Evelyn Napier.

Lady Mary Crawley:
[Without emotion] Oh, how is he?

Henry Talbot:
He's well. Still single, of course, and, I suspect, still pining for you.

Lady Mary Crawley:
He will pine in vain, but I'm very fond of him.

Henry Talbot:
La bell dame sans merci.

Tom Branson:
What does that mean?

Henry Talbot:
It means... Lady Mary knows what she's about. I'll tell you what, next time we're all down south, why don't we all have dinner?

Lady Mary Crawley:
I'd love that.

Tom Branson:
You are funny.

Lady Mary Crawley:
What do you mean?

Tom Branson:
The way you have to keep making excuses for why you'll meet. [Turning to Mary] You to watch him drive cars, [Turning to Henry] you to have dinner with a friend. Why can't you just say, "I'd love to spend more time with you"? When can we do it?

Lady Mary Crawley:
You see? He may have assimilated in some ways, but he still fights playing by the rules.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Gratham:
[to Edith as she enters the room] Did you get hold of him?

Lady Edith Crawley:
Yes, he's coming down tomorrow on the first leg of his trip to Tangiers. I've asked him here.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham:
Good.

Tom Branson:
How is he?

Lady Edith Crawley:
[sighing] Sad, he loved his cousin. And it was all so quick. The trouble is, they've already buried him, and Bertie's not quite sure what to do.

Isobel Crawley:
Well, that's ordinary in hot countries, it won't mean any disrespect.

Lady Edith Crawley:
No, but should they leave him there?

Lady Mary Crawley:
Surely the decision is down to the new marquess, not to Bertie.

Lady Edith Crawley:
[hesitantly] Well, that's the thing. He is the new marquess... Bertie.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Gratham:
[Mary looks dumbfounded] Bertie Pelham is now the Marquess of Hexham?

Lady Edith Crawley:
Yes.

Lady Mary Crawley:
Nonsense, he's having you on. He'd have told you if he was the heir.

Lady Edith Crawley:
He did tell me, but his cousin was in his thirties, and they all knew the girl he was going to marry.

Lady Mary Crawley:
But that's absurd. If Bertie's a marquess, then Edith...

Robert Crawley, Earl of Gratham:
[interrupting joyfully] Edith would outrank us all, yes, that's right!

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham:
[Everyone smiles, thrilled with the news] Was he a close relation?

Lady Edith Crawley:
Second cousin, once removed. Nobody thought it was possible he would ever inherit, least of all Bertie.

Isobel Crawley:
Well, he seemed like a nice young man to me.

Lady Rosamund Painswick:
[beaming] And getting nicer by the minute!

Tom Branson:
With a real love of Brancaster.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Gratham:
Golly gumdrops! What a turn up!

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham:
[Sees the door opening, smiling widely] That's dinner, if we're not too distracted to eat!

Tom Branson:
[All move toward the door except for Mary, who still appears thunderstruck; teasing] So we'll all bow and curtsey to Edith. You'll enjoy that, Mary.

Lady Mary Crawley:
[bitterly] Hardly. And if Bertie really is Lord Hexham, which I still don't believe, he won't want to marry her now.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham:
[sarcastically] Careful, or people will think you're jealous, dear. We don't want that.

Lady Edith Crawley:
Papa? Is something the matter?

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham:
No, nothing's the matter, and that's what I want to make clear.

Lady Edith Crawley:
I don't understand. What's this about?

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham:
Marigold.

Lady Edith Crawley:
I see. And what do you want to say about Marigold.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham:
I think you know what I want to say, what I want you to say.

Lady Edith Crawley:
I can't give her up.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham:
Of course not. Have you told Tom?

Lady Edith Crawley:
No, but he might have guessed.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham:
So now everyone knows.

Lady Edith Crawley:
Everyone except Mary.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham:
[Nods]

Lady Edith Crawley:
I want your forgiveness, Papa. Am I allowed to say that still?

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham:
It's not the way I'd have had things, I won't lie to you about that. But this is what's happened. I believe Michael Gregson was on honourable man.

Lady Edith Crawley:
Oh, he was, Papa; he really was. He would have married me as soon as he could. I know that.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham:
I think so too. So now we must do the best for his child, for his sake, as well as yours.

Lady Edith Crawley:
That's so lovely of you!

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham:
But I think we should keep it in the family. Even in 1924, there are plenty of people who might be unpleasant.

Lady Edith Crawley:
But... do you forgive me, Papa?

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham:
Oh, my darling. I'm sure I need your forgiveness quite as much as you need mine. Now, go to bed [He kisses her forehead] and sleep well.


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