By: Chuck Miller
television, Uncategorized

Downton Abbey – is this new British period drama better than Upstairs, Downstairs?

This has all the earmarks of a classic battle between two television networks, each showing what essentially looks like the same program – Chicago Hope versus ER; Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories versus the 1980’s Twilight Zone; I Dream of Jeannie versus Bewitched.

I’ve previously blogged about the return of Upstairs Downstairs, and it looks as if the series  – which drew as many as 7 million viewers in the UK when its three episodes were aired during the Christmas holiday – will move forward with all new episodes later this year.  It is scheduled to be broadcast in April on PBS’s Masterpiece TV anthology series.

But this month, Masterpiece will air another British historical drama, another class-structure series that has earned even MORE viewers – 9 million in total – than the returning Upstairs Downstairs.  It’s a show called Downton Abbey, and its seven-episode run (trimmed down to four episodes for us Americans) has created two separate but similar British period dramas, each one with their own fans and detractors.

This could get very interesting.

Here’s a video clip from Masterpiece about Downton Abbey.

http://www-tc.pbs.org/video/media/swf/PBSPlayer.swf

Watch the full episode. See more Masterpiece.

You can also click the hyperlink above to watch a full episode of Downton Abbey, although you should be aware that you can order the entire 7-episode series through PBS on DVD; apparently us Americans are only getting a trimmed 4-episode show on Masterpiece.

The thing is, between Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs, there’s a new popular trend in British television, this whole notion of watching a reinterpretation of the British class system – especially in our modern times, when Prince William and Kate Middleton have announced that they will live a married royal life without the use of servants.

Maybe if they had the access to Upstairs Downstairs‘ butler Mr. Pritchard, or Downton Abbey‘s Mr. Carson.  Or maybe they’re just hoping that they can find a butler like Mr. Hudson from the original Upstairs, Downstairs series.