Downton Abbey Review

Downton Abbey is back for one last hurray with a feature film to close the series.

The year is 1927 and the King and Queen of the Empire are planning a visit to Yorkshire. A part of the tour includes a stay at Downton Abbey, a parade of the Yorkshire Hussars, and a ball. The visit causes drama for both the upstairs and downstairs of the estate.

Downton Abbey was a huge hit in the UK and internationally. It was such a pop culture phenomenon that shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, and How I Met Your Mother made parodies and had they had their own surrogates. A great British tradition is to make films based on popular TV shows. However, for every successful film based British TV show there are usually five failures.

Downton Abbey does have some inbuilt advantages compared to other TV British shows. Downton Abbey has star power in the form of Hugh Bonneville and Maggie Smith and most of the cast are experienced thespians. The use of country estates, lavish costumes, and picturesque villages meant the film didn’t need to be much of an upgrade from the TV show. And the film kept most of the creative team and the cast together.

Because of these factors the people making the Downton Abbey film came to a simple conclusion – there is no point changing a winning formula. The Downton Abbey film is a continuation of the TV show and the film ended up being a glorified TV special.

Whilst the royal visit was the main event of the film, Downton Abbey was really a series of subplots. Fans of the show grew to love these characters and they want to know what happened to them. The filmmakers that many of the fan favourites have a chance to shine. In the film Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) doubts she can take over Downton, The Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) prepares to be challenged by her cousin, Lady Bagshaw (Imelda Staunton) over who her heir will be, and Tom (Allen Leech) gets monitored because of his Irish Nationalist and Republican beliefs. Whilst the downstairs staff members get rubbed the wrong way by the snobbish royal staff and plan their fight back.

Because there were so many characters and subplots some get pushed to the sidelines. A plot involving Princess Mary (Kate Phillips) was so periphery that it was easy to forget it was happening, and characters like the Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) have little to do. Some characters like Carson (Jim Carter) were brought back despite having moved on from Downton.

The draw of the show was the characters and they still delight in the film. The Dowager Countess, Mrs. Hughes (Phyliss Logan), and Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol) are still dominating forces that others cross at their own risk. There was a healthy amount of wit in the dialogue and the actor ease back into their roles.

There were also new cast members for the film. The biggest was Staunton as Lady Bagshaw who gets to spar with Maggie Smith once again. Whilst Lady Bagshaw has a kinder personality than her cousin she was able to stand her ground. David Haig and Philippe Spall were utterly hateful as the Royal Page of the Backstairs and the Royal Chef who usurp the staff’s positions. Haig was contemptuous and Spall did his best Sacha Baron Cohen impression as the French chef.

Newcomers won’t get lost watching the Downton Abbey film but it was made mainly for the fans who get to return to the world they love. It is safe, comfort viewing.