Fackham Hall Review

From the people who watched the first two seasons of Downton Abbey, Fackham Hall is a spoof of British period dramas. The film features an ensemble cast as it rips into a popular genre.

The Davenport family have owned Fackham Hall for generations, but the family patriarch, Humphrey (Damian Lewis), has no living heir. His youngest daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), is set to marry her cousin, Archibald (Tom Felton), so the Davenports can keep Fackham Hall. Those plans go awry when Poppy ditches Archibald at the altar, leaving the 23-year-old spinster, Rose Davenport (Thomasin McKenzie), to marry a man she hates. This happens just as Eric (Ben Radcliffe), a new arrival who joins the staff, and has a spark with Rose.

Spoof films are tricky beasts, and the genre received a kicking during the 2000s and 2010s thanks to the Wayans Brothers and the writing/directing duo of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. 2025 showed the genre can have a comeback thanks to the success of the Naked Gun legacy sequel. Plus, Fackham Hall came out in the same year as the third Downton Abbey film, which was one of the major inspirations.

Fackham Hall was the British version of a Naked Gun movie. It was a proudly silly film with rapid fire method of joke delivery, with quality actors giving deadpan performances. For anyone who enjoys the Naked Gun or Airplane movies, then Fackham Hall would be right up your alley.

The jokes were thick and fast to the point that something would land. The audience I was with enjoyed the film, laughing and chuckling throughout. Being a period drama, there were jokes based on the class divide and gender roles. The film made out 1930s England was like a Dickensian novel, with child labour being prevalent and homelessness and street crime plaguing the streets of London. It led to some funny jokes. The gender jokes were about women who were expected to get married, have children, and no man would want an intelligent woman. They were standard jokes, but well executed. A great subtle joke was the surname of a pair of twin sisters who were obsessed with men. There was a great variety of jokes, and there were so many that repeat viewings would be required.

Fackham Hall had a cast that a serious period drama would be proud of. Thomasin McKenzie has established her name in films like Leave No Trace, Jojo Rabbit, and Last Night in Soho, and it was great to see her in a lighter role, showcasing her comedic talents. Lewis was wonderfully silly as the family patriarch, whilst Katherine Waterston and Anna Maxwell Martin were great as strict women who kept a straight face through ridiculousness. The cast clearly had fun when making the film.

Fackham Hall did the job it set out to do: be a funny piss-take of period dramas and upstairs-downstairs dramas.