Downton Abbey Comes to America

Downton Abbey was a smash when it aired in the UK last autumn (a second series has already been commissioned), and now Americans will have a chance to watch this minseries about a noble family and their staff as they face the end of the Victorian era and possibly the end of their line when tragedy strikes.

Listen, I’m a sucker for lushly produced British period mini-series about families. Wives & Daughters, The Darling Buds of May, The Forsyte Saga – love them all. Downton Abbey is right up my alley: it features an Earl, his American wife, and his three daughters living on the ancestral estate. Even though he doesn’t have a son, the Earl is secure in the knowledge that his eldest daughter, Mary, is engaged to a cousin who will keep the Earldom in the family. Alas, the young man in question was a passenger on the Titanic and both he and his father perished when it sank. Now the line of succession is in question and soon the family’s comfortable Victorian traditions will be thrown into an uproar as “progress” intrudes.

Starring Dame Maggie Smith and Hugh Bonneville and written by Julian Fellowes, this is almost guaranteed to become another favorite of mine. Downton Abbey premieres tonight, January 9, on PBS and continues the following three Sundays.