by Lissie
If like me you've seen all the Downton Abbey DVD's twice, you may considering what else you could be watching! Here's some suggestions for DVD's both old and new that may appeal to Downton fans.
The success of Downton Abbey has seen a huge renewal of interest in some older movies and TV series. Fortunately because these are period pieces, they don't look as dated as some of, say, the early James Bond movies!
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| Upstairs, Downstairs: The Complete Series - 40th Annivers... Acorn Media |
If you are not familiar with Upstairs Downstairs, it was a 5-season 1970's TV series which followed the fortunes of a single house in a fashionable part of London. The time period ranges from the Edwardian Era (early 1900's) through to the 1930's and follows both the Upstairs, well-heeled family, and the Downstairs servants.
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| Upstairs, Downstairs (2010) BBC Worldwide |
The long awaited sequel of the original Upstairs Downstairs series, this mini-series (originally broadcast as 3 episodes), takes up in 1936, five years after the end of the original series. New caste obviously but this has had rave reviews and seems to have managed to keep both old and new fans happy.
You don't need to be familiar with the original series to watch this one.
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| Brideshead Revisited: 30th Anniversary Edition Acorn Media |
Based on Evelyn Waugh's novel of the same name, and although released in 1981, this still stands as one of the best movie adaptions of a novel. Set in a stately home, during the 1930's, this was Jeremy Iron's break through role.
Iron's character Ryder is a cynical, bitter Army Captain during World War 2 looking back to his early enchanted days at Bridshead.
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| Gosford Park Universal Studios |
Robert Atlman's original screen play was released in 2001 and had a stellar cast headed up by Maggie Smith.
Set in the 1930's in a country house, Gosford Path is a classic who dunnit, with a twist, and with the complexities of upstairs/downstairs which will very familiar to Downton Abbey fans!
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| Cranford: The Collection (Cranford / Return to Cranford) BBC Worldwide |
This is the set of the entire series, set in the 1840's in northern England and starring Judi Dench. The story is loosley based on Elizabeth Gaskell's classic novels. The three sisters at the heart of the story, watch, observe, gossip and connive, as only the English middle classes can.
Love lost, grief, death, what's not to like?
I hope you like at least some of these movies/TV series which reflect British society at a similar time as that which Downton Abbey is set.
Of course, if you know your history, you will know that it all came to crashing halt with World War 2. The War was the end of the way of life which Downton Abbey shows, as new inheritance taxes saw many of these estates get sold off and broken up.
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Comments
Just enjoying watching the 3rd series on dVD - it's a great series!
This was a great article. I only saw Gosford Park. Would love to see the others!!
Thanks for this list. Looks like a great project for a series of lazy afternoons!
Thank you for the suggestions ~ I loved Downton Abbey and didn't know it was coming back. Can't wait to see it again! I'll check some of these out.
My roommate loves Downton Abbey, I'm going to send her your article for movies she might like to watch!
Great! I love Downton Abbey--have already read a few of the books. Good selections.
I wish we could get netfix - they consider our broadband too slow and our data charges too high to bother with NZ!
I have been watching the British shows on Netflix. I wish we could get Doc Collins here in the U.S.
Thanks for visiting guys
Nice article.