Downton Abbey

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About

Downton Abbey is a British historical period TV drama series set in the early 20th century that focuses on the fictional estate of Downton Abbey, following the lives of the estate owners, the Crawley family, as well as the members of the housekeeping staff who live under the same roof.

History

Downton Abbey was conceived by British TV executive and producer Gareth Neame as a story about the lives of an aristocratic family and their domestic servants in the post-Edwardian era, as they deal with the uprooting of Britain's traditional social hierarchy influenced by a series of tumultuous historical events at the turn of the century, including the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the outbreak of the First World War and Spanish influenza pandemic, among many others. The series premiered on the UK's ITV Network on September 26th, 2010, followed by its syndicated premiere in the United States on PBS in January 2011. Since the beginning of its broadcast, the series has been syndicated in more than 220 countries and territories, with the global audience of an estimated 120 million viewers. After a run of 52 episodes over the course of six seasons, the series concluded in the UK on December 25th, 2015 and in the United States on March 6th, 2016.

Kindle Sponsorship

On September 21st, 2014, the show's fifth season premiered in the UK. The premiere featured commercials for the Kindle^[16] which featured the show's actors on set reading their Kindles. There was an immediate backlash online for those who were watching the show while on social media, critics complained featuring this look into the actors' modern lives while still in their period costumes ruined the "movie magic." The following day the criticism of the ads on Twitter was covered by The Daily Mail^[17] and The Independent.^[18]

Water Bottle FAIL

On August 14th, 2014, Downton Abbey released a set of promotional photos for its upcoming fifth season.^[13] Twitter users were quick to point out one of the photos (below) accidently included a plastic water bottle, which would not have existed in the time period the show depicts. The gaff was covered the same day by many sites including The Daily Mail^[14] and BBC.^[15]

On August 16th, 2014, the show's official Twitter account tweeted out^[12] a photo of the entire cast holding water bottles to poke fun at their mistake.

Reception

Throughout its run, Downton Abbey became a huge commercial success in the UK and overseas, marking itself as the most watched television series on both ITV and PBS, and with a slew of international syndication deals by the end of the third season, it had become one of the most widely watched television drama shows in the world. In addition to high viewership and ratings, the series garnered critical acclaims and several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie; by the end of its second season, the show had earned 27 nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards, the most of any international television series in the history of the awards.

Online Presence

As of August 2014, Downton Abbey's Facebook page^[2] has gained over 1.9 million likes, and its Twitter account^[3] has gained over 360,000 followers. Its Instagram account^[4] has gained over 110,000 followers. Its first three seasons are available to stream to Netflix subscribers. Fans might also find character sketches and episode guides on the shows Wikia.^[10]

Fandom

The show has several fan run Tumblr blogs dedicated to the show including you-had-me-at-downton^[6], DowntonObsession^[7] and DawntonAbbey.^[8] Fans also gather to discuss the show on the /r/DowntonAbbey^[9] subreddit, which has gained over 9,000 subscribers as of August 2014. As of August 2014, there are over 2,000 pieces of fan art tagged Downton Abbey on DeviantArt. ^[5]

Examples

Parodies

Several parodies and comedic sketches made in tribute to the series have gone viral on YouTube, including Funny or Die's "Downton Diddy" guest starring rapper and entrepreneur Diddy, Sesame Street's sing-along parody "Upside Downton Abbey," Jimmy Fallon's Late Night sketch series "Downton Sixbey" named after his Studio 6B at 30 Rock and YouTuber Bill Kiley's Super Nintendo RPG parody based on the show (shown below, from top left; clockwise).