biolab.org.uk

Downton Abbey is a wonderful TV drama which I am avidly watching at the moment. Set in a fictional Yorkshire country house called Downton Abbey, the series follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their ensemble of servants during the reign of King George V. There have been two series as yet, the first taking place during the two years previous to the Great War and the second series taking place after the outbreak of war, between 1916 and 1919.

Whilst the servants quarters were constructed and filmed in Ealing Studios, Highclere Castle in Hampshire was used for the majority of the interior filming and for the shots of the outside of Downton Abbey. The outdoor scenes were filmed in the village of Bampton in Oxfordshire. During the first series, each episode cost an estimated £1 million. The series has been incredibly well received, indeed it is the most successful British period drama since ‘Brideshead Revisited’ of the 1990’s. In the UK, 10 million viewers tuned in to watch, not hosting dedicated, but Downton Abbey.