# Downton Abbey (2010) Review: Class, Change and Comfort > Downton Abbey is Julian Fellowes's upstairs-downstairs saga of an aristocratic Yorkshire family and their servants, the most satisfying comfort drama of its decade. Canonical: https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/downton-abbey-review/ Published: 2026-07-25 Last updated: 2026-09-24 Author: Kaiser Khan — Founder & Editor Language: English Review basis: direct-viewing Spoilers: none Rating: 4.5/5 ## Verdict Yes. It is period drama at its most absorbing and rewatchable, ideal for fans of ensemble storytelling who can forgive soap-opera twists and a rose-tinted view of class. ## Is Downton Abbey worth watching? **Yes. Downton Abbey is a superbly made period drama whose large ensemble, crisp dialogue and sheer storytelling momentum make six seasons disappear.** Julian Fellowes gives equal attention to the family upstairs and the staff downstairs, and the show is at its best when history presses on both. The reservation is that it becomes a very well-dressed soap opera as it goes on, leaning on contrivance and taking a notably fond view of the class system it depicts. ## What is Downton Abbey about? [Downton Abbey](https://celluloidscore.com/shows/downton-abbey/) follows the aristocratic Crawley family and the servants who run their great house on a Yorkshire estate, beginning in 1912. Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), and his American-born wife Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) have three daughters but no son, and under the rules that bind the estate, the house and the family fortune must pass to a male heir. When news arrives that the expected heir has been lost, the question of who will inherit Downton sets the whole series in motion. Below stairs, the butler Carson (Jim Carter) and the housekeeper Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan) run a staff with its own rivalries, ambitions and loyalties, including the lady's maid Anna (Joanne Froggatt). Across the years that follow, war, political change and new technology reach the house and alter everyone's place in it. Created and written by Julian Fellowes, it is a British series in English. This review covers the complete run: six seasons and 47 episodes, broadcast from 2010 to 2015, with the story later continued in feature films. ## Maggie Smith and the art of the exit line Every great ensemble needs a centre of gravity, and Downton has two. Maggie Smith's Violet, the Dowager Countess, is the show's comic genius: a woman who treats every modern convenience as a personal insult and whose one-liners became the series' calling card. Smith plays her with such timing that even a raised eyebrow reads as a verdict, but she also finds the steel and affection underneath the barbs. Michelle Dockery's Lady Mary is the other pillar. She is proud, often unkind and fiercely intelligent, and Dockery makes her compelling without softening her. Laura Carmichael's Edith, the overlooked middle sister, gets one of the most satisfying long arcs in the show, a slow journey toward self-respect that rewards patient viewers. ## Upstairs and downstairs in the same frame Fellowes's great structural trick is interleaving the two worlds so that a crisis upstairs ripples through the kitchens and vice versa. The downstairs characters are not simply background: Jim Carter's Carson, devoted to the old order more than his employers are, is among the show's best creations, and Joanne Froggatt's Anna gives the servants' storylines their emotional core. The production is handsome without being fussy. The house itself, filmed at Highclere Castle, is photographed as a living workplace as much as a stately home, and the costumes track the changing decades with precision. The show makes the passage of time visible, from the country's upheaval in the First World War to the shifting manners of the 1920s, and that sense of an era ending gives even minor episodes some weight. ## Where the soap takes over As the seasons pass, Downton relies increasingly on melodrama: sudden accidents, unlikely coincidences and villains whose schemes feel lifted from a much cruder show. Some characters are put through misfortune after misfortune simply to generate plot. The series is also gentle on its aristocrats to a degree that some viewers will find uncomfortable, presenting service as a largely happy arrangement and a benevolent earl as the natural order. Later seasons repeat patterns, particularly around romance, and the final run is more about tidying up than surprising. ## Who should watch Downton Abbey? Anyone who loves period drama, large ensembles and the pleasures of a long-running story about a single house and its people will be at home here. At 47 episodes, including feature-length Christmas specials, it is a commitment of several weeks, with the films to follow for devotees. Content is mild: some violence, illness and grief, and themes of war, sexuality and class prejudice, handled at a level suitable for most teenagers. If you need something next: - [Derry Girls](https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/derry-girls-review/) for another British family ensemble set in a specific historical moment, played for big laughs. - [Mr Bates vs The Post Office](https://celluloidscore.com/shows/mr-bates-vs-the-post-office/), a moving drama about ordinary British lives against powerful institutions. - [Happy Valley](https://celluloidscore.com/shows/happy-valley/), a sharp change of tone that stays in Yorkshire for a tough modern crime drama. More British television is collected in the [ITVX](https://celluloidscore.com/shows/platform/itvx/) catalogue. ## The verdict Downton Abbey is the rare period drama that became genuine appointment television, thanks to a brilliant ensemble led by Maggie Smith and a structure that gives servants and aristocrats equal dramatic stakes. It grows soapier and more forgiving of privilege with time, but as long-form comfort viewing it is hard to beat. **Rating: 4.5/5** ## Related title - [Downton Abbey (2010)](https://celluloidscore.com/shows/downton-abbey/) ## Editorial - [Editorial standards](https://celluloidscore.com/about/editorial-policy/) - [Report a correction](https://celluloidscore.com/about/corrections/)