• Watercolour landscape showing a coastline with building and mine shafts dotted along the shore. In the background there are fields leading to hills.
Image of Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey, Britishness and Class

by John White In the second of a short series of extracts from British Cinema and a Divided Nation (EUP, 2022), John White looks at Downton Abbey (Michael Engler, 2019). The quick series of shots presented to the audience at…

Doing History in the Age of Downton Abbey

Julie Anne Taddeo As the most watched period drama in television history, Downton Abbey has met with popular success but not always critical acclaim. Historians in particular have criticized what they see as the series’ conservative politics and nostalgic view…