Julian Fellowes’ Downton Abbey coming to ITV1

Dame Maggie Smith and Hugh Bonneville lead the cast of Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes’ major new costume drama series for ITV1.

> Buy the DVD on Amazon.

> Read our review of Episode 1.

> Watch the trailer.


Who's in it?

Written and created by Oscar-winning writer Julian Fellowes, the series will star Dame Maggie Smith as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham, Hugh Bonneville as Robert, Earl of Grantham and Elizabeth McGovern as Robert’s wife, Cora, Countess of Grantham.

They will lead an all-star cast, which also includes: Penelope Wilton, Dan Stevens, Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Lesley Nichol, Siobhan Finneran, Rob James Collier, Joanne Froggatt and Rose Leslie.

When's it set?

Set in an Edwardian country house in 1912, Downton Abbey will portray the lives of the Crawley family and the servants who work for them.

What's it about?

Julian Fellowes explains: “In 1912, England was teetering on the brink. Apparently placid, still rooted in the traditions of many centuries, it would be less than ten years before the First World War and the Jazz Age had ripped every certainty to shreds. This is the moment when we enter the world of Downton Abbey, the great house of a great family, where the Granthams and their daughters preside over a household in the charge of Carson, the butler, and Mrs Hughes, the housekeeper. All these people must, in their different ways, deal with the changes that are coming.

"The cast, led by Maggie Smith as the Dowager, Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern as the Earl and Countess of Grantham, Dan Stevens and Penelope Wilton as the unwanted heir and his mother, and a staff led by Jim Carter as Carson, and Phyllis Logan as Mrs Hughes, will bring the halls and passages of Downton to life, with splendour, discipline and passion.”