Can I say some things about Downton Abbey please?! Lighthearted 😄

[LadyGagagagaga123]

I bloody love Edith. I think she is the most caring, helpful and independent character in the series and the way everyone patronises her because she's not as pretty as Vile Mary is awful. She was bitter to begin with but who can blame her? I'm so glad she got her happy ending eventually.

I never really connected with Sybil at all...

Cora is a class act, she is unusually beautiful and the way she talks to people - respectfully but with a tone of authority - is perfect.

I found the Earl of Grantham and Jane the maid near-affair a tad unbelievable.

I love how much Bates and Anna love each other but I wish they hadn't been given such a massive amount of doom and gloom. They got their happy ending too but blimey we didn't get to seem them laugh much did we?!

Dan Stevens / Matthew Crawley is FIT!!!

The scene where poor old Moseley spoke directly to the Queen then almost shit himself with fright is probably the most hilarious scene of the whole show. Poor guy.

Violet is fantastic and her one liners are a dream "everyone walks up the Isle with at least half the story hidden!"

That night of passion with Mary and her Turkish lover... he said she could still remain virtuous. Was he suggesting anal?!

It was widely acknowledged that in those times women were to remain virgins until their wedding night... what about the men? Did they just use prostitutes or sleep with "used" women who would never be expected to marry because they'd had sex?

They ate at least 3 course meals every night and seemed to do no exercise other than horse riding and a walk around the grounds. How were they not fat?!

I know Daisy was supposed to be a sweet character but I found her so bloody childish and irritating.

I wish we'd had confirmation either way that "Patrick" was actually "Patrick"

And also... the music is great 👍 🎶💕

I think they stayed slim as it was so cold in those houses. Also miles to walk to get from one room to another. Such a hard life.

Tiny portions. I suppose if someone else cooks, serves and clears up and you don't buy any food yourself or walk past the fridge, pantry etc you can't gorge on leftovers and snacks as easily.

Mr Pamut the Turkish man was I believe suggesting things like oral rather than full sex..... with possibly lots of, er, heavy petting....

I always remember Harry Hill referring to the baddie maid who puts the infamous soap out for Cora to slip on as 'knitted hair woman' and I can't see beyond that.

The random dude who washed up from the Titanic who wanders the grounds and then disappears. Wtf was that?

Bates and Anna- the Edwardian era's most miserable and depressing couple.

Matthew Crawley has a lovely singing voice in Beauty and the Beast.

I agree that Mary is vile and I can't stand that she had men queuing up for her. She is so unpleasant. Edith is okay but I really didn't like the way she took Marigold back without a thought of how the little girl and her family would feel. So self-centered.
Lord Grantham is a duffis but a fairly harmless one I guess.
I liked Sybil and I wish she hadn't died / the actress left but I did like Rose who kind of replaced her.
I love Mrs. Hughes. Agree that Daisy can be childish and irritating but then I try to imagine what it must be like to have dreams and brains but no opportunities but to cook for rich people who don't even know your name. Moseley can be irritating as well but he likable and I'm glad he got his teaching job.
I think the actor who plays Mr. Carson is great. I like his facial expressions but he is so backward in his thinking.
The most interesting character (and my DD13's favorite!) is Thomas. She knows a tortured soul when she sees one. She's desperate for a happy ending for him. I've just finished watch the entire series with her and now onto the movie in prep for movie number 2.
My DD 10 doesn't watch it but likes the music so taught her self to play the theme song on the piano.

Miss O'Brien is the lady's maid. Wonderfully played by Siobhan Finneran. She's the sister in Happy Valley and excellent there too.

I love Cora, I could watch a whole series about her and that cheating lousy swine Robert.

Nothing needs to be said about Violet. Perfection.

I hated Sybil. Spoilt brat of a child and mega attention seeker.

Bates ugh ugh ugh. Revolting creepy man. No chemistry with Anna, she should have run a million miles from him. I was on the ex wife's side!

I'm rewatching at the moment. Had forgotten about the new film, so that's an incentive to keep on! Series 3 is unrelenting. Mary's wedding, Edith's jilting, Sybil! Heading for Matthew's demise now, I suppose.

Oh hello everyone!! I'm just at Series 5 having started just before Christmas I thought I was the only one who still cared!

My favourite Violet quote was when Edith started driving in the war "My dear you are a Lady....., not Toad of Toad Hall" I rewound and watched it a couple of times!!

Mary is such a bitch and DH has an irrational anger at her lack of emotion / acting ability which has become a very entertaining running joke.

The Marigold storyline is ridiculous!

There's also quite a lot of suspension of disbelief and some of the timescales are off. They seem to be in such a rush to move on some enormous storylines!

I am currently watching on Netflix. I didn't expect as much humour in it! I love Cora and Violet, I can't stand Thomas (although I felt sorry for him in the trenches) he's just so smug faced all the time!

I got far too much amusement out of the fact that the late Mrs Bates was played by the same actress who played Catherine of Aragon in the tudors and thus playing another character who refuses to accept a divorce.

I like the way the characters develop over time. Several unsympathetic characters become more likeable, either as we get to know them better or as they mature. Carefully not saying who or why!

I missed a bit in the middle because I couldn't bear to watch the Anna story line. I gave up. Restarted later.

What a nutty show. Loved it at the time.

I often ponder about the maid (who went on to be in Game of Thrones) and how she secretly learned how to type so she could escape service and go and earn the big bucks in admin work.

How did she do this secretly? Bashing away on a type writer of that era would have been pretty noisy I think. Clack, clack, clack, CURLUNK ding.

Watching Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, and squealing, "Ooh It's cousin Matthew" had my DH bemused

Dan Stevens was amazing as the OTT Russian contestant!

BTW we recently watched the Downton Abbey film, and it was pretty mediocre. I watched every minute, just to make sure.

What always frustrated me is Mary and Edith. In the earlier series fair enough they had this relationship where they were always fighting because Edith was obviously jealous of her big sister and Ediths parents clearly didn't like her.

But how old were they after 6 seasons? 40? And Mary was still being petty and nasty to Edith, Edith's like "maybe we can be friends now?" After subtle dies qnd Mary's just like, sorry no. And what was Marys motivation?

Other than that it was clearly totally all believable and true to life

Bates was horribly creepy. After Anna gets assaulted she has to spend all this time worrying her husband murdered someone, and won't be able to control his anger rather than support her. And this is framed as a good relationship. Plus he clearly killed his wife

Apparently, Julian Fellowes specified the sisters' ages at the start of Series 1. In 1912, Mary was 21, Edith 20 and Sybil 17. Sybil was 24 when she died, making Mary 28 and Edith 27.

Poor Edith definitely suffered from middle child syndrome. I think she's a very attractive woman and she's clearly quite bright and capable. She really comes into her own when Downton is a convalescent home during the war. One thing the series does quite well is to show how life opened up for lots of women during the war and then closed down again sharpish immediately afterwards. Edith points out that most of the young men she knew before the war are dead now, so if she doesn't marry Sir Anthony Strallan, what chance of marriage will she have?

I read somewhere that the highest mortality in WW1 was amongst the youngest officers - Lieutenants and junior Captains. They were in the trenches and they had to lead their men over the top, so would have been obvious targets for the German snipers. Poor lads would only have been in their late teens or early 20s very often.

I loved how Matthew suddenly was able to walk again , leapt out of his wheelchair !!!

I loved Downton Abbey, even when it went downhill a bit before rallying for the big finish. But it did stretch credibility on the odd occasion I think my favourite was in the film where Thomas discovers the massive secret gay bar in York. I’m not sure there’s a gay bar that big in Yorkshire now, never mind in the 1920s!

The actor who played Carson the Butler is married to Imelda Staunton.

I disliked Edith, she just seemed to smugly sure she was better than everyone else. I know Mary is a stone cold bitch at times but I loved her.

I know Tom’s story was so incredibly unrealistic but he was amazing, I loved his character development.

Thank you for this thread!!
So many things to say, but first of all... YES I have always assumed that the Turk was suggesting anal!

I absolutely love the way that relationships are written into the series, especially the bond between Carson and Lady Mary (neither of whom are particularly likeable on their own) and that between Daisy and Mrs Patmore.

I was so glad when Matthew went under the truck though. You might have found him fit but I thought he was completely wooden. All that "My dearest chap" business from Bonneville was just vomit inducing!

LOVE how they suddenly realised that the dog a) had the same name as a terrorist organisation and b) was at least 100 years old....quickly killed that one off!

@hapagirl

I agree that Mary is vile and I can't stand that she had men queuing up for her. She is so unpleasant. Edith is okay but I really didn't like the way she took Marigold back without a thought of how the little girl and her family would feel. So self-centered. Lord Grantham is a duffis but a fairly harmless one I guess. I liked Sybil and I wish she hadn't died / the actress left but I did like Rose who kind of replaced her. I love Mrs. Hughes. Agree that Daisy can be childish and irritating but then I try to imagine what it must be like to have dreams and brains but no opportunities but to cook for rich people who don't even know your name. Moseley can be irritating as well but he likable and I'm glad he got his teaching job. I think the actor who plays Mr. Carson is great. I like his facial expressions but he is so backward in his thinking. The most interesting character (and my DD13's favorite!) is Thomas. She knows a tortured soul when she sees one. She's desperate for a happy ending for him. I've just finished watch the entire series with her and now onto the movie in prep for movie number 2. My DD 10 doesn't watch it but likes the music so taught her self to play the theme song on the piano.

Your daughter might be happy with Thomas' outcome in the movie x

I don’t know if any of you ever saw The Smoking Room, but Jeremy Swift, who plays Maggie Smith’s butler, was in that and there’s a scene where he does a comedy ‘old vicar’ voice. He uses the same voice for the butler!