Category: Downton Abbey

A Preview of The Official Downton Abbey Cocktail Book: Appropriate Libations for All Occasions, by Annie Gray, and Foreword by Julian Fellowes

The Official Downton Abbey Cocktail Book (2019)From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: 

“Drinking is very important at Downton Abbey. At least three types of wine are served at every upstairs dinner, plus port for the gentlemen after it. There’s alcoholic punch at parties, plenty of Champagne, and, as the years go by, the gradual adoption of the cocktail.”

And so, begins the introduction to The Official Downton Abbey Cocktail Book by food historian Annie Gray. Continuing, she goes on to describe the mention of American-style cocktails in season two, which takes four more seasons before we see the very proper Continue reading “A Preview of The Official Downton Abbey Cocktail Book: Appropriate Libations for All Occasions, by Annie Gray, and Foreword by Julian Fellowes” →

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A Preview of Downton Abbey: The Official Film Companion, by Emma Marriott, with a Foreword by Julian Fellowes

Downton Abbey: The Official Film Companion (2019)Downtonites have been patiently awaiting the arrival of the Downton Abbey movie since its official announcement in the summer of 2018. The possibility of a feature film of the phenomenally popular British period drama television series had been rumored (and wished for) since the final episode of season six aired in the UK on Christmas day in 2015 on ITV and in the US on Masterpiece Classic PBS in March of 2016. We just cannot get enough of those posh upstairs Crawley’s and their devoted downstairs servants, can we? It took four long years to reach the big screen. Its premiere in the UK and the US this past September garnered major media attention and red-carpeted events.

My further hopes and wishes were granted with the publication of Downton Abbey: The Official Film Companion, a tie-in, over-sized, coffee table book featuring gorgeous full-color images from the Continue reading “A Preview of Downton Abbey: The Official Film Companion, by Emma Marriott, with a Foreword by Julian Fellowes” →

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Downton Abbey – A Celebration: The Official Companion to All Six Seasons, by Jessica Fellowes – A Review

Downton Abbey a Celebration 2015 x 300“It’s that time of year when the world falls in love” … with Downton Abbey all over again. The final season starts in less than one month on Masterpiece Classic PBS on January 3, 2016. My anticipation of another season of great drama, romance, and witty retorts runs high.

I am, of course, paraphrasing The Christmas Waltz; the famous 1954 holiday song written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne for Frank Sinatra. There is nothing like listening to Christmas carols to make me sentimental. Coupled with the fact that this will be the sixth and final season of Downton Abbey, one of my favorite period dramas on television, and I am ready for a double shot of brandy in my eggnog.

Despite my melodramatic angst over the conclusion of the Crawley family and their servants’ story, fellow Downtonites can revisit the fabulous plots, locations, and characters by reading the final companion volume Continue reading “Downton Abbey – A Celebration: The Official Companion to All Six Seasons, by Jessica Fellowes – A Review” →

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The Wit and Wisdom of Downton Abbey, by Jessica Fellowes – A Review

Wit and Wisdom of Downton Abbey by Jessica Fellowes 2015 x 200Will we ever be able to explain the phenomenon that is the television series, Downton Abbey? Watched by millions and showered with awards, I find the reason for its success as elusive to pinpoint as Jane Austen’s lasting appeal. It means so much to so many. In two hundred years’ time will people be watching and reading about this period drama as passionately as we do Austen’s novels?

Quite possibly so. Their common link is the witty writing. Clever bon mots and cheeky retorts never go out of fashion. They make us smile, laugh-out-loud and reflect upon what makes us tick as humans. They are a window into our souls.

The Wit and Wisdom of Downton Abbey, by Jessica Fellowes, is a collection of those fabulous zingers that make this series so “light, bright and sparkling” to Austen fans and the bazillion other viewers around the world. Creator and writer Julian Fellowes must love Austen as much as this Janeite. He certainly recognizes how her prose can sing with humor and social reproof using the same technique in his own dialogue. Whenever anyone complains about anything I am tempted to use a little Lady Catherine, oops, Lady Violet on them… Continue reading “The Wit and Wisdom of Downton Abbey, by Jessica Fellowes – A Review” →

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25 Downton Abbey-inspired Holiday Gifts for the Downtonite in Your Life

 Downton Abbey Season 5 poster

Acclaimed by critics and cherished by fans, Downton Abbey is the most popular period drama ever. North America is all anticipation of the premier of Season 5 on January 4, 2015 on Masterpiece Classic PBS. Until then, feed your Downtonite with these great holiday gifts.

GIFTS

     What is a Weekend Mug x 250     Countess Grantham Bear x 250

 1. What Is A Weekend Coffee Mug

When the Dowager Countess of Grantham asked “What is a weekend?” in season one of Downton Abbey, I was totally addicted to this fabulous period drama. That line summed up the classification of “aristocrat” as an endangered species and foreshadowed all the laughter to come. I now start my morning as an anachronistic aristocrat with this clever coffee (or tea) mug. Continue reading “25 Downton Abbey-inspired Holiday Gifts for the Downtonite in Your Life” →

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To Marry an English Lord, by Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace – A Review

Image of book cover of To Marry an English Lord, by Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace (2012)From the desk of Laura A. Wallace:  

Originally published in 1989, this 2012 re-issue of To Marry and English Lord is an attractive trade paperback edition by Workman Publishing. Promoted as “an inspiration for Downton Abbey,” Julian Fellowes, the screenplay writer who created the series, has been quoted as saying that he was reading this book when approached about writing the series, and that the first character he conceived for it was Cora, Countess of Grantham, an American heiress.

This book has long been on my “to acquire and read” list so I was really looking forward to finally reading it. I found it to be fairly light reading. The chapters are divided up into short sub-headings, sprinkled with lots of side-bar quotations and tid-bits (at least one on every page), and interspersed with little mini-articles on every third or fourth page. Illustrations are copious; decorations are Victorian and Edwardian. Overall it presents a great deal of factual information in a very digestible way. Continue reading “To Marry an English Lord, by Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace – A Review” →

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Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle, by The Countess of Carnarvon – A Review

From the desk of Laura A Wallace: 

The Countess of Carnarvon has written a biography of one of her predecessors:  Almina, Countess of Carnarvon, wife of the 5th Earl of Carnarvon.  This book lacks depth but is fairly well written and well researched.  It does not purport to be a sophisticated biography, being entirely without footnotes or endnotes, and claims, in the Prologue, to be “neither a biography nor a work of fiction, but places characters in historical settings, as identified from letters, diaries, visitor books and household accounts written at the time.”  I found this characterization a little puzzling because it is clearly a biography and does not in any way approach fiction:  there is no dialogue and very little in the way of scenes or Continue reading “Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle, by The Countess of Carnarvon – A Review” →

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The World of Downton Abbey, by Jessica Fellowes – A Review

The World of Downton Abbey, by Jessica Fellowes (2011)Season two of Downton Abbey has concluded and we are left in limbo until it returns next Fall in the UK and January 2013 in the US.

*deep sigh*

For those like myself, who have watched and re-watched every blessed minute, yet, just can’t get enough of the award-winning ITV/PBS television mini-series and are in total Downton withdrawal, may I suggests this stunning full-color coffee table-sized book about the series, The World of Downton Abbey?

The publisher touts it as a “lavish look at the real world–both the secret history and the behind-the-scenes drama–of the spellbinding Emmy Award-winning Masterpiece TV series Downton Continue reading “The World of Downton Abbey, by Jessica Fellowes – A Review” →

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Downton Abbey’s Stunning Film Locations

Image of Highclere Castle, Hampshire, England

Season one of Downton Abbey on Masterpiece Classic PBS concludes this Sunday, January 30th. This new Edwardian-era period drama was incredibly popular when it first aired in the UK last Fall, and now is also a huge hit with North American audiences. Many viewers will be happy to know that a second season and Christmas special are in the works for Fall and December in the UK, and will probably air in the US in 2012.

Not only has screenwriter Julian Fellowes given us a brilliant script, the costumes and film locations are stunning. Please welcome guest blogger Abby Stambach, whose lovely blog Nooks, Towers and Turrets features information and commentary on historic homes and stately architectural highlights. She has graciously offered a tour of film locations used in Downton Abbey. Continue reading “Downton Abbey’s Stunning Film Locations” →

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Masterpiece Classic 2011 Season Preview

Masterpiece Classic logo

One of the consolations of being trapped inside during the cold, wet Pacific Northwest winter in the prospect of great television from Masterpiece Classic on PBS. Celebrating its 40th year on the air, the longest-running and most-honored drama series in primetime announced its new 2011 season this past week. There are some exciting new productions in the queue: Downton Abbey, Any Human Heart, Upstairs Downstairs and South Riding, and encore presentations of My Boy Jack, The Unseen Alistair Cooke and 39 Steps in store for drama lovers.

Since girlhood, I have been entranced by Masterpiece Theater, now Masterpiece, broken down into the Classic, Mystery and Contemporary seasons a few years back. This superbly produced series has for the majority of my life enriched my viewing experience and opened up new possibilities in reading classics which many of the shows are adapted from, and more recently contemporary fare with books and stories from the twentieth century. Continue reading “Masterpiece Classic 2011 Season Preview” →

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