As“Downton Abbey” season three begins, World War I has ended and Lady Mary isrehearsing her wedding with Matthew. But the arrival of Sybil and her Irishchauffer husband sparks tension around the dinner table and a shadow has fallenover Lord Grantham’s face. His wartime investments have gone bust and there maynot be enough money to sustain the Abbey.
An international hit, “DowntonAbbey” is one of the most popular among prestige British films and televisionseries. It has the charms of that by now well-defined British heritage genre,complete with a grand country manor rising from verdant lawns and an “UpstairsDownstairs” division of attention between the drawing room above and theservants hall below. The grandeur of aristocracy is balanced with a critique ofthe class system. There is much Jane Austen-steeped intrigue over inheritancesand “Brideshead Revisited” nostalgia for a way of life about to slip into thepast.
Seasonthree runs on MPTV 10.1, Sundays, Jan. 6-Feb. 17.
