Downton Abbey

The Downton Abbey estate stands a splendid example of confidence and mettle, its family enduring for generations and its staff a well-oiled machine of propriety. But change is afoot at Downton--change far surpassing the new electric lights and telephone. A crisis of inheritance threatens to displace the resident Crawley family, in spite of the best efforts of the noble and compassionate Earl, Robert Crawley; his American heiress wife, Cora his comically implacable, opinionated mother, Violet and his beautiful, eldest daughter, Mary, intent on charting her own course. Reluctantly, the family is forced to welcome its heir apparent, the self-made and proudly modern Matthew Crawley himself none too happy about the new arrangements. As Matthew's bristly relationship with Mary begins to crackle with electricity, hope for the future of Downton's dynasty takes shape. But when petty jealousies and ambitions grow among the family and the staff, scheming and secrets--both delicious and dangerous--threaten to derail the scramble to preserve Downton Abbey. Downton Abbey offers a spot-on portrait of a vanishing way of life.

Episodes

Characters

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham Lady Mary Crawley Lady Edith Crawley Isobel Merton Charles Carson Elsie Hughes Thomas Barrow Anna Smith Beryl Patmore Daisy Robinson Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham John Bates Joseph Molesley Tom Branson Dr. Richard Clarkson Matthew Crawley Sarah O'Brien Phyllis Baxter Lady Rose MacClare Lady Sybil Crawley James "Jimmy" Kent Alfred Nugent Ethel Parks Ivy Stuart William Mason Anthony Foyle, Lord Gillingham Andrew "Andy" Parker Charles Blake Gwen Dawson Henry Talbot Herbert "Bertie" Pelham