Oh Christ! *Another* Downton Abbey Movie

I thought Maggie had said NO MORE.

[quote]I thought Maggie had said NO MORE.

She looked at Judi Dench's film credits and said, "I'm gonna Betty White her ass!"

Our Judi has four credits in Covid 2020 and two more in the can for 2021.

I imagine if Dame Maggie can accomplish all her scene work in less than a week (as she did last time around) she's happy to climb into that corset and don the wig for several cool thousands. It's not like being committed to months and months of a TV schedule shoot.

The movie made $200 million on a $15 million budget. Of course they’re making another one.

[quote]The movie made $200 million on a $15 million budget. Of course they’re making another one.

But it SUCKED! The plot was lame. And it was like a 50 minute show stretched into 90 minutes. And our Thomas already got arrested. So what else are they going to do with him?

I think she said she stopped wearing the corset it was so uncomfortable but just holds herself as if she were wearing one.

Loved the Thomas/Richard romance. The rest of the film was quite weak. Apparently the original plan was to show the household dealing with some sort of disaster or emergency, which would have been so much more engaging than a royal visit. That should be the plotline for the sequel.

I love Downingtown Abbey.

[quote]which would have been so much more engaging than a royal visit. That should be the plotline for the sequel.

[quote]which would have been so much more engaging than a royal visit.

Which was another plotline that was ripped off from Upstairs/Downstairs.

Dear God, I already forgot the plot of the movie.

[quote]Dear God, I already forgot the plot of the movie.

Royalty is visiting Downton. Downstairs gets pissed off that Royalty is bringing their own servants and hatches an I Love Lucy plot to get rid of them. Thomas says, "Fuck you" and flounces off to the city where he's supposed to be waiting for a friend he just met but decides he wants a fuck from some stranger. They go to a bar that gets raided by the police. Nothing happens with the richies Upstairs (that I can remember).

I’ll be there. Love the series, liked the movie.

Have to say, Thomas didn't seem to give much of a fuck what happened to the bloke he'd been dancing with

[quote]Have to say, Thomas didn't seem to give much of a fuck what happened to the bloke he'd been dancing with

He was too busy trying to get the London Times to understand that it was NOT trannys that threw the bricks at the police.

Will they be brave and feature a storyline where they have to open up the place for tours, etc.

They'd have to update it to the 50s and 60s for that I suppose.

All I remember is that Imelda Staunton finally found her way in.

Perhaps a "Weekend at Bernie's" plot involving Maggie and a visit from the Royal family.

The movie took place in 1927. Maybe they could jump a few years to the Great Depression.

Tracey Ullman will have a field day with this.

The Dowager Countess of Grantham (b. 1842) finds love when Baroness Merton (formerly Mrs. Nobody Crawley) shames her into becoming an airplane mechanic and bandage roller for the WWII effort.

Violet meets the ghost of a WWI flyer who went down near Grantham and falls for him.

Meanwhile, her great-grandchildren fuck various Mormons, Americans, Ethiopians, Italians, little people, cross-eyed serial killers and psychotics and marry them, divorce them, remarry and/or cross-marry and/or become annulled to accept a cardinal's hat at the Vatican.

The present Countess simpers and the present Earl purses his lips.

[quote]Will they be brave and feature a storyline where they have to open up the place for tours, etc.

I'm surprised Julian Fellowes hasn't stolen that idea like he's stolen everything else. They did that on "Monarch of the Glen" where he played a supporting character.

Hopefully Barbara Windsor will guest star on this one.

Maybe the show will pick up with Edith having her baby.

Aren't they up to the Vietnam War yet?

R16 they did an episode where they gave tours of the abbey to raise money

I tried to watch Upstairs/Downstairs and it was so dated and stiff, I couldn't get into it.

[quote]Maybe the show will pick up with Edith having her baby.

They could do a Call The Midwife crossover. Edith has to go up to London, and while there, she unexpectedly goes into labor. Nonnatus House sends out the Jamaican nurse and Edith has to overcome her prejudice.

"Oh, my dear, nobody at Downton Abbey is colored. My ladies maid is white. Couldn't you find a nice, white midwife?"

Edith will probably give birth just as Violet passes away. If it's a girl, they're setting up the next generation of rivals... illegitimate Marigold and the younger legitimate sister (Edina?), who will both be teenagers during WWII. Downton Abbey: Next Generation.

r27, you might try watching the Upstairs/Downstairs reboot from several years ago. I might be in the minority but I loved it. Just 2 seasons and the second season, occurring during WWII, is better than the first. Among the great actors are Claire Foy, Eileen Atkins and Ed Stoppard, as well as Brit TV favorites Anne Reid, Adrian Dunbar and Keeley Hawes. And some great male eye candy. It didn't get great reviews but I think part of that was due to coming out right after DA began.

Call the Midwife is about forty years after Downton Abbey. So maybe a nun could deliver Edith's baby, but it won't be the Jamaican nurse.

I always hoped for a Poirot crossover. Someone tries to blackmail the Crawleys over Marigold, and a body turns up dead in the library. Oops... that's a Miss Marple crossover. Maybe Judi Dench has some free time to play Miss Marple.

I was about to say they should have Benedict Cumberbatch do a role in the new movie, but then I remembered that he publicly trashed DA. I think he called it a pile of shit or something to that effect.

If they need a bitchy, old lady, I can clear my schedule and come back.

Downton, Edith, Mary & ZOMBIES!

If Cora's family lost all their money in the Depression, they may have to move in with the Crawleys.

If Downton Abbey is having a zombie invasion, maybe Dr. Who will drop in to save the day.

[quote] he publicly trashed DA. I think he called it a pile of shit

I'm sure Cumberbatch wouldn't use language like that. Anyway, the English TV industry is too small for someone like him to make enemies.

Cumberbatch called DA "fucking atrocious."

Benedict Cumberbatch: “The Last Series Of ‘Downton Abbey’ Was F*****g Atrocious”

I know, I know, you’ve just spat your coffee all over your desk and rushed to read this without even pausing to clear up the drippy mess. Well it’s true, Benedict Cumberbatch – a man we all love when he’s being not only indiscreet but judgemental – has harsh words for Downton Abbey, even though its success is one of the primary reasons why his latest TV work, a BBC/HBO adaptation of Ford Madox Ford’s Parade’s End, got made in the first place.

This last point is not something he is unaware of, however, as he told the Reader’s Digest: “We’re living in a culture now that’s revering, or having a nostalgia trip with, the beginning of the 1900s. Although Downton traded a lot on the sentiment in the last series…but we won’t talk about that series because it was, in my opinion, fucking atrocious.”

I expected this. It was obvious to me with the budding romance between Tom and the secret heiress daughter of Staunton. Their money together should be able to keep the place running but I wonder what the conflict will be.

[quote]Violet meets the ghost of a WWI flyer who went down near Grantham and falls for him.

Please don't let there be any scenes of him "going down" on Violet.

[quote]two more in the can for 2021.

Many Dataoungers are envious.

I watched Upstairs/Downstairs when it was first on Masterpiece Theater (I was just a pup!) and I loved it. But when I revisited it a few years ago, it seemed stuffy and dated. Downton Abbey the series was much better. But the movie sucked.

I wish Cousin Matthew would come back from the dead. Or that insipid publisher guy who got murdered by the Nazis.

[quote] I watched Upstairs/Downstairs when it was first on Masterpiece Theater (I was just a pup!) and I loved it.

I tried to watch Upstairs/Downstairs after reading about it here. I could not get into it. I think the acting on Upstairs/Downstairs is distracting. I did love I Claudius, though. Something about it is timeless.

The show lost most of its charm when Matthew died. Mary’s two season long search for a new husband was tedious. Blake was hot as hell, and the best choice for her, but she ended up with that dreadful Talbot. So boring. Not to mention she ran around looking like an ugly dyke.

I liked the movie, it was great light entertainment.

I didn't see the last one, thank God, so I can't imagine seeing this next piece of shit. They should have it set when they get the Spanish flu and all die.

Screw you picky bitches, I'm thrilled.

I've never liked Michele Dockery, the awful actress who plays Lady Mary. I don't even find her particularly pretty.

Daisy should have died from the Spanish flu

The movie sucked. Imelda stunk it up and ate all the scenery as usual, and her storyline sucked. A barrow spinoff would be good.

If they think they are going to be filmming in March they are in for a rude shock. COVID ain't going away anytime soon....

Carson was a disgusting pig and the movie was ruined with him in it, with cunt Mary backstabbing Barrow. Carson should have died offscreen

[quote] …I can't imagine seeing this next piece of shit…

You can imagine all you want, R48. You can flush yours down the toilet but I'd be very happy with a movie bringing in almost $194 million.

It would be nice if they all got AIDS from a monkey in Africa and died from that. Or malaria. Or Spanish flu. Just have them all fucking die. Black Plague. Have them all get Black Plague.

Perhaps they could do a crossover with the great British Bake Off with Mrs Padmore as a judge.

Did anyone see the first one in a theater? Did the fraus use their vibrators or cucumbers whilst they watched it?

r58 it was a fun little movie. Nice escapist entertainment.

In the Era of Brexit.

I saw it opening night. It was a good time. Everyone cheered when Thomas finally got his kiss. Tho the 10 minute recap of the season really put everyone to sleep. Were there opening night. We watched the show. So pointless.

I loved Downton for the quality of filmmaking, attention to detail (yes, I know about the water bottles), and the cinematography. There is a scene in the second series in which, in a single shot, it starts with Cora and Robert emerging from different rooms and walking together out the front door, separating as the camera follows Robert around to greet soldiers arriving as they turn DA into a war hospital, and follows Edith back into the house where she interacts with other characters. They must have rehearsed this scene a hundred times. I must have watched it a hundred times.

I think the reason it was so popular was that it was a story of our times seen through the early to mid1900s. The world changed as much for them as it is changing for us, in a relatively short period of time between 1912 (the first episode) and 1927 (the movie), but it feels like the other bookend to the series is missing. I'm hoping they'll do a more movies and cover through the end of WWII, but that is asking a lot.

r59 do you not read english or something? I could care less whether you thought is was a fun little entertaining movie or a piece of big black shit you idiot. I asked if the fraus were using their goddamn vibrators or cucumbers while they watched the fucking thing? No wonder you thought it was so "cute". You're too fucking stupid to know what fraus do with vibrators and cucumbers aren't you? Aren't you? You're just that fucking stupid because you can't even and the question that I asked. Noooooo. You had to go on with some faggy answer about it being a "nice" "entertaining" movie.

Well go watch some Flintstones reruns on MeTV grandma because obviously your cunt is too dried up for a cucumber. I hate you r59. I hate your fucking stupid guts and the brain between your ears. I hope you get Covid.

Personally, I loved that the early seasons were set in the 1910s. That's kind of a "forgotten" era and we don't see it dramatized very much. I thought it was a nice change of pace and I enjoyed seeing what life was like for this particular class in that time period.

The costumes were also gorgeous. And so many costume changes! Their wardrobe budget must've been a fortune.

I liked it. So sue me.

[quote] That's kind of a "forgotten" era and we don't see it dramatized very much.

Those 1910s dresses are inspired by Leon Bakst and the Russian Ballet. They were rather like pyjamas and not quite flattering for mature ladies.

I've never watched the series, but I saw the feature film and was vastly entertained. I'd happily see another one.

[quote] She looked at Judi Dench's film credits

She’s sho dench!

I’d like to see Meghan in the movie as a scandalous half-sister of Cora’s.

The last one was SO EXCITING. Which footmen would serve the Royals? More drama and tension please.

Why not OP?

Pure escapism for a couple of hours!

Is Maggie's character going to appear in PPE?

Actually, that will apply to several of the cast members, who are vulnerable seniors.

This only makes sense of movie features violet’s death. She’s like 105 years old

Does Hugh Bonneville get naked and have sex with men in the next movie?

Milking every $ £ they can get. I actually prefer Belgravia, darker and more interesting than DA which became boring after few seasons.

Give it another try in a year, [R27].

Only if the resurrect this gent.

I haven't seen anything about a new movie. Is this even true? You're right R73. Maggie Smith's returning just wouldn't make sense, especially since she was diagnosed with a terminal disease in the last movie. To me, half the fun of watching the series and the movie is recognizing how terrible the writing and some of the acting is (Don't even get me started on Cora and Daisy), and still enjoying them. It's great escapism for me.

They strike oil and move to Beverly Hills, California , USA.

[quote]I haven't seen anything about a new movie. Is this even true?

Click on the link in the OP, Helen Keller.

R63, if you "could care less" why don't you?

The next film had been kept a secret until Jim (Carson) Carter went on a UK talk show and blabbed that he'd gotten the new script and couldn't wait to get started.

R80 - OP's link is for the first movie. Did YOU click on it?

r75, I'm also a big fan of BELGRAVIA. In this series Julian Fellowes was smart to just confine the plot lines to a minimum of characters, all upper class, and thus not bore us with with the problems of every scullery maid and footman. I appreciated that the series ender wound up the story satisfactorily and I don't feel I need to see a second season. It was perfect home entertainment for the beginning of Covid isolation.

Apparently Robert James-Collier may not appear in this one due to scheduling conflicts.

R85 Sounds familiar

[quote]Apparently Robert James-Collier may not appear in this one due to scheduling conflicts.

Which gives them a reason to bring Carson back once again.

r85, scheduling conflicts are not possible as Covid has not permitted scheduling to begin. Or were you kidding?

What else has Rob been working on these past few years? I'm a fan.

R88, I'm just going by what I read on Twitter - admittedly, not a great source! That being said, he's one of the few major cast members not mentioned in the OP's article:

[quote] She'll be joined by her screen family, including Hugh Bonneville's Lord Grantham and Elizabeth McGovern, as his wife Cora. Lady Mary will return (along with Matthew Goode as her husband Henry), as will her sister Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael).

[quote] Penelope Wilton's cousin Isobel and Allen Leech's Branson will also be back; along with trusted retainers Jim Carter (Mr Carson), Phyllis Logan (Mrs Carson, nee Hughes), Mr Bates (Brendan Coyle) and his wife Anna (Joanne Froggatt).

[quote] Imelda Staunton and Tuppence Middleton were introduced in key roles in last year's picture, and they'll be back, too.

RJC says he considers himself a property renovator who does a bit of acting on the side.

Tm Branson?

*Tom

It is such a large cast that they can't mention everybody in a Twitter post.

Meh. I can't see any point in watching it if there's no Barrow.

Are there any gays on Belgravia?

As Rob James-Collier has “scheduling conflicts,” Uncle Julian will explore the secret lesbian passion shared by Daisy and her lover, Beryl Patmore. Apparently, Daisy has discovered some rather exciting new uses for kitchen implements that have Mrs. Patmore crooning, “Oh, Daisy... That’s the sprat to catch the mackerel!”

No gay characters in Belgravia but lots of eye candy. And it takes place in the 1850s so there are new fashion silhouettes to explore. Oh those crinolines!

The Dowager Countess discovers she is non-binary and wishes to change her line of succession. She will now be know as RALPH.

What water bottles?

Beautiful clothes. Beautiful set. A few beautiful people. Why the hell not?

I love it - why the hell not?

If they were smart, they would hire a bunch of talented writers and spin off into separate shows. No need to keep the entire cast together all the time.

Spin off the gay butler into a historical series of what it was like in the gay world from the 20's through the 50's.

Spin off the hard-done-by sister and her career as a magazine editor - and explore the changing roles of women.

There's so much there. They've done the upstairs / downstairs retread already - there's not much more there to write about that wouldn't be rehashing the same class structure shit.

I love it - why the hell not?

If they were smart, they would hire a bunch of talented writers and spin off into separate shows. No need to keep the entire cast together all the time.

Spin off the gay butler into a historical series of what it was like in the gay world from the 20's through the 50's.

Spin off the hard-done-by sister and her career as a magazine editor - and explore the changing roles of women.

There's so much there. They've done the upstairs / downstairs retread already - there's not much more there to write about that wouldn't be rehashing the same class structure shit.

I do totally wish Edith was more than just another rich frau. They could definitely do something with her rejecting that boring life and striving, sometimes in ridiculous ways, sometimes more serious, to be a suffragette and an activist to the horror of her family.

[quote]What water bottles?

Edith gave up her magazine to become a Marchioness. The problem with giving her a spin-off is that she's living her almost-Happily-Ever-After. For her own series, Edith would have to suffer a series of heartaches, and Edith fans would not be happy.

I loved that Edith married up, and she no longer lived in her sister's shadow. For me that was the best part of the series' finale.

Don’t forget pre-quels. Lots to mine there. Sort of like “The Crown” with different actors playing the Earl and Cora et al.

They need a series about special Marigold. One day she has an encounter with Jesus and she travels the country as a faith healer.

They fall on hard times and the family has to turn tricks to keep the lights on. Staff are also expected to be whores.

And to me it just makes her totally boring and dreary r104. But I can't say the fans don't agree with you.

Who did Edith marry? I forgot already.

^ Bertie Pelham, who became Marquess of Hexham shortly after proposing to Edith

[quote] But it SUCKED! The plot was lame. And it was like a 50 minute show stretched into 90 minutes.

An apt description for most of the series, as well.

Edith's husband needs to be found nude or caught with some hot Spanish gardener buggering him.

Well, that might make them both slightly more interesting, r111. Slightly.

Would be more interesting to go back in time rather than forward. But how would they use the existing actors ...

I could watch a whole movie with just a script of Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, talking.

Lady Mary is trans but can’t tell anyone. Of course the whole house finds out and sniggers behind they/them back.

[quote] … I could watch a whole movie with just a script of Violet Crawley…

I agree. I would like her to do another 'Travels with My Aunt now she's the right age.

r116 I'm available!

The Corona hits them hard but they don’t know what it is. They believe it’s an American curse and start turning on one another. Hardly anyone dies from Corona but they end up murdering suspects on a grand scale. The Dowager Countess is revealed to be MTF and colluded with China to create the plague that would destroy them all.

Hard times fall upon Downton Abbey forcing it to become a house of ill repute.

Thomas Barrow is the physical embodiment of DataLounge:

- he convinces himself that his attractive, younger, straight colleague Jimmy fancies him

- said colleague almost ruins his life

- Bates and Anna, whom he has consistently treated like dirt, step in to save him

- instead of being grateful to Bates and Anna, he continues to plot against them while remaining loyal to Jimmy purely because he's hot

They fall on hard times and open part of the house to gentlemen of a certain persuasion. A large Roman bath is installed and dim lighting. Lady Mary drills gloryholes and the Dowager Countess picks out cheap floor coverings that can be watered down outside. The bills for vinegar and baking soda are astronomical but are easily recouped by the nonstop flow of gents looking for a buggering good time.

Better than the place at 19 Cleveland Street, R121! Prince Eddy can just jump on a train for Downton Abbey in the country and keep his naughty activities away from prying London eyes.

I love the idea expressed by the poster upthread of doing separate films on some of the characters. But why not do separate TV spin-offs? There's clearly a built-in audience.

I hear they mummified the old lady and keep her corpse on display in the grand ballroom like the Fiji Mermaid in Barnum's Museum. Fifty quid to take a peek behind the screen.

They're going to milk this franchise for all it's worth.

[quote] I love the idea expressed by the poster upthread of doing separate films on some of the characters. But why not do separate TV spin-offs? There's clearly a built-in audience.

Hold my Baby Yoda.

R123

Someone should do a series on gays in Victorian and Edwardian UK, especially as it relates to those either among the upper classes and or trade/service class.

There were tons of them despite cruel laws at all levels of society from ministers to the Crown right down to valets, butlers, footmen....

Fleshing out Thomas's life would be interesting since DA all but dropped the heavy gay plot line as series went forward. Everyone upstairs including the Earl and Lady Mary (of all people) knew Thomas was gay, but we were never told how that bit of information got around. Lady Mary was the odd duck because it would have been extremely odd for a young woman of her birth to get that involved in servant's life, much less know about such things.

That visiting peer and Thomas didn't just happen, someone had to cruise or otherwise make a move.

Dame Maggie must be hoping this franchise goes on forever, well least rest of her life anyway.

One of the sweetest gigs an actress of her advanced years can land. Show up, have everyone kiss your ass, say your lines/hit your marks, get paid tons of mullah, then and go home.

They need to do a movie set in the 1930s, during the Great Depression, when the Downton women, including Dowager, have to turn to prostitution.

[quote] Our Judi has four credits in Covid 2020 and two more in the can for 2021.

It's a shame Judi Dench left the Bond franchise claiming she's too old and that her eyesight is deteriorating. And yet she's churning out a film after film now. Her M and her interaction with Craig was one of the best things in the recent Bond films. I'd actually forgotten she got on board already during the Pierce Brosnan era.

And the new Downton Abbey movie? Bring it on. I was never a super fan of the show but I still watched most of the episodes. And I did like the first film although quite honestly it wasn't very memorable. Still, if they keep up the quality, which most probably will happen, I'm all for spending another two hours watching superbly made costume drama.

It shall be Weekend at Bernies at Downton Abbey; set in the early 1980s, The Dowager Countess' body will be propped up at the dining table, carried around by footmen and dressed in shoulder padded blazers and permed hair.

I reckon they'll do the Great Depression and the rise of Nazism.

I do worry about those of you demanding realism from entertainment. Yours must be a small, frightfully literal world. Swim in the waters of allegory. Delight in the bouquet of surrealism. Join the rest us as we are carried away by the intoxicating breezes of imagination. Do you wish to be Daisy? Shopping lists & cleaning the coal bin can wait for another day. Until then, there is glorious Downton to delight in anew.

It really is more Downsyndrometon Abbey than anything else now.

Stupid plots and absurd character manipulations for no purpose except sucking in the bucks of Frauen and their adjacency who can do their slack-jawed routine:

Iss so PURDY. She so PURDY. Oh she so sad. Oh she so funnnnny! Big hous! BIG PURDY HOUS!

OP- Since you jokingly mentioned the 1970's I would suggest they set the next movie in the 1870's when the dowager was a young woman and Lord Grantham was a young boy.

Make it rain, bitches.

In Film #2 both of Thomas' suitors from film 1 will DP him on screen

The original Upstairs Downstairs started out in b&w but when the series was bought for the US, those episodes were combined, rewritten, and refilmed. They are worth watching. There’s a great episode when Lady Marjorie and her husband go out of town and Sarah, the scampy maid, invites a couple friends in and they dress up in Lady M’s clothes and raid the liquor cabinet. Then James arrives home unexpectedly. He can’t have her fired because he’s already sleeping with her.

R138

Sarah Moffot was no better than she should have been from the start. Things went from worse (nude portrait) to horrible when she took up with the young master of the household James Bellamy and becomes pregnant. That episode forces Lady Marjorie to come down off her high horse and deal with Sarah who now has "rights" due to her being with child regardless of which side of blanket it was conceived.

In real post WWI Britain those large family piles were being abandoned in droves. People couldn't afford to keep them up (in large part thanks to crippling new taxes including death duties and removal of fee ential). Then there was despite what we see in things like Downton Abbey or Gosford Park there was a huge issue in finding servants (especially male) after WWI in GB.

It amazes me that all these period pieces have tons of male staff when historical accounts of real households tell a far different story. Eventually in years prior to WWII even female staff was becoming much more difficult to find.

Didn't the Dowager tell Mary that she didn't have long to live at the end of the movie? They can't go too far in the future if Maggie Smith is going to be in it. Although in soaps....

R124, more likely fifty pence...

R130 Judi Dench didn't actually leave the 007 films by choice. Somebody higher up in the food chain wanted to replace her.

She was very disappointed not to be part of the on-going series but at least they gave her a very meaty role in Skyfall.

Hugh Bonneville has basically said there would only be another movie is once everyone in the cast wanting to be involved is fully vaccinated.

Hey Maggie, return your Oscar for California Suite. The presenter read the wrong name. The Oscar was meant for M in The Deer Hunter.

R138- You are wrong. The first several episodes of Upstairs Downstairs were TAPED in black and white because there was a technicians strike which prevented them from presenting the episodes in color. The ONLY episode that was refilmed was the first one - On Trial. It was later retaped in color. There were no episodes that were rewritten or combined for American television. Back in the 1970's certain episodes were not shown on PBS because they were considered too controversial at the time nor were the first few episodes taped in black and white.

My mohter was a huge fan of the 1st Upstairs Downstairs. She taped it on video cassettes and it's comforting to see her handwriting on the labels.

I also loved the first UD and I very much enjoyed the more recent one that was sort of a continuation of the house. But in no way was it better than the first. The first had incredible writing and a mature narrative that really gave life to those times.

I believe one of the episodes not shown on American PBS involved Rose and Sarah in bed. Not sure it was the whole episode or just specific scenes from that episode.

Shirley MacLaine returns as Martha, introducing them to her good friends from the United States, the newly wed Mame and Jackson Pickett Burnside. Guest stars Angela Lansbury and Dick Van Dyke, filmed through Lucy's filters to make them look 50 years younger.

Christmas release? Not sure that's plausible...

It was a great series on PBS. One movie...fine. Another movie...moving into SATC desperation territory.

R135..That would be interesting..

It should be set in the depression. Tom has to whore out that meaty ass.

R140, Downton morphed into Little House on the Prairie reality about halfway through the second season.

It's just feel good now. An Andy Hardy movie. An action movie for wrinklies.

[quote]I thought Maggie had said NO MORE.

$he $aid $e $hould $tand a$ide, a$ Violet i$ $o old.

Bates and Anna are the worst characters ever. I hate both of them, but especially Bates.

R155, I quite like Anna (even though she's a bit TOO sweet). Bates, however, gets on my nerves, especially when it comes to his "I'm so very NOBLE" schtick. I'd rather they had left it ambiguous as to whether he killed his wife and Green.

156 Bate's wife and Green deserved death so it doesn't really matter.

Please No

Leave Master Bates alone. You all know you do him in your bed every night.

The first movie was boring but I need more stuff like this. I bought Elizabeth R and The Flame Trees of Thika on DVD from Goodwill. My husband said that the filming in Elizabeth R is so bad it looks like one person is just running around with a camcorder. I know he hates it, and I'm not wild about the way Elizabeth is played. Everyone was a mess in the 70's. I remember watching the Africa one with my mom and being upset that the pet dog got eaten but I don't remember anything else. Should I spring for something better on Ebay or just keep seeing what I find at Goodwill?

[quote]My husband said that the filming in Elizabeth R is so bad it looks like one person is just running around with a camcorder.

It's funny coz it's true!!

Hello the house! I loved Flame Trees of Thika. I read her later books. The family moved around quite a bit, farming in different areas, different crops. The father always had a new scheme.

Dominic West has been cast in the sequel:

Robert James-Collier is a main character in Netflix fantasy series based on some cartoon or other - Fate: The Winx Saga.

It's craptacular, even for the YA adaptation genre.

Rather than doing another marginal Downton movie, I wish they'd switch over and actually do a Gilded Age show, as was once floated. Supposedly, it's HBO committed to a 10 episode run with filming beginning in Feb.

[quote]Dominic West has been cast in the sequel:

I used to think Uncle Julian had devolved the thing after a not bad first series into the English aristocratic equivalent of Little House on the Prairie.

Now, with a cast full of Dominic Wests and Imelda Stauntons and on and on, I realize he's captaining an English aristocratic equivalent of The Love Boat.

I think Lady Mary's death vagina should become a running gag and she's always looking for a new husband per movie.

Rumor is that the actor who pays Bates is gay. He has never married or had a girlfriend. He was extremely handsome in his first British TV roles. Obviously everyone knows that Maggie HATES playing the Dowager Countess. She makes a point of repeating her negativity about Downtown as a series whenever she is presented the opportunity. SHe must need the money - or her family does. I don't know why Fellows puts up with it. They fired Matthew when he criticized the writing and the scripts which (Fellows had written). They used to say the actor who played Branson was gay, perhaps because he had been a make-up artist before Downtown. He got married suddenly when it looked like he was having trouble getting roles after Downtown shut-down. Imelda Staunton is married in real life to the guy who plays the butler.

Maggie Smith doesn't need the money, she's making it.

I thought the actor who played Matthew quit.

He did quit.

Dan Stevens as Matthew looks almost silly as he drives his car before the accident. I think that was intentional to help ruin his carer as an actor. They say he hoped there could have been a storyline that might allow him to return later, but the death - they even showed the body with his eyes opened. He got what he deserved for having trashed the series.

I don't recall ever reading that Stevens trashed the series. I Googled and couldn't find anything. I know Maggie was less than enthusiastic but who can blame her? It slid from something marginally thoughtful to merengue in about two series.

In the next film, we learn Thomas has secretly installed new lighting and digital cameras in his room for his OnlyFans channel. The Dowager is the one who discovers it, and she tells "TommyArrow" that she wants her £15 subscription refunded and a coupon code for free access.

Milking a dead cow...

I was surprised that when Siobhan Finneran left the show that Julian Fellowes let her escape without killing her character off. But then again, she says that she specified at the beginning she was only doing three seasons and then she was done, so it may not have come as such a surprise. But I think she was just as important to the show as Dan Stevens and the youngest sister, both who will never return to Downton in any form. Nobody else had that delicious nasty chemistry that Finneran and James Robb-Collier created with their characters.

But I'd love to see O'Brien return. As the family loses Downton Abbey, O'Brien stands on the lawn and jeers at them. "Losers!!"

I'd love to see O'Brien return with rank... as a guest... and as ever up to no good. She tricked some title into marrying her or he's about ten million years old. Hilarity could ensue.

Julian Fellowes said O'Brien was his favourite character. I wonder what would have happened if she'd stayed. I think well and truly burned her bridges with Thomas, and they would have remained enemies for the rest of the series.

[quote]I think well and truly burned her bridges with Thomas, and they would have remained enemies for the rest of the series.

I think that would have ruined their really good dynamic. Thomas could afford to make enemies but I think O'Brien needed some type of personal connection. It would have been interesting to see if Fellowes could keep their characters going or would we have gotten bored with O'Brien like Master Bates and his simpleton wife?

I would have rather seen someone shady appear from O'Brien's past than the stupid storyline about Bates' wife. Can you see a conniving brother or ex-lover show up at Downton and cause scandal? And I think O'Brien could have made a bit of mischief when Edith became pregnant.

Julian Fellowes' THE GILDED AGE has been shooting in NY and Newport, RI. for the past couple of months.

I hope Gilded Age is a success. Fellowes has had a number of duds like Titanic, Belgravia and Doctor Thorne, The Chaperone was bad, too.

R27 - Me too! I had the exact same response to the 1971 original Upstairs-Downstairs. However, the 2010 reboot was not bad.

The 2010 reboot used Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins in an attempt to lure in fans of the original series. Jean Marsh was really too old, but they could have worked with her longer. They could also have brought back Daisy and Edward - who were still alive at the time and would have been the right age to fit into the time frame. Ruby was around, too, I think. The writers of the reboot were not fans of the original and were only crudely exploiting the fans and earlier plot lines. Both Jean and Eileen were cut from the show in cruel, even sadistic ways.

I quite liked BELGRAVIA though THE CHAPERONE was awful.

I also really enjoyed the U/D reboot and think it really suffered being compared to DA which just beat it out of the gate. Just my opinion but I think Eileen Atkins was not great in it.

R183 - Loved BELGRAVIA and BRIDGERTON.

THE CHAPERONE was a completely different type of movie.

Poor Allen Leech has been reduced to doing a Hallmark movie. Opposite Joanna Garcia Swisher.

Does Allen need the money? How much did he make on the last Downton movie - anyone know?

I loved the series and the movie. I've wept several times while watching the series. I can't wait for the sequel. Yes, I admit it...I'm a frau trapped in a gay man's body.

Confirmed for Christmas:

Downton Abbey CREAKED and GROANED at times. It was FREQUENTLY mediocre.

The BEST drama about an upper class family and their servants was Upstairs Downstairs (1971-1975).

Hugh Dancy joins!

This thing is like The Love Boat with the Charleston.

"We're taking Downton in a new direction this time," crows Lady Julianne Fellowes, writer, visionary, record-setting recipient of good luck. "Lady Mary will stare icily, wear many beaded gowns and wonder if it's all worth it. Lady Edith will be unhappy at finally having love, wealth and the biggest house of the bunch. Lady Edith's love child will self identify with the Lord of the Rings. Lord Grantham will lose more money. Everyone will contemplate redundancies, even though the staff remains at the same size as ever. A lazy plot twist will help the family find more money in the nick of time. Anna will compensate for her mistake of a marriage by doting on Lady Mary. Daisy will complain. Mrs. Hughes will marvel at how things continue to change at Downton Abbey, which leads to Thomas having a reason to masturbate, off screen. Well, actually, it's a lot like every other go at Downtown Abbey, come to think of it, but everybody likes to make money, meaning Maggie may not actually die this time either."

[quote] The BEST drama about an upper class family and their servants was Upstairs Downstairs (1971-1975).

It was quite good but like DA had its ups and downs, pardon the expression.

The huge difference is of course in production values. Television is a visual medium so part of its fascination is in sets, wardrobe, and especially exterior shoots. UD looks like it was shot for 3 quid, as do most 1970s BBC productions.

A decade in, it wasn’t much different. “By the Sword Divided” was made in the 80s, and is set during the sweeping drama of the English Civil War, yet its claustrophobic scenes in cheesy little BBC sets look little different from Monty Python skits!

Was there tons of homosex or just

I—N—N—U—E—N—D—O ???

Then, I’d like to see a remake of Upstairs/Downstairs. Exact same script. Who would they cast as Lady Majorie? Lord Bellamy? Lady Prudence? Hudson, Mrs Bridges?

Added to say, they remake Jane Austen every decade. Why not?

R195 - Me too! I loved the Upstairs/Downstairs reboot.

[quote]Who would they cast as Lady Majorie? Lord Bellamy? Lady Prudence? Hudson, Mrs Bridges?

Lady Marjorie - Sarah Lancashire

Lord Bellamy - Matthew Macfadyen

Lady Prudence - Monica Dolan

Hudson - Graham McTavish

Mrs. Bridges - Vicki Pepperdine

Lady Marjorie: Graham Norton

[quote] Was there tons of homosex or just I—N—N—U—E—N—D—O ???

"Innuendo" is homosex.

I can't get enough of Downton Abbey.

Mornington Crescent?

I just wish they'd do something that was actually worth watching. The first movie was... sumptuous... everything looked great.. but it's all about as engaging and believable as Michael Landon's Little House on the Prairie.