Downton Abbey, Season 1 - Masterpiece Classic

Downton Abbey, a sprawling and lavish Edwardian mansion nestled in the lush North Yorkshire landscape, is in need of an heir. Dame Maggie Smith delivers a show-stopping performance as Violet, the charmingly stubborn Dowager Countess of Grantham, the matriarch of Downton and the unquestioned authority on all matters.

Hugh Bonneville stars as her son, the stoic and unflappable Lord Robert Crawley, while Elizabeth McGovern portrays his farsighted American wife, Cora. A star-studded cast rounds out the glittering, gossipy, and beguiling men and women of this epic tale, written by Academy Award-winner Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park).

After a tragedy at sea claims the life of the presumed heir, Lord Crawley is faced with the possibility that the house he's loved his whole life might someday belong to a distant cousin he's never met. However, before that can happen, he must deal with his scandalous daughter, Lady Mary, who is considered by many to be the rightful heir to Downton.

Even the staff has opinions on the family's affairs. While most are devoted to the Crawleys, there are others whose selfishness and scheming do more than simply disrupt the well-oiled inner workings of the estate. As the servants' mischief escalates, even the most faithful employees begin to imagine a different life.

Pitting hundreds of years of British aristocracy against the tides of social upheaval and technical progress, under the looming shadow of World War I, the fate of Downton and its family, both above and below stairs, will be resolved. Will life be altered so dramatically that its master no longer matters?

ITV's Downton Abbey brings a microcosm of Edwardian society together under one roof, blending addictive suds with social commentary. Lord Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville) and his family live a life of leisure, while a fleet of servants, including butler Carson (Jim Carter), attend to their every need. However, two events conspire to shake things up: the sinking of the Titanic, which claims Crawley's heirs, and the return of his valet, Bates (Brendan Coyle).

Since Crawley and Lady Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) have three daughters, his distant solicitor cousin, Matthew (Dan Stevens), becomes the heir to the estate. This sets off a series of schemes, as Thomas the footman (Rob James-Collier) views Bates as an interloper, and Crawley's mother, Violet (Maggie Smith), feels the same way about Matthew's mother, Isobel (Penelope Wilton).

In the tradition of the BBC's Upstairs Downstairs and Robert Altman's Gosford Park, the royals, servants, and middle-class relations struggle to get along. Sniffs uptight maid Miss O'Brien (Siobhan Finneran), "Gentlemen don't work," but that doesn't stop Mary (Michelle Dockery) and Edith Crawley (Laura Carmichael) from competing for Matthew's affections.

Though it takes a while to warm up to the tightest-wound characters, most everyone reveals their more vulnerable side before the first season comes to an end, and a new small-screen classic is born. The entire sprawling cast is quite wonderful, particularly Bonneville, Carter, and James-Collier, who provide a fascinating study in contrasts (the latter is downright dastardly).

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