Review: Downton Abbey Series 3, Episode 1

There was a huge problem last Sunday. Statuses such as “go to hell O2, you haven’t installed my fucking internet – let me watch Downton” and “Tinchy or Lady Mary, […]


There was a huge problem last Sunday.

Statuses such as “go to hell O2, you haven’t installed my fucking internet – let me watch Downton” and “Tinchy or Lady Mary, I just can’t decide” were splattered across my newsfeed. Jules, our lovable DOSERV, decided to time the arrival of the biggest hip-hop star St Andrews has ever seen with the third-series premiere of Downton Abbey. Big mistake, my friend, big mistake.

Series 3, Episode 1.

Series 3 jumps in medias res (get me) in the 1920s. The ladies of Downton wear elegant cloche hats, long strings of beads, and flapper dresses—prep your wardrobes for 1920s fashion, girls, Baz Luhrmann’s Gatsby is hitting cinemas in a few months.

Downton Abbey may have endured the War, but the backdrop of this series is anything but secure. Lord Grantham has invested the entire fortune of his wife, Cora, into the Canadian Grand Trunk Line—just in time for the company to be declared bankrupt. Yet family disaster could change Downton more than anything history throws at the Crawleys. One of the most heart-rending scenes of this episode is when Lord Grantham breaks down in tears before his wife, only for Cora to respond with, “we have a wedding to celebrate, if it is to be our last, it will be a wonderful last.” The wedding, of course, is that of Lady Mary and Matthew.

The last time we saw Lady Mary and Matthew, they were sharing their first kiss in a flurry of snow, beneath the stars. Our 1920s Ross and Rachel got it together at last (only after working around both a Turkish princess dying under the bedclothes and their middle-class manners, naturally).

However, this is Downton, and any semblance of happiness is plagued by twists and turns. The soon-to-be-wed couple have a massive row when Lady M hears that Matthew is no longer interested in receiving a chunk of the inheritance and calls off the wedding – shit happens when you marry your cousin.

Eventually they reconcile thanks to Branson, Sybil’s husband and an Irish revolutionary. The return of Branson to this series reminds us that the beat of the Irish drum is getting stronger as Ireland moves towards home rule. The success of Downton, in my History for Honours mind, has always been the way the pulse of history drives the storyline and throws the strict division between upstairs and downstairs, aristocrat and servant into disarray.

Branson’s comment to the elder Lady Grantham that the Irish are “almost in sight of throwing off the English yoke”, reminds the viewer that although the threat of the Germans has subsided, the tumultuous politics of the 1920s will guide this series through.

This summer, we’ve been treated to the glorious Parade’s End – Ford Madox Ford’s gem brought to life by Tom Stoppard’s wonderful script. But now that winter is almost here, settle down on Sunday evening with a big mug of Earl Grey and your duvet, and delight in the sensational Downton Abbey.