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.
Cast[]
- Elizabeth McGovern as Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham
- Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley
- Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith Crawley
- Penelope Wilton as Isobel Crawley
- Jim Carter as Charles Carson
- Phyllis Logan as Elsie Hughes
- Rob James Collier as Thomas Barrow
- Joanne Froggatt as Anna Smith
- Lesley Nicol as Beryl Patmore
- Sophie McShera as Daisy Robinson
- Hugh Bonneville as Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham
- Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham
- Brendan Coyle as John Bates
- Kevin Doyle as Joseph Molesley
- Allen Leech as Tom Branson
- David Robb as Dr. Richard Clarkson
- Dan Stevens as Matthew Crawley
- Siobhan Finneran as Sarah O'Brien
- Raquel Cassidy as Phyllis Baxter
- Lily James as Lady Rose MacClare
- Jessica Brown Findlay as Lady Sybil Crawley
- Edward Speleers as James "Jimmy" Kent
- Matt Milne as Alfred Nugent
- Amy Nuttall as Ethel Parks
- Cara Theobold as Ivy Stuart
- Thomas Howes as William Mason
- Tom Cullen as Anthony Foyle, Lord Gillingham
- Michael Fox as Andrew "Andy" Parker
- Julian Ovenden as Charles Blake
- Rose Leslie as Gwen Dawson
- Matthew Goode as Henry Talbot
- Harry Hadden-Paton as Herbert "Bertie" Pelham