Exploring Downton Abbey

The BBC television series Downton Abbey (2010-2016) developed and produced by Academy Award winner Julian Fellowes, became a cultural barometer with American viewers harkening back to the days when televised serial dramas ruled the airwaves. The series finale was one of the most-watched in television history. Exploring Downton Abbey is a collection of scholarly essays, written by both British and American scholars, that interrogate this cultural phenomenonthe essays challenge readers to explore how and why this British television serial about life upstairs and downstairs in a British, turn-of-the-century manor home resonates with American audiences, focusing on topics as diverse as the role of the house (Highclere Castle) in literature and film; the changing roles of women and the servant class; the influence of jazz and fashion; and the attitudes toward education and the class system within the series.