Downton Abbey
Period pieceSet meaningfully in a past era.This show: 10/10Royalty & aristocracyCourts, crowns and dynasties.This show: 9/10Class divideWealth, poverty and the gulf between them.This show: 9/10Family sagaBonds and fractures across generations of one family.This show: 9/10British TVThe British television sensibility: tone, restraint and format traditions.This show: 9/10Ensemble castMany characters carrying equal weight.This show: 9/10Elites & privilegeThe rich and powerful, glamorous or rotten.This show: 8/10NostalgicTrades on longing for a past era, in the story or around it.This show: 8/10
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Starring
Hugh BonnevillePhyllis LoganElizabeth McGovernBrendan CoyleLaura CarmichaelJim Carter
Written by
Julian Fellowes
Starring
Hugh BonnevillePhyllis LoganElizabeth McGovernBrendan CoyleLaura CarmichaelJim Carter
Written by
Julian Fellowes
Ratings per Episode
Votes per Episode
Downton Abbey Episode Ratings Heatmap
| Avg | E1 | E2 | E3 | E4 | E5 | E6 | E7 | E8 | E9 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.4 | 8.1 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 8.8 | |||
| S2 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.3 | 8.5 | 8.0 | 8.2 | 8.7 | 9.0 | |
| S3 | 8.3 | 8.5 | 8.1 | 8.4 | 8.0 | 9.0 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 8.3 | 8.2 | |
| S4 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 8.0 | 7.8 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.4 | |
| S5 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 7.9 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.6 | 8.9 | |
| S6 | 8.6 | 8.3 | 8.0 | 8.6 | 8.3 | 8.5 | 8.2 | 8.4 | 9.0 | 9.2 |
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About
"Class, duty, and gossip in tailored waistcoats"
Set in the early 20th century, this British drama follows the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants at a grand English estate as war, inheritance disputes, and shifting social mores upend their world. It's a soapy but polished ensemble piece, moving between drawing rooms upstairs and the kitchen below, balancing gentle humor with melodrama and real historical upheaval. The pace is leisurely, driven by manners, gossip, and slow-building relationships rather than plot twists. It's comforting, handsomely produced, and carried by a deep cast, especially the acid-tongued Dowager Countess.
Watch it for
the sharp, witty banter and richly drawn ensemble balancing upstairs elegance with downstairs loyalty.
Maybe skip if
you want fast plotting rather than slow, mannered soap opera about class and tradition.
Written by our AI editor to help you decide, spoiler-free by design.
All Seasons
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Series 12010
8.421K76h 8m
Lord Robert Crawley and his family live a life of leisure, while a fleet of servants, including butler Carson, attend to their every need. But two events conspire to shake things up: the sinking of the Titanic, which claims Crawley's heirs, and the return of his valet, Bates. Since Crawley and Lady Cora have three daughters, his distant solicitor cousin, Matthew, becomes heir to the estate. With that, the scheming begins, since Thomas the footman views Bates as an interloper and Crawley's mother, Violet, feels the same way about Matthew's mother, Isobel.
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Series 22011
8.423K99h 5m
The Great War rages across Europe, and not even the serene Yorkshire countryside is free from its effects. The men and women of Downton are doing their part both on the front lines and the home front, but the intensity of war only serves to inflame the more familiar passions: love, loss, blackmail, and betrayal.
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Series 32012
8.321K98h 37m
The Great War is over and a long-awaited engagement is on, but all is not tranquil at Downton Abbey as wrenching social changes, romantic intrigues, and personal crises grip the majestic English country estate. As other great houses are crippled psychologically and financially in the wake of World War I, Robert, Earl of Grantham, sticks to his duty to maintain Downton more firmly than ever. But in this changing landscape nothing is assured, and could it be that even the war-weary Crawleys must fight a new battle to safeguard their beloved Downton?
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Series 42013
8.118K98h 49m
Set in 1922, the fourth series sees Lady Mary mourning her loss as the Crawley family and the servants who work for them remain inseparably interlinked.
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Series 52014
8.317K98h 47m
Season 5 finds the Crawley family and the staff struggling with responsibilities and choices as they adjust to life in the Roaring Twenties. A new Labour government heralds changes that are being felt throughout the land, and Robert, Mary and Branson together must navigate these shifting sands to ensure the future of the estate for generations to come. As Branson finds himself playing a more crucial role at Downton than ever before, he can’t help questioning his place in this world. Mary is finally coming to accept that she would like to marry again, but will she ever be able to find the same happiness that she had with Matthew? Meanwhile with still no news of her beloved Gregson, Edith suffers under the burden of her terrible secret.
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Series 62015
8.617K98h 47m
Our time with the Crawleys draws to a close and we see what will finally become of them all. Secrets and rifts threaten the unity of the family, while those below stairs continue to navigate social changes which put their futures in jeopardy. Will Mary choose the right path? Will her sister Edith finally get a break?! Will Carson and Mrs Hughes actually make it up the aisle? And will Anna and Bates overcome the many hurdles that have been set before them?
Full Cast & Crew
Cast
Hugh Bonneville Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham
Phyllis Logan Mrs. Hughes
Elizabeth McGovern Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham
Brendan Coyle John Bates
Laura Carmichael Lady Edith Crawley
Jim Carter Charles Carson
Michelle Dockery Lady Mary Crawley
Joanne Froggatt Anna Bates, Anna Smith
Robert James-Collier Thomas Barrow
Sophie McShera Daisy Mason, Daisy Robinson
Crew
Julian Fellowes
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