Now that the final episode of DOWNTON ABBEY has aired and been discussed over tea, on social media, and at the dinner table, it is time for fans to move on. However, for many avid followers, separation anxiety has set in. For those people, here are a few suggestions which may not bring you to the satisfaction of a Sunday with the Crawley clan, but could result in some fine entertainment.
The 2012 book The Chronicles of Downton Abbey: A New Era by Jessica Fellowes and Matthew Sturgis, relates that the character of Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, was based in part on Julian Fellowes’ late father, "a deeply moral man, possibly cleverer than Robert, who was always determined to do right, but without ever questioning the structure of his own social universe".
That description also might be a good fit for the character that Hugh Bonneville played from 2010 to 2015 in two oddball Britcoms. TWENTY TWELVE and W1A are BBC comedies which star Bonneville as corporate executive Ian Fletcher. In TWENTY TWELVE, Fletcher is Head of Deliverance for London 2012, the London Olympics. In the sequel, W1A, with the Olympics done and gone, he is hired as Head of Values for the BBC. In fact, the title of the series, W1A designates the postcode prefix of the BBC's headquarters, Broadcasting House (W1A 1AA).
Both series are very funny send-ups of real corporate challenges which spring from society’s obsession with political correctness. Many such issues did arise with the development of the Olympics in London, and they happen on a regular basis at the BBC Broadcasting House. Ian must be the fixer, and it is so much fun to see Bonneville playing broad farce. His broad baby-faced good looks are a study as his character deals with a one-dimensional group of eccentric, somewhat dim-witted colleagues drowning in challenges of sustainability, legacy, multi-culturality (their word, not mine), branding, and a quagmire of public relations issues. Other concerns are more concrete but presented with equally absurd humor-- issues such as infrastructure design and urban traffic. These shows are hilarious at times, but they also demonstrate that we Americans and the British may speak the same language, but there are times when you would not know it!
Dame Maggie Smith currently is playing on big screens in area theaters in THE LADY IN THE VAN, a partly imagined memoir of sorts by award-winning British playwright-performer Alan Bennett. Unlike the majestic Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, here Dame Maggie plays a derelict and foul-smelling bag lady with plenty of attitude and several secrets. She lives out of her van in the Camden Town neighborhood of London and eventually parks in Bennett’s driveway in order to establish an address to receive social services. As expected, Maggie Smith nails this character. It is a role she first played onstage in the West End of London in 1999 and reprised on BBC Radio 4 in 2009. As I watched this film, my emotions ran haywire—from pleasure over the old woman’s guts and fortitude, to anger and woe over the fact that individual lives can be derailed so sinfully.
Catching up with Elizabeth McGovern, Cora Crawley, countess of Grantham, nee Cora Levinson, will require travelling to London this summer. McGovern will be appearing at the National Theatre in a new comedy-romance called SUNSET AT THE VILLA THALIA by Alexi Kaye Campbell. Set in Greece in 1967, it explores the philosophies of two couples who are caught up in political turmoil.
Finally, those who simply will not be happy until DOWNTON ABBEY continues, will be pleased to know that a feature film version is under serious consideration.
Audrey Kupferberg is a film and video archivist and appraiser. She is lecturer emeritus and the former Director of Film Studies at the University at Albany and has co-authored several entertainment biographies with her husband and creative partner, Rob Edelman.
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