Aristocratic approval

YouGov
October 22, 2010, 12:04 AM GMT+0


ITV period drama Downton Abbey has been given the thumbs up by TellYouGov users, or ‘tyggers’, who hail it ‘just what you want on a Sunday night’.




  • At its peak, the topic had a volume score of 62 points and a very respectable sentiment score of 37 points, as tyggers ask for ‘more please’ of this ‘surprisingly addictive’ historical drama.
  • One tygger described the programme as ‘compulsive viewing’, while another complimented the ‘fabulous setting, dialogue and characters’. A further person congratulated ITV on broadcasting a show that is ‘well written and well produced’.

The show, which follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants, and stars Dame Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville (pictured) and Penelope Wilton, debuted on 26th September and has been gaining strength and popularity on our leaderboard ever since. The show had an overnight rating of 7.7 million viewers after the first programme broadcast.

  • Highclere Castle in Hampshire, the setting of the programme, has been praised by tyggers as ‘fantastic’ and ‘sumptuous’.

The ‘High Elizabethan’ style manor is set to undergo refurbishment of around £11 million this year, which will be partly funded by the fee charged to the drama’s production company, Carnival Films, for filming.

Nothing but a remake

Despite mainly positive feedback from our viewers, however, a few tyggers criticised the drama for its similarity to Upstairs, Downstairs, a British drama series from the 1970s which featured the life of a wealthy family and their servants in a London townhouse. Incidentally, the BBC is set to release a remake of the drama later this year.

  • ‘Did anyone else think they were watching a stew of regurgitated clichés from every Upstairs, Downstairs programme ever shown?’ asked one tygger.
  • While another commented ‘This is a remake of Upstairs, Downstairs... only with a different name.’

With most tygs received on the subject looking positive, however, it seems many tyggers will be happy to hear that ITV1 have commissioned a second series of the drama, to be aired in 2011. It looks like the multiple requests of ‘more please’ have been answered.

Have your say: The TellYouGov keyword for this topic is 'Downton Abbey'

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