Downton Abbey

I think I must be the only person who has never watched this programme. (Pause for gasps of disbelief!).

There are very few things that I watch where you have to watch for weeks on end otherwise you can't follow the story. Probably why I watch so little TV and rely on DVDs instead!

Did someone shoot him? And was it all a dream? deja vu.....

You mean it's not real?? Nobody told me!

And it is tv.

He looked pretty dead to me! - but then again he has already made a miracle recovery from a spinal injury so anything is possible!

Of course, he may not be dead. Perhaps the writers wanted to leave their options open in case he decides not to leave the cast in the next series.

It's all got a bit silly. There were hints at the beginning that Lady Mary was pregnant, even though she didn't look it. She dances a reel which brings on twinges of premature labour, pops on a train to return home - don't they have hospitals in Scotland? Gives birth to a baby that in those days probably wouldn't have survived due to lack of advanced neo-natal care and the doting father is then seen cuddling a bonny baby that looks about a week old.

Blimey! - heaven forfend that there eshould be a happy ending!

..she says realising that she's making a point of watching the programme about The Moomins tonight....

...ok I know it's not really real ....

I gave up after the first series [which I loved] but caught a bit last night whilst the S.O. was watching it. I kept pointing out that I thought such and such a character was blind/crippled/incurably ill etc only to be told they had made miracle recoveries. At which point I was glad that I'd stopped watching it; there is a limit to how many times one can suspend disbelief....

Ooh, I love a bit of melodrama!

Wot a load of tosh! It has got more melodramatic with each episode and last night was the worst..will not be picking up the new series!

I'd heard he was leaving, but didn't expect it to happen last night! It certainly won't be the same without him.... I was also a bit taken aback by Lady Mary's sudden transformation back into bitchy mode - I thought the point was that she'd become a nicer person after all the trials and tribulations of the three series!

Brilliant! I'm going to miss him!

Did anyone see yesterday's Downton Christmas special? I thoroughly enjoyed it, but what an ending! We were left in no doubt in the last scene.

It's been announced today that Downton Abbey will return for a fourth series in autumn 2013

And this is a Spoiler Warning - don't look if you want to keep it secret, but this link will reveal some of the Christmas Special plot:

www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/downton-abbey/9699693/Downton-Abbey-Christmas-Special-plot-details-revealed.html

And I was moved by Lady Sybil's death as well. Excellent actors, superb sets, wonderful costumes......pity about the plot!

The Downton plot lines are silly, but not nearly as silly as the new New Tricks. I can see why James Bolam decided to leave if he'd seen the scripts. Nothing to do with the actors, they carry it along as well as they can. I'm waiting for someone to go and have a shower........

I think I'll pass on that, thanks, Tony.

Who cares? I enjoy it for what it is....very light entertainment on a Sunday night.

Well, at least it hasn't got a talking head floating in a tank. Or a man having his naughty bits lathered by a nurse. I could go on....

Please please please

This show has all the appearance but absolutely NONE of the content or storytelling ability of pre 1990 BBC or any UK TV period drama.

It's like it's all written by some hideous machine that has never heard of Dennis Potter nor watched his Royal Television Society Lecture back in 1993

Dennis Potter 1993 MacTaggart lecture Edinburgh
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlAbeI-Vst8

I hope the Bates story soon gets sorted. I'm getting bored with it now.