Postmedia News
The Dowager Countess may look down on weekends, but Downton Abbey certainly isn’t above something as pedestrian as publicity. Ahead of its Jan. 5 return this side of the Atlantic, the well-heeled British drama is getting in on the 20/20 experience.
Tonight, ABC newsmagazine 20/20 will air the two-hour special, Mysteries of the Castle: Beyond Downton Abbey. ABC News correspondent Amy Robach serves as anchor as the special examines the real-life English castle that inspired the hit series.
It promises to address such burning issues as how the show’s thumping success has affected the real-life abbey, and whether historical events inspired the show’s storylines.
Mysteries of the Castle doesn’t just stop there: it widens its scope to include other estates that embody today’s British aristocracy. Watch breathless as the 20/20 crew meets the woman who will become the nation’s first black Marchioness and the duke and duchess selling souvenirs in the basement of their castle.
Viewers are still undeniably down with Downton, even as it has trotted along for four exquisitely filmed seasons and prepares to film its fifth next year. And there are countless vendors stretching to find a Downton Abbey link to their wares, even if that link is as questionable as wearing Crocs with socks.
There’s a Downton Abbey beauty product line via Marks & Spencers.
There’s a jewelry line courtesy of the manufacturer 1928. There’s a wine collection and even a course from Camden County College in New Jersey called Downton Abbey: Life in a Country House.
Even the actors associated with the drama have found their personal brands Downton-ized. Shirley MacLaine, who played the mother of Lady Cora Crawley (Elizabeth McGovern), says her Oscar win is now as overlooked as Lady Edith Crawley at a dinner party.
“My whole identity is now Downton Abbey,” the 79-year-old told The Sunday Times Culture magazine. “All that I’ve done — how many films? All my books? I’m no longer a new-age giddy dingbat. I am now ‘the one on Downton Abbey.’ ”
But not all the cast members are as happy to be identified with the show. Jessica Brown Findlay, who played middle daughter Sybil Crawley, quit the show in Season 3.
“Downton Abbey definitely opened doors for me,” she told The Telegraph. But her motive for leaving was stronger: “I reasoned that there was nothing I could learn by staying on that I hadn’t learnt already.
“So I took a deep breath, crossed my fingers, and leapt into the abyss.”
The show marches on, though, with a stiff upper lip — preferably painted with Downton Abbey brand lip-gloss, of course.
9 p.m., ABC
Three to see
• Take a break from the Brits and tune in to Maclean’s Great Canadian Countdown, which first aired in July. It celebrates high-profile Canadians in the fields of science, sports, politics and entertainment.
8 p.m., City
• Anthony Bourdain’s compelling food-based travelogue, Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown, airs back-to-back repeat episodes as the chef treks to Congo and South Africa.
6 p.m., CNN
• On Rodeo Girls, A&E’s reality show about — naturally — female rodeo riders, sees the women re-evaluate how their career affects the their loved ones.
7 p.m., A&E
