Television series

Downton Abbey

Name: Downton Abbey
Genre: Drama, Family, Romance
Released: 2010
Cast: Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Penelope Wilton, Jim Carter

It's a country-house soap dressed in exquisite tailoring, following the Crawley family and their servants through the seismic decades of the early 20th century. Equal parts gentle comedy, class commentary and slow-burn romance, it's comfort television of the highest order — the kind where a raised eyebrow from the Dowager Countess carries more weight than most shows' finales. For anyone who wants elegance with just enough scandal.

TVMaze rating

8.7

If you liked this

The Gilded Age2022

Julian Fellowes basically remade Downton in 1880s New York, swapping earls for robber barons and old money versus new — same delicious class warfare, same warm ensemble sprawl.

But It's still finding its footing after two seasons and can feel less assured than its predecessor.

Gosford Park2001

The film Fellowes wrote before Downton existed, a country-house murder mystery told from both sides of the green baize door, with Robert Altman's overlapping-dialogue genius.

But The starry ensemble and murder plot can feel crowded on first watch; it rewards a second viewing more than a casual one.

Upstairs, Downstairs1971

The original template — decades before Downton existed, this ran the same great house through Edwardian splendour into war and change, both servants and family included.

But Slower pace and dated production values; it asks a patience some modern viewers won't have.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Leopard1963

Same fundamental story as Downton — an aristocratic house watching its own extinction — but told without sentiment, as tragedy rather than comfort, by one of cinema's great chroniclers of decline.

Visconti's masterpiece watches a Sicilian prince accept that his entire world — titles, land, certainty — is ending, filmed with the same aching beauty Downton brings to its own sunset.

But Subtitled, three hours, and genuinely melancholic — this is arthouse cinema, with none of Downton's comic relief or plot twists.

Brideshead Revisited1981

Aristocratic decline, doomed beauty, faith and longing across decades — gorgeously shot, exquisitely acted, and the gold standard for prestige literary adaptation.

But Melancholy, meandering, and considerably more introspective, with little of Downton's warmth or plot momentum.

Call the Midwife2012

Same ITV/BBC sensibility of community, service and change over decades, but swaps the manor for the East End — equally moving, warm, and stacked with incident.

But Medical storylines can be intense and the tone leans more toward social realism than romance.

The Crown2016

Another lavishly mounted saga of a family bound by duty and tradition, tracking Britain's upper crust through the twentieth century with equal opulence.

But Colder and more political than Downton's servant's-eye warmth; less soap, more history lesson.

Victoria2016

Another royal household navigating love, duty, and generational change, with the same lush production values and starchy-but-tender family dynamics.

But Focuses more tightly on the monarch's marriage than an ensemble; less variety of character than Downton offers.

Bridgerton2020

For the romance and gowns crowd — same appetite for scandal and matchmaking, but louder, sexier, and unapologetically escapist.

But Trades Downton's restraint and history for anachronistic music and steamier content; tonally a big departure.

Poldark2015

Cornish coast instead of Yorkshire, but the same sweeping romance-against-social-change engine, with a broodier hero and equally beautiful scenery.

But More swashbuckling and less ensemble subtlety; character depth thinner than Downton's large cast.

Dynasty1981

Strip away the politeness and period detail and Downton's engine is exactly this: a family power struggle played out in a mansion. Dynasty is what that engine sounds like with the volume all the way up.

Same DNA — a wealthy family, a big house, servants who know everything, scheming heirs and forbidden romances — but with the manners removed and the melodrama turned up to eleven.

But Gloriously trashy 80s production values, shoulder pads, and plotting with zero restraint; anyone who loves Downton's subtlety will find this a jolt.