Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    LIFE Downton Abbey: Behind the Scenes of the Iconic TV Show
    LIFE Downton Abbey: Behind the Scenes of the Iconic TV Show
    LIFE Downton Abbey: Behind the Scenes of the Iconic TV Show
    Ebook99 pages57 minutes

    LIFE Downton Abbey: Behind the Scenes of the Iconic TV Show

    By Editors of Life

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    LIFE goes upstairs, downstairs, and into every fascinating historical nook and cranny of America's favorite British TV mansion-and Highclere Castle, the storied 17th century stately home where the series is filmed. Magnificent photography and gripping stories make this a must-have read for the show's millions of fans.

    Find out more about:
    • The illegitimate daughter of a Rothschild whose marriage to the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon kept Highclere in the family.

    • Highclere's connection to the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, the sudden death of an Earl, and the first rumors of a famous curse.

    • World War I, as it was depicted in Downton Abbey-and as it really unfolded on the home front.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLife
    Release dateJan 15, 2016
    ISBN9781618934505
    LIFE Downton Abbey: Behind the Scenes of the Iconic TV Show

    Read more from Editors Of Life

    Related to LIFE Downton Abbey

    Related ebooks

    Performing Arts For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Staying Home In Style

      Nov 12, 2020

      Staying Home In Style
      3 min read

    • Article

      Hopeful Expressions for a New Year

      Nov 23, 2021

      It wasn’t until a few months ago that I decided to tackle the fast-approaching New Year from a different angle: being kinder to myself. Recently, I compiled a vision board with multiple words and phrases that serve as my goals. It was worthwhile flip

      5 min read

    • Article

      Inspired by Victoria

      Aug 13, 2019

      I was fourteen when I purchased my very first Victoria magazine. As I turned each page, I was struck with the thought, this is me. I kept every issue and totally immersed myself in each feature, dreaming that one day I would live in the neighborhood

      3 min read

    • Article

      Blenheim Palace

      Jan 5, 2023

      Blenheim Palace
      6 min read

    • Article

      Dazzling Duchess

      May 5, 2020

      Dazzling Duchess
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Richest Girl In The World

      Aug 12, 2020

      The Richest Girl In The World
      10 min read

    • Article

      TV, FILM & RADIO

      Nov 26, 2020

      TV, FILM & RADIO
      5 min read

    • Article

      Is Belgravia The New Downton?

      Jun 17, 2020

      There’s nothing like global anxiety to elicit a retreat into nostalgia, so the screening of new British TV period drama Belgravia is very timely. It’s from the pen of Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and is consequently already creating quite a

      8 min read

    • Article

      Is Belgravia The New Downton?

      Jun 17, 2020

      Is Belgravia The New Downton?
      8 min read

    • Article

      Crown Jewels

      Jul 26, 2019

      Crown Jewels
      1 min read

    • Article

      Tricks Of The Trade

      Jan 16, 2022

      Tricks Of The Trade
      4 min read

    • Article

      Up To Date

      Jan 10, 2021

      Up To Date
      7 min read

    • Article

      From Bridgerton To The Great: How Period Dramas Finally Embraced The 21st Century

      Jan 7, 2021

      Tuning into Bridgerton, Netflix’s new period series from super-producer Shonda Rhimes, feels like falling into a post-modern Jane Austen fever dream. A string quartet plays Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next as revellers of all races file into a dazzling

      5 min read

    • Article

      Television

      Oct 30, 2022

      Television
      4 min read

    • Article

      Downton, Downton, Revolution

      Sep 16, 2019

      Downton, Downton, Revolution
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Play Should Be The Thing

      Jan 17, 2024

      The Play Should Be The Thing
      4 min read

    • Article

      Television

      May 30, 2021

      Television
      4 min read

    • Article

      TV & REVIEWS

      Sep 14, 2021

      TV & REVIEWS
      3 min read

    • Article

      Crowning Glory

      Oct 3, 2021

      Crowning Glory
      2 min read

    • Article

      A League Of His Own

      Nov 5, 2021

      A League Of His Own
      8 min read

    • Article

      Top Shows

      Nov 3, 2022

      Top Shows
      2 min read

    • Article

      Television

      Feb 16, 2020

      Television
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for LIFE Downton Abbey

    4/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      LIFE Downton Abbey - Editors of Life

      DOWNTON ABBEY

      DOWNTON ABBEY

      Cover

      Title Page

      Introduction: Welcome To DOWNTON ABBEY

      The Family Album

      In The Beginning

      Interlude: The Sinking of the Titanic

      The Past is Prelude

      Interlude: Sexual Mores and Women’s Rights

      The End of the World As They Knew It

      Interlude: The Ravages of War

      The Aftermath

      Interlude: Flappers and All That Jazz

      The Staff Album

      Behind the Scenes

      Interlude: The History of Highclere Castle and the Carnarvons

      Secrets of Season Six

      INTRODUCTION

      WELCOME TO DOWNTON ABBEY

      By J.I. Baker

      NICK BRIGGS/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX

      Clapper loader Joanne Smith readies the clapper board on the set of Downton Abbey while filming at Highclere Castle in Newbury, England, on April 23, 2013. The cast and crew are shooting the fourth season. The actors seated with their backs to the camera are Hugh Bonneville, who plays Lord Grantham, and Maggie Smith, as the Dowager Countess, Lady Violet. Annd . . . action!

      Over an Italian dinner in London’s posh Belgravia district, screenwriter Julian Fellowes and executive producer Gareth Neame were brainstorming ideas for a new television series. At some point, Neame mentioned Gosford Park, the 2001 Robert Altman film that Fellowes had written. The film had garnered the writer an Oscar—and Neame was convinced that its milieu (the intersecting lives of masters and servants in an Edwardian English house) would make a smashing TV show.

      Fellowes was leery—why rehash old material?—but the idea stuck. He had, after all, been living with this world and its people for a long time. (He himself is a member of the House of Lords—and, though he wasn’t to the manor born, he was born within grouse-shooting distance of it.) A few days later, Fellowes sent Neame an e-mail fleshing out the initial plot and describing the characters that audiences would come to love and hate . . . but mostly love.

      Premiering in 2010, the ITV series became, over five years and six seasons, the highest-rated British drama of the past decade—and a worldwide phenomenon, captivating viewers from Cambridge to Cambodia.

      It’s impossible to explain the lightning-in-a-bottle alchemy that fuels a phenomenon like Downton, but I believe a key reason for the success was combining a much-loved, familiar and expressly British genre, that of the English country house, with the pace, energy, and accessibility of the most contemporary show, Neame has said. There was also a return to melodrama and the kind of old-fashioned romance that audiences hadn’t seen in ages—and were clearly hungry for.

      Though ratings have declined since season five—perhaps reflecting a sense that the show was beginning to feel tired—the approach of the sixth and final season, which premieres stateside on January 3 on PBS, has driven many longtime Downton devotees into something like mourning. (Except, of course, without the de rigueur Edwardian black.)

      To mark the end of the much-loved show, LIFE is proud to offer this commemorative edition—featuring a look at the real-life history behind the show, a sneak peak at season six, a five-season recap, and, most notably, a portfolio of lush, little-seen portraits from renowned photographer Clive Booth. So turn the page to help us celebrate six short years of love, lust, marriage, death, war—and impeccable table manners.

      THE FAMILY ALBUM

      Intimate portraits of the Crawley clan-worthy of Downton’s walls

      LORD GRANTHAM

      PBS/PHOTOFEST

      My fortune is the work of others who laboured to build a great dynasty. Do I have the right to destroy their work or impoverish that dynasty? I am a custodian, my dear, not an owner. I must strive to be worthy of the task I have been set.

      LADY CORA

      PHOTOGRAPH BY CLIVE BOOTH © 2012

      "No

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1