Great list of movies and TV shows that bare resemblance to Downton Abbey. We Are Movie Geeks criteria was simple, there has to be a wealthy family, English or American, with major characters both upstairs and down.
Top Ten Tuesday – The Best Substitutes for Downton Abbey
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By rights I should hate the English. Seriously, my background is almost entirely Scots and Irish. I grew up hearing about the troubles the English gave to the Scots and Irish, both in school and from my parents.
Yet I do not, I love the English. How can I hate a country that gave us not only Monty Python but also Benny Hill and the Carry On Films? How can I bear any ill will to a country that gave us writers of the caliber of Ramsey Campbell, Brian Aldiss, Michael Moorcock and J. G Ballard? How can anyone hate a country that not only prizes eccentric behavior but encourages it? Take Mr. Kim Newman for instance, a brilliant writer whose work appears regularly in Video WatchDog and Videoscope Mr. Newman dresses himself, has his hair and mustache styled and speaks in the manner of someone from the 19th Century! And let us not forget Hammer Films as well as the actors that made them work, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. And I haven’t even touched on the British Invasion music from the 1960s.
And I must mention Alfred Hitchcock, H.G. Wells, The Goon Show (especially Spike Milligan), Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, The Avengers and Boris Karloff. Boris Karloff!?!? If England’s only contribution to world culture were Boris Karloff I could forgive them anything!
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