Masterpiece Classic: Downton Abbey Season 3

If you haven't seen all of Season 3 and the 2012 Christmas special, called "A Journey to the Highlands", you probably don't want spoilers. I am going to give a synopsis of the Special Features, and that's difficult without giving some facts away as to season 3. Two important characters die in two different places on this 3-disc set (I won't say who, but the actor playing the one that dies during the Christmas Special wanted to leave the show). But having tragedy amidst the joy is what makes "Downton Abbey" a really really great show. I have a couple people hooked on "Downton Abbey" who have never watched "Masterpiece Theater" before!This Season 3 DVD set contains three discs. It DOES have the 2012 Christmas Special. I have received my DVD set, ordered on this page, and it has parts 1 - 9 of Season 3, plus "A Journey to the Highlands" and 8 Special Features.DISC 1:Disc 1 has parts 1, 2, and 3 of Season 3 and 1 extra. English subtitles are available.Special Features:1. "Behind the Drama" (60 minutes) This is an fabulous overview of the first two seasons, with clips from the two seasons, interviews and rehearsal scenes. What I particularly liked is that it's not just a rehash of the plot lines, it includes why a plot line or character development was important or undertaken. Per the narrator, before WWI, there were 1.4 million people "in service" in England. Highclere Castle, "with more than 50 bedrooms, there was plenty to do." And plenty of rules, and the hierarchy below stairs was even stricter than above stairs.When a scene takes place upstairs, they are really filmed at Highclere Castle. When below stairs, though, they were filmed on sets at Ealing Studios. That's because though the magnificent upstairs is much the same (except for bathrooms!) now as it was before WWI, the kitchens and downstairs have been modernized.Remember the scene where "The Turk" enters Lady Mary's bedroom and she says, "You and my parents have something in common. You think I am much more of a rebel than I am." (Which is pretty humorous in itself, given that Mary is most tradition-hide-bound of the sisters.) Julian Fellowes tells us that the whole dead Turkish lover is based on a true story. A friend of his, who owns a Big House, "came upon a diary of one of his great-aunts, and this whole incident is recorded".The commentators also touch on the Spanish Flu epidemic, which may have killed up to 50,000,000 people world wide. Most flus are most lethal to the very young and the elderly. I've read that the Spanish Flu, however, was most lethal to healthy adults. It made your immune system go wild, attacking your body as well as the virus. So the healthier your immune system was, the more likely it was going to kill you.DISC 2:Disc 2 has parts 4. 5. 6. and 7 of Season 3. English subtitles are available. There are no special features on this disc.DISC 3:Disc 3 has parts 8 & 9 of Season 3, as well as "A Journey to the Highlands" (the 2012 Christmas special) and 7 Special Features. English subtitles are available.Special Features:1. "Downton in 1920" (20 minutes) Commentators include Julian Fellowes (writer and creator), Brian Percival (director, episodes 1 & 2), Magi Vaughan (make up & hair designer), Caroline McCall (costume designer), Charmain Adams (production designer), Elizabeth McGovern (plays Cora, Countess of Grantham), Michelle Dockery (plays Lady Mary), Laura Carmichael (plays Lady Edith), Alastair Bruce (historical advisor), Jim Carter (plays Mr. Carson the butler), Lesley Nichol (plays Mrs. Patmore, the cook), Jessica Brown Finlay (plays Lady Sybil), Sophie McShera (plays Daisy Mason, cook assistant), Allen Leech (plays Tom Branson, the chauffeur), Brendan Coyle (plays John Bates), Gareth Neame (executive producer), Shirley MacLaine (plays Martha Levinson, Cora's American mother), Dan Stevens (plays Matthew Crawley), and Pete Gaine (from Motorhouse Hire Ltd, who supplied Matthew's marvelous 1920 car).In Season 3, it's 1920. When we think 1920, we think "The Roaring Twenties". But, as Caroline McCall points out, "I think people's perception of the 20's is very different from 1920." Julian Fellowes points out that the Charleston dance craze didn't happen until 1926. The hair and costume designers had to show fashions changing gradually, because it's not as if everyone started dressing like flappers in 1920.The rigid laced-up corsets of before the war, give way to bandeau corsets and breast-flattening bras. Even the men show subtle changes in their suit jackets, etc. Except for Mr. Carson, of course, who continues to wear exactly the same suit he always has.It wasn't just clothing that was changing. As Alastair Bruce says, "We see this great imperial family gradually alter, as moral conscience takes us on a different path." Very much the way the Imperial British Empire was altering.2. "The Wedding of Lady Mary" (18 minutes) Commentators include many from extra #1, with new ones: Victoria Brooks (head of publicity for "Downton Abbey"), Liz Turbridge (producer), Matthew 'Sparky' Ellis (location manager), Charmain Adams (production designer), Maggie Harris (resident of Bampton, where the wedding was filmed), Rev. David Lloyd (Vicar of Bampton), Timothy Word (crowd assistant director), Danielle Bennett (second assistant director), Rupert Steggle (crowd costume assistant), Hugh Bonneville (plays Robert, Lord Grantham), Rob James-Collier (plays Thomas Barrow, footman and troublemaker), Chris Croucher (first assistant director), Stephen Sorby (from Above the Line Security) and Joanne Froggatt (plays Anna Bates).Victoria Brooks says, "It's almost the next royal wedding, dare we say it!" There were 209 total crew & cast, including the extras, and the paparazzi was wild to get a photo of "Mary" in her wedding dress.3. "The Wedding of Lady Edith" (25 minutes) Commentators include many who also appear in the first 2 extras, as well as Robert Bathurst (plays Sir Anthony Strallan), Denis Maguire (supporting artist, plays the photographer at the church), David Holt (special effects technician) and Damian Butlin (standby propman).Poor Edith - how many of us think that? Julian Fellowes says, "Her self-rebuilding will become another part of the story.... The subliminal message, I think, is we must get behind the wheels of our own lives."We should take a poll. Did Sir Anthony act out of misguided honor or is he just a jerk? And if we don't think he's a jerk, how about Lord Robert's part in this?4. "The Men of Downton Abbey" (12 minutes) Commentators appear in the first 3 specials. This focuses on how WWI was the changemaker, whether you were above stairs or below stairs. Hugh Bonneville says, "After the turmoil of the war, Robert thinks, in a way, that life will return to the way it was before the way. And, of course, it never will."Alastair Bruce adds, "People have survived something [in WWI], and they are never going to forget what they've gone through.... It changes their view of what they expect from the world."5. "Shirley MacLaine at Downton" (16 minutes) MacLaine hadn't been watching "Downton Abbey" herself, but she had friends who were addicts. It's a sign of how good the show is that it could get a Shirley MacLaine to be in it. Sophie McShera groans, "I didn't get to meet Shirley MacLaine and I'm so jealous."Rob James-Collier is excited just talking about the meeting of Shirley Maclaine and Dame Maggie Smith on the show. "They are going to be epic, they really are. Two actual legends on screen, battling it out. The only thing I can liken it to is DeNiro vs Pacino in "Heat"!" ("Heat" is an American 1995 movie.)6. "Behind the Scenes: The Cricket Match" (10 minutes) Many commentators appear before. New ones are Eddie Williams (3rd assistant director), Adam Ghillam (camera operator), Kevin Doyle (plays Molesley, the butler for Mrs. Crawley, Matthew's mother), Ed Speleers (plays Jimmy Kent, new footman), Cora Theobold (plays Ivy Stuart, new kitchen maid), David Evans (director episodes 7 & 8) and Matt Milne (plays Alfred Nugent, footman).The match took three days to shoot. Mr. Carson takes part, and Jim Carter says, "It's lovely for Carson to be out in his cricket gear. First time in three years I've had a change of clothes." Only one cast member taking part in the match actually knew how to play cricket. Thanks to stand-ins and clever camera work, you wouldn't know it.7. "Behind the Scenes: A Journey to the Highlands" Many familiar commentators, with these new ones: Lily James (plays Lady Rose MacClare), Andy Goddard (director for this episode) and Diana Scrivener (choreographer). For this 2012 Christmas special, cast and crew traveled, for filming, to Inveraray Castle, Scotland, seat of the real Duke of Argyll. Incredibly beautiful scenery, but everybody complains about the outdoor scenes where they were attacked by hordes of midges.For the show, Inveraray stands in for Duneagle Castle, home of Sir Robert's cousin, Hugh 'Shrimpy' MacClare. His 18 year-old daughter, Rose, will, according to Julian Fellowes become a prominent character going forward. The staff that stays home at Downton Abbey aren't forgotten, and the episode shifts back and forth between Scotland and Downton. New romance is in the air for more than one character. Lesley Nichol says she asked Fellowes to give Mrs. Patmore a love interest, and he complied. Lesley says, "Mr. Tufton has taken over our local shop. He's a bit of a flirty ponce, which shocks her [Mrs. Patmore] sideways, really, because I don't think people flirt with Mrs. Patmore."Season 4 of "Downton Abbey" starts filming in late February 2013. I can't wait to see it!Happy Reader

Downton Abbey: Seasons 1-3. (2010-2012). 3 sets of 3 DVDs. Written by Julian Fellows.Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, Jessica Brown Findlay, Laura Carmichael, Dan Stevens, Penelope Wilton, Allen Leech, Maggie Smith, Shirley MacLaine, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Leslie Nicol, Brendan Coyle, Joanne Froggatt, Siobhan Finneran, Rob James-Collier, Sophie McShera, others.I bought the DVDs for seasons 1-3 of Downton Abbey as a birthday present for my wife, and what a great present they were! We finished watching season 3 a couple of days ago, ran through all the ancillary features -"The Making of This," "The Making of That," etc., and sat there feeling like we'd lost family, at least until season 4 appears.So the starting point of his review is simply to say what a wonderful experience it is to watch this series unfold across time, from 1914 to (now) 1920? 21? 22? I'm not sure exactly when series 3 ends but it's very early in the 20s, at the start of a formative decade that shook social and behavioral patterns in the western world.What is so excellent about Downton Abbey? I'm tempted to start with the actors, who are superb, but I won't. It's the feeling of time, place and caste that makes this series superior. There's a downstairs world and an upstairs world. They frequently cross but the lower world never supersedes the upper one. It's a mini-history of the twentieth century, where, after the Great War ended, the rules kept changing, always in favor of flexibility, at least until the late 30s. Lady Sybil (is she daughter 2 or daughter 3 of the Grantham line?) elopes with the chauffeur, who is, on top of all his other social solecisms, an Irish nationalist. Lady Edith seems to be ending up in a non-marriage relationship with a modern man who can't divorce his wife because, with her mad, she can't be proved blameful. Everyone, even the most conservative (Robert, Earl of Grantham, Lady Violet, his imperious but wised and always snippy mother), must bend to the winds of change. So one reason to love Downton Abbey is that it captures in an extraordinarily prescient fashion the dramatic (and thus exciting) changes that were tasking place in English society in the early Twenties.There is too the visual sweep of the series. Downton Abbey, a real place but not the Granthams' place, is (pick one or more) 1. Impressive, 2. Beautiful, 3. Representative of a Time Long Past But Worth Remembering. The producers of the series have not stinted in making this series visually beautiful, from costumes (oh my God! The dresses countess Grantham [Elizabeth McGovern], Lady Violet [Maggie Smith], and Ladies Mary, Sybil, and Edith wear! And the men's outfits, in an age before Shoddy Chic became fashionable. If you were to make a Dream World in which you could dress, act and feel, this would probably be it.So finally we get to script and acting. Julian Fellowes wrote the script for Robert Altman's Gosford Park (2001), a film that has echoes to this series. Between Fellowes, who knows this world from the inside, and the historical advisor for the series, whose name I forget but who is VERY good!, this series is, to use English outdated slang, "spot on." The story line may exaggerate at moments but whatever happens in this series, upstairs or downstairs, is historically right on the mark. IT shows how much we like peeking in on a world that actually existed.Acting? I may have missed someone, but I counted 49 characters in this complicated, multi-year drama who have at least one scene, and lines to deliver. In short, 49 people who are not ciphers, extras, standard bearers, but are instead real people.I've directed plays. I even, one time, directed a drama with fifty actors in it. (The Insect Comedy, by Karel and Josef Capek.) If you haven't done a drama of that scope, you have no idea how difficult it is to do! Take it for granted that the principal actors, upstairs and downstairs, are good. But 49 characters! The mind boggles.I like also that the characters are not uni-dimensional. It's easier to see with the series Bad Guys, of whom there are three -no, four, if you include the Press Baron whom Lady Mary almost marries in series 2.There's Lady Edith, the resentful `ugly duckling' sister, who, in season 1, betrays Lady Mary's shameful secret. But by season 3, you admire her. She refuses to be a cipher, an all to common ending for aristocratic ladies of the late teens and early twenties. She's been jilted at the altar and you feel for her. She seems on her way to be self-directed professional lady leading an unconventional life of affection. Hurrah for Lady Edith! You certainly don't feel animosity towards her.The two for a while resolutely malevolent Bad Guys in the servants' quarters are O'Brien, Lady Cora's dresser, and Thomas, eventually, it seems, an under-butler, but other roles en route. O'Brien is your conventional malcontent but at a crucial moment she says to herself, "No, I'm not as bad as that," and she has, underneath her resentment, a real loyalty to Lady Cora, a bond of affection I'm not sure she even realizes. As to Thomas, he's so evil and Machiavellian that when Shirley MacLaine arrived to join in on the third season, when she saw him, she said, "Oh, you're the evil one!" Bu he sobs his heart out when something wrenchingly bad happens to one of the members of the Grantham clan in series 2 (Anna, throughout a Good Guy among the servants, puts her hand around him, and if Anna vouches for him, even for a moment , so will I!) and his plight at the end of the last episode in season 3 leaves you think that his malignity isn't so much his fault as his situation.Is the series always realistic? No. What happens to its characters is sometimes -often--exaggerated. But who cares? This is a wonderfully acted, written, staged and costumed series about major issues in modern life., and when you're done with it, the players in this gripping drama feel like your neighbors and relatives.

I have a firestick; and all of the bonus episodes were hard to find and more difficult to watch because of the buffering. This solved the problem and was extremely affordable. Plus, now I can watch it again and again !

Früher hatte mir schon das Haus am Eaton Place gefallen und ich habe die Krimis von Anne Perry über den in victorianischer Zeit ermittelnden Inspector Pitt und seine Frau Charlotte geradezu verschlungen. Downton Abbey führte mich wieder zurück in diese Zeit, in der England von seiner Macht und seinen Einfluss zehrte, die im Laufe des 20. Jahrhundert durch den Verlust der Kolonien und den Zerfall der frühen Industrie verschwanden. Downton Abbey lebt von seinen unterschiedlichen Charakteren, von denen ich besonders die snobistische und manchmal recht sarkstische Maggie Smith in der Rolle der Violet Crawley liebe. Ein schöner Einblick in die untergegangene Zeit des britischen Adels.

Julian Fellowes, the writer and master puppeteer of this period drama series has to be acknowledged as the world’s most superb craftsman of TV dramatics. This, the third season, is perhaps the best of the three in terms of dramatic surprises, historic authenticity, outstanding acting and quirky humour. The strength of this grandiose project must also be credited to the vast amount of financial resources available to Fellowes and the producers. The revolving cast of over thirty main characters allows maximum creativity with never a dull moment for the viewing audience. For the fun of it I researched one-on-one interpersonal conflicts and tensions in part five and I found at least eighteen! But these are offset by an equal quantity of positive, affectionate and problem-solving incidents. The humorous comebacks and rejoinders lighten the dialogue whenever it is in danger of becoming too serious or sentimental. This is where Hollywood has much to learn. So many of America’s TV productions are either too crassly edgy, too schmaltzy maudlin and lacking in finesse.The only weak point in a lengthy series like this is the danger of main characters having to be written out because the actors will no longer continue participating. But, actors have lives too, so we must forgive them. But it presents challenges for the writer to find credible solutions. Being confronted by this necessity to eliminate a main character before the start of the fourth season I thought Fellowes took the easy way out this time. Frankly I thought it lacked realism and could have been done much more creatively. But overall, that misstep does not detract largely from the masterpiece which makes up all of the third season. Bravo!!Being a huge fan of this series, I hope Maggie Smith will live forever! She is without a doubt one of the top ten British actors of all time.

Anyone who's enjoyed the first two seasons will not be disappointed with this one. Just great storytelling all round. The main themes are change and the juxtaposition of the old with the new - everyone is a little bit correct and a little bit wrong on so many topics. You can see everyone's side to the story and it leads to a lot of interesting conversations when you push 'pause'! There are a lot of truly funny bits (Maggie Smith is a hoot!) and a lot of tears. The pace is terrific, too - so much happens in each episode that there's never a dull moment. A truly splendid achievement!

I purchased Downton Abbey Season 3 the end of June and unfortunately didn't get to view it until the warranty was over on July 29. Disc One refuses to play. It would play intermittently, therefore I was unable to watch it. This was very disappointing. However, the seller of this product went the above and beyond. Sent another set, which somehow got returned, however he never gave up. I even received a phone call to get the correct information. Great service. If there were a 10 Star rating this would be what I would give. Outstanding service. Thank you Noah's Chateau of Deal.

Ich habe die Teile 1 und 2 im Fernsehen gesehen und war ganz begeistert. Die Schauspieler, die Kostüme und die Kullisse einfach super. Man kann sich die Handlung auch gut im Zusammenhang mit dem historischen Hintergrund vorstellen. Natürlich bleibt zum Ende der Staffel immer eine Teilgeschichte offen, so daß man unbedingt wissen will wie es weitergeht. Ich habe mir daher Staffel 3 gekauft, weil ausgerechnet die Geschichte offen blieb, die mich am meisten interessierte. Auch Staffel 3 steht den anderen beiden Teilen in nichts nach. Leider gibt es Teil 4 bisher nur in englisch,aber sobald sich das ändert werde ich sie mit Sicherheit kaufen.