Downton Abbey quickly became one of the most popular shows in the UK. Costume dramas have always been a treat for British audiences, but they were usually limited to adaptions of literary classics, or two to three part specials to mark the festive period. With Downton, the elegance of the period drama was thrust into TV screens on a weekly basis.
It's not just the Brits that love it, though. Winning a Guinness World Record in 2011 for "Highest critical review ratings for a TV show", made Downton Abbey the most critically well-received TV show in the world.
Season 3 premieres in America this Sunday, Jan 6, so here's a chance to take a look at some reviews before we reacquaint ourselves with the folks of Downton.
The Daily Beast say, "Season 3 of Downton is a return to form for the show, recapturing the dazzling wit and sweeping romance of the now-classic first season," while The Huffington Post are less positive, saying "Though Season 3 of "Downton" is somewhat stronger than Season 2 -- which made "90210 look like a model of narrative coherence by comparison -- there are still times I mutter darkly about the drama, I must admit."
The Hollywood Reporter consider Downton to be "nearly as ship-shape as it was in season one and seems as confident and as winning as it did then." And Entertainment weekly thinks it's "As sweet as treacle tart," saying "the third season of Downton Abbey arrives reasonably fresh and warm. The Downton property -- that gigantic pile of stones -- may be chilly, but the upper-floor twits and the lower-floor underclass can still be counted on to provide a lot of good fun."
Unlike films, we can't provide you with quantitative ratings, but the overall consensus is that Downton's still got it.
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