Critic Reviews
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80
Metascore
Generally Favorable
positive
126(89%)
mixed
14(10%)
negative
1(1%)
Showing 141 Critic Reviews
Jan 6, 2011
100
This extraordinary upstairs-downstairs drama, written by Oscar-winning "Gosford Park" screenwriter Julian Fellowes, is a dramatic, intelligent, soapy, comic, and wise piece of work, one that explores social shifts on the eve of World War I while delivering a remarkably engaging cast of characters.
Jan 6, 2011
100
From virtually any angle, though, Downton Abbey is an almost peerless piece of real estate.
Jan 7, 2011
100
Fellowes does know how to write some tasty dialogue, especially for Maggie Smith....The other performances are equally winning, but beyond that, you can't help feeling these actors are having a jolly good time with all this overblown fluff. And so will you.
Jan 7, 2011
100
Watching Downton Abbey is like curling up with a really satisfying book, and I can't think of a better way to get through one of the crueler months of winter. This is one of those shows that after finishing it, I immediately began to envy those who had yet to experience the pleasure.
Jan 7, 2011
100
There are worse sins than looking like a Jane Austen movie. In fact, with PBS' latest British hit import, the unfailingly entertaining Downton Abbey, it might even be a blessing.
Jan 7, 2011
100
There is no mystery about the potency of this series, slathered in wit, powered by storytelling of a high order.
Jan 9, 2011
100
Downton Abbey, which premieres Sunday, is this generation's "Upstairs, Downstairs," both in theme--the daily dramas of a titled British family and their many servants--and in stature.
Jan 3, 2012
100
Julian Fellowes has created such a vivid group of characters and assembled such an impeccable cast--effortlessly oscillating from comedy to drama--that the hours fly by, addictively pulling viewers from one into the next.
