It’s been expected for the longest time now. ITV has officially commissioned a fourth series of Downton Abbey. [Source: ITV press release] I said I wasn’t going to talk about Downton anymore, but I simply cannot resist a good vent about this. The series was meant to be only three! Why prolong our suffering?
Fellowes admits that he originally wrote the show as a three series kind of thing. The original actors were on contract for three series (with the exception of Thomas and Branson, who were both meant for only one series anyway). The story even lends itself naturally to three series: series one is Mary/Matthew will they-won’t they and much trepidation because Mary fears everyone finds out about her fling with Pamuk, series two is set against WWI as Mary and Matthew are engaged to other people, and series three is Mary/Matthew finally get together but their peace is threatened when Richard reveals the Pamuk scandal to everyone. See? However, that’s not how series three goes. It’s been said over and over that the Pamuk thing simply does not go away. Well, in series three he has not been mentioned at all. It’s also weird that Richard simply disappeared. In the Christmas Special, he said that he will bring Downton around the Crawleys’ ears. But he is never seen nor heard from again. Nice writing, Fellowes. Series three was such a mess, I truly believe that is was drastically altered from its original course and Fellowes had no idea what to do.
And now he’s been given a fourth series. What storylines are left? There’s Rose, who he introduced in the finale. She’s a bright young thing that likes rebellion and will probably bring scandal on the Crawleys by continuing to sleep with much older married men. There’s still the complicated love-tangle downstairs that wasn’t resolved in the slightest. And now a new girl’s going to be added in the upcoming Christmas Special. There’s Tom and Matthew trying to bring the estate in order. And then there’s still unlucky-in-love Edith who’s being pursued by a man married to a woman in an asylum. However, I feel that these storylines were introduced or left unresolved because the original plots were so dramatically altered or because Fellowes was shooting for a fourth. These aren’t even that interesting (except for Gregson). So, I don’t know.
