Downton Abbey: a New Era

The Crawley clan returns with a second feature-length outing that is perfectly tailored by creator/screenwriter Julian Fellowes and director Simon Curtis (My Week with Marilyn) to satisfy Downton devotees. Two plot strands interweave, the more successful of which seeing the family reluctantly allowing film-maker Jack Barber (Hugh Dancy) to use Downton as a backdrop for his latest silent picture, which stars the suave Guy Dexter (Dominic West) and the callous Myrna Dalgleish (Laura Haddock). Meanwhile, the Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) leads a party to the South of France, where his mother, the irrepressible Violet (Maggie Smith), is about to inherit a villa from a former lover. With the plot more bountiful than a Harrods hamper - paternity, proposals, illness, and unemployment all feature - not every story thread works. However, Downton Abbey: a New Era boasts a masterful mix of genuine heart and waspish humour (Myrna has "all the charm of a verruca", says Smith's scene-stealer), and even manages to elicit a few tears.