Well, after last night’s episode of Downton Abbey, you definitely can’t say that dinner with the Crawleys isn’t interesting. If it’s not Robert throwing Sarah Bunting, the local schoolteacher, out of Downton or the Dowager Countess and Isobel Crawley going at it over the fate of the local hospital it’s, well, if you haven’t seen last nights episode, I won’t spoil it.

With America passing the halfway mark of the final season of Downton Abbey, it’s time we got to know those tireless folks behind the scenes that have made Downton, well, Downton for the past six seasons. While we all know the names of Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery and the rest of those that reside both upstairs and downstairs at Downton, the real stars of Downton Abbey set up shop behind the camera in the costume, hair and makeup departments.

What is usually reserved for only a chapter on the DVD extras, sadly, are the tireless efforts of hundreds of behind the scenes professionals that rarely get any recognition for what appears on our telly each week. Being able to dig deep into the physical production of the series and learn from the art directors, the costume designers and the set directors to understand how each goes about his or her task of creating the perfect time period setting for the ultimate product we see on the screen at home is priceless.

As one can imagine, the attention to detail on Downton Abbey is spot-on when it comes to the most minute object, some of them never seeing the light of day on screen. Everything is done to not only transport the viewer at home to the time period in which the series is set but also so that the actors would be transported also. This is where the magic happens…