As we head into the homestretch for the American broadcast of Downton Abbey (you know, that little show that runs before Sherlock) on PBS, here’s something to ease the pain a bit during the moment you stop to realize there are only 4 more episodes in the 4th series. This bit of greatness from Nick L’Mao who has a cabaret act in the UK. For those that haven’t begun to watch series 4 as of yet, this will also serve as the ultimate catch up guide for the first three series set to the tune of Petula Clarke’s “Downtown”.
 

 
Jessica Fellowes in Dallas

The niece of Downton Abbey creator/writer Lord Julian Fellowes, Jessica Fellowes, was in Dallas Friday evening as part of the Dallas Museum of Art’s ongoing Arts & Letters Live series. As the author of The World of Downton Abbey and the follow-up, The Chronicles of Downton Abbey, Jessica talked in front of a packed house about a lot of the behind the scenes happenings during filming of Downton in addition to sharing some amazing insights as to how the some of the characters were created with inspiration from the Fellowes family.

She also talked about the difficult logistics involved in the filming process in that all the upstairs scenes were shot at Highclere Castle while the downstairs kitchen scenes were shot miles away on a set at Ealing Studios. The thought of Mr. Carson ascending the stairs from the kitchen only to emerge upstairs some three weeks later into the dining room was almost too much for the audience to fathom. At Tellyspotting, however, we were immediately reminded of a brilliant parody from the genius minds of Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley done for Red Nose Day in 2011 that plays out exactly as Jessica described.

Uptown Downstairs Abbey, part 2
 

 
If you want to check out part 1 of Uptown Downstairs Abbey, click here.