Uptown Downstairs Abbey – a house divided…by stairs

Unfortunately, the whole of the UK seems to be reeling this week with the news that the second series of Sherlock will now not broadcast until early 2012. Well, as a card-carrying member of the U.S. Sherlock support group, welcome. As most of you now know, Sherlock 2 will not air in the U.S. until […]

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Sunday bits and bobs with the Doctor, Downton Abbey and more….

Torchwood —> Doctor Who = Yes Doctor Who —> Torchwood = No We’ve seen and heard a lot in recent weeks from various particulars involved in both series that there’s a good possibility of seeing Torchwood’s Captain Jack Harkness in an upcoming Doctor Who episode. Now, in a recent interview, Doctor Who series exec, Steven […]

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What was supposed to be a sneak peak at Downton Abbey 2, well….

As with any “teaser” clip, no matter the length, it’s always been a fine line between maddening and anticipation. An all-too-short clip that I screened early Thursday, was to give millions of extraordinarily patient fans a first glimpse at what’s next for both the residents and servants of Downton Abbey. At only :12 seconds, it […]

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And the Emmy goes to….

With the 53rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards having just been announced in Los Angeles, it’s nice to see so many programs that both you and I have talked about over the past year get the recognition they really deserve. Just a reminder, series 2 of Downton Abbey is set for a January 2012 premiere on […]

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British bits and bobs from Downton Abbey 2

Downton Abbey a ‘downstairs’ hit Seems as though Dan Stevens, who played Matthew Crawley, the heir to the opulent estate, in ITV’s Downton Abbey has discovered there are downstairs DA fans everywhere. Stevens recently commented that he met a butler at a dinner at a house in Belgravia and revealed,  “He took me aside on […]

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Voice of the Daleks, Zippy and George dies at 79

This is definitely a case of you probably are not familiar with either the name or the face, but you are keenly aware of the voice. For 21 years (1967-1988), Roy Skelton brought the Doctor’s scariest villains to life with one simple word….Exterminate! In addition to being THE voice of the Daleks, Skelton also lent […]

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A real-life Doc Martin, w/out the curmudgeon part

Despite the fact that Dr. Lawrence Barnes is not afraid of blood, he doesn’t kick stray dogs and is not even close to being as curmudgeonly as Dr. Martin Ellingham, a.k.a. Doc Martin, “Doc Barnes” is leading a seemingly familiar mid-20th century doctor’s life to his fictional counterpart. Working surgeries between the two fishing villages […]

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Is Julian Fellowes’ ‘Titanic’ a ‘Downton Abbey’ at sea?

You’ve just written one of the most successful drama series in the history of ITV in the critically-acclaimed, award-winning, Downton Abbey. You’ve had a second season commissioned almost instantly with shooting completed and a Fall 2011 target date sent for UK transmission (January 8, 2012 premiere set in the U.S. on PBS stations nationwide in […]

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NBC at it again with Prime Suspect re-make

You’d think they’d learn, post-Coupling. Ok, I know, they do have The Office that they can point to, but for every American Office, I can find ten American Coupling’s or Life on Mars, for that matter, just to throw gas on the fire. Further proof that there are now no new ideas and with history not […]

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