Downton Abbey is a British television period drama series, produced by British media company Carnival Films for the ITV network. The series is set on the fictional estate of Downton Abbey in North Yorkshire, and features an ensemble cast. It was created and principally written by actor and writer Julian Fellowes, and premiered on ITV on 26 September 2010. Reception of the programme was predominantly positive; ratings were extremely high for what is usually considered a “genre” show, and the first series picked up a number of awards and nominations after its initial run. It has subsequently become the most successful British costume drama since the 1981 television serial version of Brideshead Revisited, and in 2011 it entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the “most critically acclaimed English-language television show” for the year, becoming the first British show to be so recognised.
   The series is set in the fictional Downton Abbey, the Yorkshire country house of the Earl and Countess of Grantham, and follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants during the reign of King George V. The first series spans the two years before the Great War beginning with news of the sinking of the Titanic, which sets the story in motion. The second series covers the years 1916 to 1919, and the 2011 Christmas Special December covers the 1919 Christmas period, ending in early 1920. Highclere Castle in Hampshire was used for exterior shots of Downton Abbey and most of the interior filming. The servants’ living areas were constructed and filmed at Ealing Studios. The village of Bampton in Oxfordshire was used for filming outdoor scenes, most notably St Mary’s Church and the library, which serves as the entrance to the cottage hospital.
   The first series was broadcast in the UK on 26 September 2010, and explored the lives of the Crawley family and their staff from the day after the sinking of the RMS Titanic in April 1912 to the outbreak of the First World War on 4 August 1914. Much of the focus is on the need for a male heir to the Grantham estate, and the troubled love life of Lady Mary as she attempts to find a suitable husband. The device that sets the drama in motion is the entail that accompanies the (fictional) Earldom of Grantham, which endows both title and estate exclusively to heirs male. This is complicated as the estate had been in near financial ruin, and was only saved when the present Earl, then the heir apparent, married a rich American heiress.