If only Downton was reality but I'm afraid it isn't
THE characters of Downton Abbey make a refreshing change from the shouting, swearing, estuary-speaking ones who populate our soaps but er… they still aren't real.
So why are they accorded acres of newsprint as if they were President Assad or Barack Obama? Indeed, as the show approaches, Lady Mary's baby is drawing almost as much attention as gorgeous George of Cambridge.
Are we losing our grip on reality or is it just the silly season? Is Downton one way of escaping the relentless focus on recession and belt tightening?
Perhaps it is all those things but I suspect something else at work here: we prefer manners to mobiles, articulation to mumbling and order to chaos and the only way we can find them is by travelling back 100 years.