QWhat is the difference between the US and UK broadcasts of Downton Abbey?
AIn the UK, Downton Abbey airs on a commercial network, ITV, and therefore has commercial breaks built into it. In the U.S., it's shown on a noncommercial network, PBS, which has underwriting credits and other network material before and after the episode, but no interruptions during it.For the PBS airings, the series is edited (by the production company) into fewer--but longer--episodes than are aired in the UK. For season 1, PBS requested cuts of about 25 minutes total to fit the episodes into certain timeslots. (A wildly inaccurate article in the UK's Daily Mail newspaper claimed that some two hours of content had been removed.) However, the season 1 DVDs sold by PBS and other U.S. outlets contained the unedited UK version of the show.Because of viewer criticism, subsequent seasons on PBS have aired intact, only being restructured into fewer episodes as mentioned previously. PBS has used timeslots ranging from 60-120 minutes to accommodate the series.
QHow does the Dowager Countess not know what "weekend" means?
AThe term was originally used only in Northern England, meaning the period from Saturday noon to Monday morning, and was not in wide use until the late 19th century. The notion of people working for only 5 or 5 1/2 days in a week would not be familiar to the Dowager Countess, who is accustomed to the countryside and great houses, where people worked 6 or 7 days a week.Edit: It could also be that neither the dowager, nor anyone she'd socialize with, has ever worked at all. Therefore it wouldn't occur to her that there are "workdays" and "non-workdays." In her life, a Saturday would be no different from a Tuesday. (A Sunday would, but only by religious custom.) When Matthew mentions the weekend, it only underscores that until now he's been a middle class lawyer in a very different circle.
ARefer to this page for information: http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-the-entail-in-downton-abbey-and-more/In addition the episodes state that Robert's father required the fortune of Robert's wife Cora be tied to the estate and therefore the entail. In essence, saying that Cora's money becomes the property of Robert's heir. Since Robert had no sons, the rules of male primogeniture state that the closest living male heir becomes the inheritor of the entailed estate. This is why Cousin Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham attempted to challenge the entail, so that they would not be penniless if the heir decided to evict the daughters from Downton Abbey when Robert passed away.
Share this