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A Catholic look at Downton Abbey


Downton Abbey creator, Julian Fellowes has suggested that Season Three of the hit show, now showing in the UK, will contain a storyline about Catholicism – but were there any Catholic themes in the first two seasons? Earlier this year, James Martin SJ and Tim Reidy took ‘A Catholic Look at Downton’ in a podcast for America, and you can read their thoughts on Thinking Faith.

What follows are edited extracts of a podcast published by America on 5 March 2012....

NB. For any readers concerned about spoilers, the discussion refers only to Seasons One and Two of Downton Abbey. No details are revealed about Season Three!

TIM REIDY: Perhaps, Fr Jim, you could begin by introducing Julian Fellowes, who is the creator of this show.

JAMES MARTIN SJ: We just read an interesting article in The Tablet, and it turns out that he went to Ampleforth, which is the very prestigious Benedictine school, and credited the Benedictine monks there for encouraging him to take his theatrical interests into a career. So we were thinking about talking about Downton Abbey from a Catholic point of view, and trying to uncover or reveal some of the Catholic themes, or at least Christian themes, that I don’t think a lot of the commentators have really talked about.

TR: There’s nothing obvious on the surface, there are no Catholic characters or at least publicly Catholic characters, but yet there are some themes that we are going to draw out. One is the whole idea of good and evil: from the very first episode you have. on one hand, the saintly valet returning from war in Mr Bates, and then O’Brien on the other side, the mean-spirited lady’s maid who trips him up in order to show him for how weak he is.

JM: I think [O’Brien] really is wicked. But then you also have Thomas, the evil footman, O’Brien’s henchman. But, interestingly, as the series moves on, these characters become a little more complex, even someone like the Dowager Countess, everybody’s favourite character, who at the beginning is just waspish and biting. Towards the end she has that great conversation with Daisy about Daisy’s self-sacrifice in marrying William, the dying former soldier, and she reveals herself to be much more complex....

To read the full article on Thinking Faith go to: www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20121019_1.htm

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