SPOILERS ALERT!!!
Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
I’ve found out that the upcoming ‘Downton Abbey 2’ movie scheduled for December 2021 has been rescheduled for March 2022. I’m saddened by this as I was looking forward to seeing ‘Downton Abbey 2’ at around Christmas time this year. But at least I have more of the TV series to check out. 🙂
Speaking of which, my parents and I have finished seeing Series 2 of ‘Downton Abbey’ on Blu-ray. I enjoyed Series 2. It was intriguing how this certain season explored the lives of the main characters living upstairs and downstairs at Downton Abbey during and after the events of the First World War.
Series 2 comprises of 8 episodes as opposed to 7 episodes in Series 1. I like how the series explores the hardships of the First World War and how it affected the lives of the Crawley family and the servants who worked at Downton Abbey. Certain characters die tragically in this particular season. 😦
Most of the cast from Series 1 are back in Series 2, including Hugh Bonnerville as Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham and Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham. There’s Elizabeth McGovern as Cora Crawley, who is the Countess of Grantham and Robert Crawley’s wife. 🙂
There’s also Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley, Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith Crawley and Jessica Brown Findlay as Lady Sybil Crawley, the three daughters of Robert and Cora. Dan Stevens also returns as Matthew Crawley as well as his mother Penelope Wilton as Isobel Crawley in Series 2.
It was intriguing how Matthew and Lady Mary’s relationship developed in the series. Matthew gets a new lover in Series 2, who happens to be Zoe Boyle as Lavinia Swire. It was tragic how Lavina’s story ended in Series 2 and how it seems to have affected Matthew’s relationship with Lady Mary greatly.
The series also features Allen Leech as Tom Branson who is the Crawley family’s chauffeur and he ends up becoming Lady Sybil’s lover in the series. It was fascinating how Lady Sybil and Tom became lovers and how the father Robert Crawley disapproved of the match between them in Series 2, Episode 8. 🙂
Downstairs in Downton Abbey, we have the return of Jim Carter as Charles Carson the butler, Phyllis Logan as Mrs. Hughes the housekeeper, Brendan Coyle as John Bates, Lord Grantham’s valet, Joanne Froggatt as Anna Smith the head housemaid and Siobhan Finneran as Sarah O’Brien, Lady Grantham’s maid. I enjoyed how the romance between John Bates and Anna Smith blossomed here.
Throughout Series 2, Mr. Bates and Anna have been trying to get married but have faced obstacles from Bates’ former wife, Maria Doyle Kennedy as Vera Bates. Thankfully, Mr. Bates and Anna do get married by the series’ end, but Series 2 ends on a cliffhanger where Mr. Bates is arrested for murder.
There’s also Thomas Howes as William Mason, the second footman of Downton Abbey who becomes a soldier. Sadly William dies halfway in Series 2. He does marry Sophie McShera as Daisy before he dies, but Daisy was reluctant to marry William to begin with and was sort-of forced into it.
Rob James-Collier returns as Thomas Barrow, the former first footman of Downton Abbey and it takes him a while to return to that position by the end of Series 2. There’s also Lesley Nicol as Beryl Patmore the cook. There’s also a new housemaid – Amy Nuttall as Ethel Parks who gets into trouble.
There are recurring and guest characters in Series 2 like Samantha Bond as Lady Rosamund Painswick; Robert Bathurst as Sir Anthony Strallan; Kevin Doyle as Molesley; Iain Glen as Sir Richard Carlisle; Paul Copley as Mr. Mason, William Mason’s father; Michael Cochrane as Reverend Albert Travis; Clare Calbraith as Jane Moorsum; Kevin McNally as Horace Bryant and Julian Wadman as Sir Herbert Strutt. Some of these actors I recognised from other TV/film productions like ‘Doctor Who’!
Series 2 of ‘Downton Abbey’ has been very enjoyable indeed. I’m getting into the series and I’m currently enjoying the characters and the situations. I’m curious what will happen next in the show’s first Christmas Special and whether Mr. Bates will be cleared of the murder charges laid against him.
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim. 🙂
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