Directed by: Simon Curtis

Downton Abbey: A New Era showcases all of the favorite Downton characters as well as fresh new settings. One half of the film is set in Downton itself, where a movie crew and glamorous movie stars descend on the estate to film their movie. The film crew, pressured by the changing times, suddenly find they need to transition from silent film to talkies, and the Downton staff and family are enlisted to help. The other half of Downton Abbey: A New Era is set in the south of France, where the Crawley family is intent on discovering why a wealthy French gentleman has willed his beautiful French villa to the Dowager Countess. What secrets from her past is the Dowager hiding?

This is a film that will please Downton Abbey fans, showcasing all of the favorite Downton characters and providing some new settings as well as some satisfying closure for certain character arcs. One half of the film is set in Downton itself, where the family, a bit strapped for cash, has reluctantly decided to let a movie crew descend on the estate to film their movie: the crew brings with them all the chaos of a film set, not to mention their glamorous movie stars. Set as it is in the late 1920's, this half of Downton Abbey: A New Era also includes the historical transition from silent films to talkies as a part of the plot. It's a nice meta-cinematic element that will particularly amuse fans of Singin' in the Rain if not fans of cinema history generally: what's to be done when a beautiful silent movie star doesn't have the voice and accent for a talkie? The other half of Downton Abbey: A New Era is set in the south of France, where the family is intent on discovering why a wealthy French gentleman has willed his beautiful French villa to the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith). The quest in France to learn the Dowager's secrets make the already pleasant period-piece escapism of spending time with the British nobility and servant classes on the Downton estate even more sunnily pleasant (also providing room for some gentle laughs at the classic British snobbishness about the French!).