Downton Abbey meets Survivor, but everyone's wearing corsets and hates it.
Season 1 • Episode 6
LatestIn 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo. Germany declared war on Russia and France. Britain declares war on Germany when it violates Belgian neutrality. In the first 18 months of war, 2.4 million men signed up voluntarily. A quarter of the men of fighting age volunteered in England and Wales. Fighting continued on the Western Front until 11 a.m. on November 11th, 1918. By that time, 772,000 British were killed and 1,676,037 were wounded. The latter-day Edwardians prepare to leave the past behind them. In the final episode, the family and the servants enjoy a day at the races, ""the sport of kings,"" and, back at Manderston, they reflect on their personal experiences and discuss a bygone era they have come to know so well. A servants' ball is held downstairs and the family is invited. Chef Dubiard is holding a grudge because the Olliff-Coopers haven't been eating the Edwardian culinary delights he's been cooking for them. He refus
21 people from the 21st century are being brought together in an Edwardian Country House. 6 of them are the Upstairs family and the 15 others are the servants. For three months, these people have only the rulebook and each other...
Production
Obsessive period detail down to the chamber pots.
Editing
Perfect cuts between upstairs leisure and downstairs collapse.
Writing
Rulebook creates better drama than any scripted dialogue.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of a 2000s reality boom including 'Colonial House' and '1940s House'—Britain's weird obsession with suffering through its own history.
Several participants later said the social stratification felt MORE real than expected, with some upstairs families genuinely forgetting servants were humans by week two.
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