Reading test part 2

You are going to read four reviews of a popular British television series. For questions 1-4, choose from the reviews A-D. The reviews may be chosen more than once. A Downton Abbey, set in class-ridden post-Edwardian England, is part soap opera, part period drama, with all the intrigue you might expect in a large household divided into servants and masters. The first series, which takes us from the sinking of the Titanic to the outbreak of war, makes a great deal of drama about the future inheritance of the estate, and the family’s desire to safeguard their economic security. Although things can get rather histrionic at times, most of the actors put in commanding performances. Jim Carter, for example, is excellent as Mr Carson, the butler of Downton, a sturdy reassuring figure who ensures that the house hold is running smoothly. Nevertheless, it all feels rather formulaic. For something with a much fresher feel, viewers would be better advised to tune into Sherlock, an inventive retelling of Conan Doyle’s classic crime stories. B Downton Abbey is a gloriously colourful period drama which serves up all of the details of costume and conduct that we might expect from an English country house at the start of the twentieth century. It features a large cast of maids, footmen and valets serving and attending to the Crawley family and adhering to the minutiae of aristocratic etiquette. Real events such as the First World War, the Spanish flu epidemic and Irish independence are skilfully woven into the storyline, engaging the viewer in the issues of the time. As for the acting, Dame Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess and Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary shine particularly brightly, but the ensemble as a whole boasts real depth in the believability of its characters. The challenges they face at the start of an uncertain age often bear a surprising resemblance to our own. C Anyone familiar with TV classics such as Upstairs Downstairs and Brideshead Revisited will not be at all surprised at the success of Downton Abbey. Period dramas involving grand homes, class divisions and good old-fashioned aristocracy sell well. In fact, this show is very much a rehash of Gosford Park – the critically acclaimed murder mystery set in a country home. Gosford Park and Downton Abbey actually both share the same writer in Julian Fellowes. This explains why Downton Abbey feels like a serialised version of the former. It is, at least, a solid drama with American-style production values, and can boast uniformly-assured acting. But the problem with shows like Downton is that they tend to wallow in their own self-consciousness while failing to question the values and assumptions we share with bygone ages. I just don’t see why the concerns of Downton actually matter. D Am I the only person who feels that Downton Abbey has become increasingly erratic over the course of its second series? It all started off slowly enough with several episodes that merely plodded along. Then, in episode six, a mysterious man with a burnt and bandaged face arrives claiming to be Patrick, heir to the estate. Fine, except that Patrick drowned with the Titanic and didn’t have a Canadian accent. After his assertions that he lost his memory and mysteriously gained a new accent are roundly rejected, he promptly disappears and troubles us no further. Mention should also go to Matthew, who recovers miraculously from a war injury, and the Spanish flu which arrives just in time to kill off Lavinia, who was looking decidedly inconvenient to the arc of the storyline. And while we’re being barraged with all this melodrama and over-the-top performance, the war hangs over everything as a very blunt metaphor for present and future change at Downton.