Downton Abbey Habit (some spoilers)

BRITAIN’S favourite TV aristocrats toasted the end of the First World War with crystal made in Furness.

   

CLEAR AS CRYSTAL: ITV programme Downton Abbey, Series 2, on Sunday featured Cumbria Crystal glass, from the Grasmere range, in the dinner scene

Northwest Evening Mail

ITV’s hottest drama

DOWNTON Abbey achieved its best ever overnight audience on Sunday, and the largest audience for a drama in a decade.

The last episode averaged 10.5 million viewers and a 38.8 per cent audience share from 9pm, rising to 10.7 million when the repeat channel, ITV1+1, viewing is included.

The series closed with a number of cliffhangers paving the way for this year’s Christmas special and series three, which is scheduled for September next year.

The extended episode saw an outbreak of Spanish flu hit the stately home and claim the life of Downton heir Matthew Crawley’s fiancée Miss Lavinia Swire.

Head maid Anna Smith finally married the valet, John Bates, but was left in tears as he was arrested by police at the end of the episode, accused of the murder of his first wife.

The cast are all set to roar into the 1920s for the third series.

It will be written by show creator Julian Fellowes and will follow the Crawley family and their servants into the post-war world of 1920 and 1921 England.

Stars including Dame Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter, Joanne Froggatt and Brendan Coyle will all appear in the new series.

ITV’s director of drama commissioning Laura Mackie said: “It’s rare to find a drama that the audience connects with so strongly and we’re extremely proud to have commissioned a series that has become such a phenomenon.”

The second series of Downton Abbey, the hit ITV drama set during the Edwardian period, came to a climax on Sunday evening.

More than 10.5 million viewers tuned in to watch the final episode of the series, which focused on life in the fictional estate of Downton Abbey in Yorkshire. This series centred on events during and immediately after the First World War.

Cumbria Crystal provided many of the glasses and other crystalware for several scenes for the show’s second season.

And the Ulverston-based company’s handmade tableware has also been used by screen icons such as James Bond and Mr Bean.

Production manager for the company, Beverley Frankland, said it was nice to be featured on such a popular show.

She said: “Basically, the studio approached us about purchasing them. It was quite a few glasses and decanters, a full table setting. It was used right the way through the whole of the series.

“In the opening episode of the series the whole table was done up with our glass, and it looked great.
“It was our Grasmere Range which was used because it represents styles of that period, and it’s absolutely fantastic to see it showcased on such a popular show.

“Our products have actually been used in quite a wide range of films and television.

“We’ve had items in one of the James Bond films, in A Touch of Frost, in Eastenders and in one of the Mr Bean movies. We’ve had a few customers say they recognise the glasses from Downton Abbey, and it’s a great achievement for a company based in Cumbria.”

Downton Abbey will return for a Christmas special later in the year, and a third series is set to air in September next year.

First published at 13:17, Wednesday, 09 November 2011
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk