Downton Abbey: Season 5: Blu Ray Review

Downton Abbey: Season 5: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

Another year, another outing on the estate.

This time it's 1924 and the Crawley family faces new challenges as a new Labour government comes to power. The threat this time is to the future of the estate, and their very way of life, causing ripples between the downstairs and upstairs groups.

The whole tone of this year's outing is one of the past coming back to haunt them, particularly for Anna Bates who ends the year clapped up in chains. The fact this beloved character's facing issues should give you some idea of the overall feel of this year's piece; a relatively sanitised and entirely predictable plot thread that's woven throughout.

Unfortunately, it's starting to feel like time needs to be called on this estate, with the series' writers really starting to suffer from a real lack of originality or real development from within the cast. Granted, it's all acted well and looks delightful, but dare I say it, Downton's starting to feel a little tired and lacking the fizz (which as ever is played by Maggie Smith's dowager) that it needs to sustain itself.

While not exactly a vintage year for the estate, Downton Abbey: Season 5 will delight the fans who simply wish to wallow in yesteryear.

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