Written to my surprise by Downton's creator Julian Fellowes. Had never heard of it before. Took a while to get going but I persevered and it just gets better and better. I thoroughly enjoyed it and eagerly sought the 2nd disc after Episodes 1-3 on D1. Ep. 4-6 contained on D2..
This tangled tale of the hidden relationships between an aristocratic and a 'trade' family in the first half of the 19th century was written by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and carries many of his trademarks - storyline carried forward through multiple upstairs and downstairs scenes, a bit of skulduggery, an excessive number of somewhat stereotyped characters, and so on. It's still a quite engrossing story. The older generation of actors have the best of it in terms of roles and performances, especially Harriet Walter and Tom Wilkinson, whilst the younger ones, such as Alice Eve's decorative but unfaithful wife and Ella Purnell's lively and 'over-intelligent' fiancee, are more one dimensional due to the script. Production values are quite high, perhaps a little too glossy. The servants are not a sympathetic bunch, by and large.