Downton Abbey is a British period drama television series created by Julian Fellowes and co-produced by Carnival Films and Masterpiece. [1] It first aired on ITV in the United Kingdom on 26 September 2010 and on PBS in the United States on 9 January 2011, as part of the Masterpiece Classic anthology. Six series have been made, the sixth airing in the autumn of 2015 in the UK and Ireland and in January 2016 in the United States. On 26 March 2015, the sixth series was confirmed to be the final series, [2] with the final episode airing in the UK on 25 December 2015 on ITV. During the course of the programme, 52 episodes of Downton Abbey aired over six series. Since the series reached steaming, the customary Christmas special episode of series 2-6 was divided into two parts. [lower-alpha 1]
Two feature films, Downton Abbey (2019) and Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022), have since been produced. [3] [4]
Series | Episodes | Originally aired | Ave. UK viewers (millions) [5] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | ||||
1 | 7 | 26 September 2010 | 7 November 2010 | 9.70 | |
2 | 8 | 18 September 2011 | 6 November 2011 | 11.68 | |
Special | 25 December 2011 | ||||
3 | 8 | 16 September 2012 | 4 November 2012 | 11.91 | |
Special | 25 December 2012 | ||||
4 | 8 | 22 September 2013 | 10 November 2013 | 11.84 | |
Special | 25 December 2013 | ||||
5 | 8 | 21 September 2014 | 9 November 2014 | 10,40 | |
Special | 25 December 2014 | ||||
6 | 8 | 20 September 2015 | 8 November 2015 | 10.42 | |
Special | 25 December 2015 |
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) [6] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "Episode One" | Brian Percival | Julian Fellowes | 26 September 2010 | 9.25 |
2 | 2 | "Episode Two" | Ben Bolt | Julian Fellowes | 3 October 2010 | 9.97 |
3 | 3 | "Episode Three" | Ben Bolt | Julian Fellowes | 10 October 2010 | 8.97 |
4 | 4 | "Episode Four" | Brian Kelly | Julian Fellowes, Shelagh Stephenson | 17 October 2010 | 9.70 |
5 | 5 | "Episode Five" | Brian Kelly | Julian Fellowes | 24 October 2010 | 9,40 |
6 | 6 | "Episode Six" | Brian Percival | Julian Fellowes, Tina Pepler | 31 October 2010 | 9.84 |
7 | 7 | "Episode Seven" | Brian Percival | Julian Fellowes | 7 November 2010 | 10.77 |
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) [6] | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
8 | 1 | "Episode One" | Ashley Pearce | Julian Fellowes | 18 September 2011 | 11.41 | ||||||
9 | 2 | "Episode Two" | Ashley Pearce | Julian Fellowes | 25 September 2011 | 11.77 [nb 1] | ||||||
10 | 3 | "Episode Three" | Andy Goddard | Julian Fellowes | 2 October 2011 | 11.33 [nb 2] | ||||||
11 | 4 | "Episode Four" | Brian Kelly | Julian Fellowes | 9 October 2011 | 11.30 [nb 3] | ||||||
12 | 5 | "Episode Five" | Brian Kelly | Julian Fellowes | 16 October 2011 | 11.59 [nb 4] | ||||||
13 | 6 | "Episode Six" | Andy Goddard | Julian Fellowes | 23 October 2011 | 11.33 [nb 5] | ||||||
14 | 7 | "Episode Seven" | James Strong | Julian Fellowes | 30 October 2011 | 12.26 [nb 6] | ||||||
15 | 8 | "Episode Eight" | James Strong | Julian Fellowes | 6 November 2011 | 12.45 [nb 7] | ||||||
Special | ||||||||||||
16 | – | "Christmas at Downton Abbey" | Brian Percival | Julian Fellowes | 25 December 2011 | 12.11 [nb 8] |
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) [6] | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
17 | 1 | "Episode One" | Brian Percival | Julian Fellowes | 16 September 2012 | 11.43 [nb 9] | ||||||
18 | 2 | "Episode Two" | Brian Percival | Julian Fellowes | 23 September 2012 | 12.08 [nb 10] | ||||||
19 | 3 | "Episode Three" | Andy Goddard | Julian Fellowes | 30 September 2012 | 11.96 [nb 11] | ||||||
20 | 4 | "Episode Four" | Andy Goddard | Julian Fellowes | 7 October 2012 | 11.83 [nb 12] | ||||||
21 | 5 | "Episode Five" | Jeremy Webb | Julian Fellowes | 14 October 2012 | 11.93 [nb 13] | ||||||
22 | 6 | "Episode Six" | Jeremy Webb | Julian Fellowes | 21 October 2012 | 12.06 [nb 14] | ||||||
23 | 7 | "Episode Seven" | David Evans | Julian Fellowes | 28 October 2012 | 11.82 [nb 15] | ||||||
24 | 8 | "Episode Eight" | David Evans | Julian Fellowes | 4 November 2012 | 12.15 [nb 16] | ||||||
Special | ||||||||||||
25 | – | "A Journey to the Highlands" | Andy Goddard | Julian Fellowes | 25 December 2012 | 10.28 [nb 17] |
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) [6] | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
26 | 1 | "Episode One" | David Evans | Julian Fellowes | 22 September 2013 | 11.96 [nb 18] | ||||||
27 | 2 | "Episode Two" | David Evans | Julian Fellowes | 29 September 2013 | 12.10 [nb 19] | ||||||
28 | 3 | "Episode Three" | Catherine Morshead | Julian Fellowes | 6 October 2013 | 11.86 [nb 20] | ||||||
29 | 4 | "Episode Four" | Catherine Morshead | Julian Fellowes | 13 October 2013 | 11.75 [nb 21] | ||||||
30 | 5 | "Episode Five" | Philip John | Julian Fellowes | 20 October 2013 | 11.39 [nb 22] | ||||||
31 | 6 | "Episode Six" | Philip John | Julian Fellowes | 27 October 2013 | 11.54 | ||||||
32 | 7 | "Episode Seven" | Edward Hall | Julian Fellowes | 3 November 2013 | 11.93 | ||||||
33 | 8 | "Episode Eight" | Edward Hall | Julian Fellowes | 10 November 2013 | 12.16 | ||||||
Special | ||||||||||||
34 | – | "The London Season" | Jon East | Julian Fellowes | 25 December 2013 | 9.4 [nb 23] |
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) [6] | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
35 | 1 | "Episode One" | Catherine Morshead | Julian Fellowes | 21 September 2014 | 10.71 | ||||||
36 | 2 | "Episode Two" | Catherine Morshead | Julian Fellowes | 28 September 2014 | 10.46 | ||||||
37 | 3 | "Episode Three" | Catherine Morshead | Julian Fellowes | 5 October 2014 | 10.15 | ||||||
38 | 4 | "Episode Four" | Minkie Spiro | Julian Fellowes | 12 October 2014 | 10.25 | ||||||
39 | 5 | "Episode Five" | Minkie Spiro | Julian Fellowes | 19 October 2014 | 10.39 | ||||||
40 | 6 | "Episode Six" | Philip John | Julian Fellowes | 26 October 2014 | 9.87 | ||||||
41 | 7 | "Episode Seven" | Philip John | Julian Fellowes | 2 November 2014 | 10.77 | ||||||
42 | 8 | "Episode Eight" | Michael Engler | Julian Fellowes | 9 November 2014 | 10.44 | ||||||
Special | ||||||||||||
43 | – | "A Moorland Holiday" | Minkie Spiro | Julian Fellowes | 25 December 2014 | 7.99 |
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) [6] | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
44 | 1 | "Episode One" | Minkie Spiro | Julian Fellowes | 20 September 2015 | 10.32 | ||||||
45 | 2 | "Episode Two" | Minkie Spiro | Julian Fellowes | 27 September 2015 | 10.04 | ||||||
46 | 3 | "Episode Three" | Philip John | Julian Fellowes | 4 October 2015 | 10.04 | ||||||
47 | 4 | "Episode Four" | Philip John | Julian Fellowes | 11 October 2015 | 10.39 | ||||||
48 | 5 | "Episode Five" | Michael Engler | Julian Fellowes | 18 October 2015 | 10.60 | ||||||
49 | 6 | "Episode Six" | Michael Engler | Julian Fellowes | 25 October 2015 | 10.31 | ||||||
50 | 7 | "Episode Seven" | David Evans | Julian Fellowes | 1 November 2015 | 10.49 | ||||||
51 | 8 | "Episode Eight" | David Evans | Julian Fellowes | 8 November 2015 | 11.15 | ||||||
Special | ||||||||||||
52 | – | "The Finale" | Michael Engler | Julian Fellowes | 25 December 2015 | 11.22 |
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