Downton Abbey
PBS | ITV1 | ITV | INGTV | Release Date: January 9, 2011
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 141 Critic Reviews
Positive:
126
Mixed:
14
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
The New York TimesMike HaleDec 31, 2015
Season 6 Review: In the new season, the show’s best and worst impulses continue to exist side by side. ... But here and there, Mr. Fellowes has raised his game. Read full review
70
Cleveland Plain DealerMark DawidziakDec 31, 2015
Season 6 Review: [These] episodes find the celebrated series running true to form. That means an occasional misstep, to be sure – too much time inexplicably spent with one of the blander characters or a less-than-intriguing subplot. But, for the most part, it means elegant storytelling that richly blends social commentary, comedy, soap opera, romance, intrigue, tragedy, melodrama and razor-sharp satire. Read full review
70
The Daily BeastKevin FallonJan 5, 2015
Season 5 Review: Change is afoot at Downton, and with it a redirection back to the frenzied elegance that defined its first few surprisingly engrossing seasons. The progress is with a grain of salt, though. The plot development is back, but it’s more obtuse than ever. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesMary McNamaraJan 3, 2015
Season 5 Review: Certainly Fellowes has developed a formula. A solid, dependable and successful formula, with "dependable" being just a few shades warmer than "predictable." Read full review
70
Washington PostHank StueverJan 3, 2015
Season 5 Review: Downton Abbey doesn’t meet any objective criteria for brilliant television except for one: escapism. Read full review
70
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertJan 3, 2015
Season 5 Review: While Downton Abbey may be a large, loose, baggy TV monster, there’s definitely some art in the mix, sidled up right beside the elegant mush. Read full review
70
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenJan 2, 2015
Season 5 Review: Yes, a few plots feel repetitive... but overall the feeling for the season is one of new exploration among the characters. Read full review
70
The WrapDiane GarrettJan 15, 2014
Season 4 Review: Despite the occasional creakiness and lapses into melodrama Downton Abbey remains a show to watch, notable for its dreamy production values and the real depth of feeling it portrays between the classes. Read full review
70
The New York TimesAlessandra StanleyJan 3, 2014
Season 4 Review: The narrative this time around is even more stretched, derivative and repetitive than Season 3’s, but almost ingeniously so: It is both utterly predictable and surprisingly addictive. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushJan 3, 2014
Season 4 Review: Downton is on much firmer and more satisfying ground when charting the new romantic possibilities for Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) or spinning sentimental morality tales among the colorful servants below stairs. Read full review
70
Washington PostHank StueverJan 2, 2014
Season 4 Review: Except for a dismally protracted story line, there’s more than enough pure Downton-ness to enjoy this time around. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanJan 2, 2014
Season 4 Review: It's that very attraction--familiar characters acting with familiarity and only the slipperiest of soap schemes to throw them off course--that fuels this series. It's not particularly elite anymore, but it's incredibly efficient. Read full review
70
Kansas City StarSara SmithFeb 1, 2013
Season 3 Review: Those who accept it for what it is--a funny, manipulative soap that relies on historical upheaval to frame its scarce plots--should be happy to hear that Downton’s new season is better than its last. Read full review
70
Washington PostHank StueverJan 4, 2013
Season 3 Review: Downton Abbey comes back stronger and more muscular this time, with intriguing and shocking new plots that provide a bit of vital momentum and an uncharacteristically wrenching dose of tragedy. Read full review
70
SalonWilla PaskinJan 3, 2013
Season 3 Review: Objectively, Downton is not that good and certainly not as good--well-made, well-wrought, reasoned, executed--as it once was. But objectivity only has a little do with it. Read full review
70
The Huffington PostMaureen RyanJan 2, 2013
Season 3 Review: It tends to work a lot better as the season progresses--like a 19th Century train, this polished piece of machinery starts slow and needs to work up a head of steam in order to be enjoyed in all its Victorian glory. Read full review
70
The New YorkerEmily NussbaumJan 17, 2012
Season 2 Review: The British series, about the aristocratic Crawley family and their titular home, goes down so easily that it's a bit like scarfing handfuls of caramel corn while swigging champagne. Read full review
70
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenJan 9, 2012
Season 2 Review: Writer/series creator Julian Fellowes weaves together an engrossing tapestry of stories, although some of them stretch credulity or peter out. Read full review
70
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayJan 6, 2012
Season 2 Review: The second series, as they call it in Britain, shows signs of strain, as creator Julian Fellowes throws one obstacle after another between his sets of star-crossed lovers (some upstairs, some down). Read full review
70
The New York TimesAlessandra StanleyJan 6, 2012
Season 2 Review: Season 2 is in many ways as captivating and addictive as the first, but this time around, the series comes off as a shameless throwback to itself. Read full review
70
The Huffington PostMaureen RyanJan 5, 2012
Season 2 Review: Your investment in the many stories spun out by creator Julian Fellowes may take longer to develop this year, because the costume drama's pace is off in the early going and it's far more contrived and inconsistent than it was in its first season. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMyles McNuttJan 3, 2014
Season 4 Review: While Downton Abbey has been stuck in the same basic theme of “tradition versus progress” for four seasons now, the closer it inches toward modernity, the more dynamic its basic setting of becomes, and there are moments in season four—particularly late in the season—when this version of the show shines through. Read full review
67
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardJan 3, 2013
Season 3 Review: Plotting is not Fellowes' strength, but Downton's appeal is visual. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineSal CinquemaniJan 4, 2016
Season 6 Review: For a series dedicated to supposed historical realism, Downton Abbey wraps things up with a bow of pure fantasy. Read full review
63
People WeeklyTom GliattoJan 2, 2014
Season 4 Review: The show must carry on, and of course it does, but rather sluggishly.... Overall the acting from the ensemble remains strong enough to sweep you along from episode to episode. [13 Jan 2014, p.47]
63
Slant MagazineSal CinquemaniDec 30, 2013
Season 4 Review: While there's plenty of potential fodder for a pulpy potboiler spread throughout the rest of the nine episodes, it's these more mundane, increasingly transient plotlines that come to define the latest installment of the series. Read full review
60
HitfixAlan SepinwallFeb 14, 2011
Season 1 Review: Now, I wouldn't say I loved it. Parts of it I didn't even like. I became quite engaged with what was going on downstairs with the servants, while I found virtually everything having to do with the Granthams (at least the parts unrelated to how they dealt with the staff) a chore to get through. Read full review
58
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardJan 4, 2016
Season 6 Review: There’s much intrigue and backbiting going on in the small domestic household of the Dowager Countess, but that, too, ultimately goes nowhere. Fellowes hints at drama and pulls his punches. Read full review
58
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardJan 2, 2014
Season 4 Review: All this twee is verging on twaddle. Read full review
50
Denver PostJoanne OstrowJan 4, 2016
Season 6 Review: While it's wonderful to be reacquainted with the various charming characters for the sixth and final season, the series' essential problems remain: A lack of subtlety as plot turns are signaled and then underscored; a tendency to keep certain characters stuck in one emotional state for prolonged periods--how much more angst can Anna and Bates (Joanne Froggatt and Brendan Coyle) telegraph again and again?, and a reliance on our allegiance to certain actors. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniJan 4, 2016
Season 6 Review: This season disappoints when it comes to Mary's story arc.... When Downton ends in March, it will end as it began, quietly, politely, and most certainly not with a bang or narrative flourish. Read full review
50
Yahoo TVKen TuckerJan 4, 2016
Season 6 Review: While the upcoming season is uneven--there are a few awfully wobbly moments in the saggy middle hours--the series is well on its way to going out in a manner that will have its fans sweetening their cups of tea with salty tears. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineMatt BrennanJan 4, 2015
Season 5 Review: Unfortunately, these flickers of the show's once exuberant energy are too few and far between to sustain the viewer through extended stretches of flagging interest. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandJan 3, 2015
Season 5 Review: Downton Abbey is not the best show on television, or even as good as it was in the first season. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to watch. Read full review
50
The Daily BeastKevin FallonJan 10, 2014
Season 4 Review: Its characters are depressingly the same.... Pretty much everyone else is recycling their old plot points, too. Read full review
50
Kansas City StarSara SmithJan 3, 2014
Season 4 Review: Showrunner Julian Fellowes knew he had to spice things up, apparently, so he employed a lazy, “shocking” plot device that will leave fans sickened, indignant and wondering why Fellowes just didn’t give his beloved characters something worthwhile to do instead. That offensive event aside, this season’s repetitive tropes, recycled conflicts and predictable heartbreak are not worth the trouble this time around. Read full review
50
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenJan 3, 2014
Season 4 Review: The show is becoming somewhat repetitive and a bit dull to the point that it feels like Downton, already renewed for a fifth season, needs to wrap it up sooner rather than later lest it overstay its welcome. Read full review
50
SlateWilla PaskinJan 3, 2014
Season 4 Review: The show makes Granthams of all of us: content with what we have now (a middling costume soap opera) because we can still remember its glorious past (that first season). It’s safer and cozier than a show about open class warfare. Read full review
50
Washington PostHank StueverJan 6, 2012
Season 2 Review: Downton Abbey lacks surprise and is stretched precariously thin, a house full of fascinating people with not nearly enough to do, all caught in a loop of weak storylines that circle round but never fully propel. Read full review
40
SalonSonia SaraiyaJan 8, 2015
Season 5 Review: Downton Abbey is not even trying anymore.... despite its astonishing talent and productive values, took the path of predictable, repetitive soap opera. Read full review
30
Baltimore SunDavid ZurawikJan 4, 2015
Season 5 Review: Let's not kid ourselves, this is mainly escapist entertainment fare.... I'm sorry, but I cannot feel good about watching a drama that celebrates--yes, celebrates--one class of people oppressing another. Read full review
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