This year, we’ve gotten the well-reviewed Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale and the reboot of The Naked Gun. Then, after those, we got the best of both worlds with the period spoof movie, Fackham Hall. Now, this new comedy has some pretty clear (and very funny) parallels to Downton Abbey. So, when I spoke with the director, I asked him how they paid tribute to the beloved Julian Fellowes series (and I didn't see his responses coming).
When I interviewed Fackham Hall’s director Jim O’Hanlon, I knew I had to ask about Downton Abbey parallels. He noted a whole bunch of them, too. Making it very clear to me that this great parody movie was made out of love for period dramas, he detailed a few spoof gags that also “take the mickey out of” the genre. For example, the deafening loud cutlery in the dining room that makes it hard to hear anyone talking is a play on the “awkward silence” that always happens during dinner scenes.
Getting Downton specific, O’Hanlon told me about something that happens downstairs that was an obvious homage to the series:
We also have a lovely scene at the beginning of the film where the maids are doing their chopping of their herbs. If you watch Downton Abbey, you'll see that they do a lot of herb chopping. As a director, I can tell you that's probably because it's an easy reset. You can just chop the herbs. If you have to go again, you just get another set of herbs and chop them. So we thought, 'What's the funny version of that?' And I won't give away what it is, but yeah, we have our maids making a particular blend of herb that you wouldn't get in Downton Abbey, should we say.
I won’t spoil the joke for you either, but just know that this play on chopping herbs really is hilarious.
Moving on, O’Hanlon noted that the musical moment in Fackham Hall is an homage to scenes from Downton Abbey, where a “distinguished guest” comes to play the piano for everyone. It also pretty clearly parallels a scene in Grand Finale where Noël Coward entertains the guests. However, in this comedy, instead of a lovely little melody, it’s actually an incredibly crude tune about genitals. So, again, they brilliantly turned a trope from these period dramas into something super silly.
Later in our conversation, I asked O’Hanlon about his comedic references for this movie as well. And while discussing how Monty Python and The Naked Gun – which was rebooted on the 2025 movie schedule and can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription – inspired him, he explained how, in his own spoof comedy, A Touch of Cloth, played on the fact that there are typically always jokes buried in the background of shots. So, they did that in Fackham Hall; however, it’s not just a nod to other spoofs, it’s also a Downton Abbey Easter egg, as he said:
Eric's running through the village face, there's a little patch of green. And we thought, 'If that was Downton Abbey, they'd be playing croquet on the lawn there.’ And we thought, ‘What's the funny version of croquet on the lawn?’ So you'll see, I think the only two professional sumo wrestlers in Britain are wrestling on the lawn, if you see it. But they go by in a flash.
The director went on to tell me that he hopes moments like these jump out to audiences as they continue to view the movie. While Easter eggs like this will “ping out” on the big screen to some, there are so many silly jokes and gags in this movie that you can’t catch them all.
So, viewers will be rewarded on a second viewing, because they’ll be able to pick up on even more bits and references to things like Downton Abbey. Now, to go and see all these moments for yourself, you can catch Fackham Hall in theaters now.
