A Downton Abbey exhibition is to go on a US tour, with the aim of selling Britishness to Americans. Fans of the show would be able to view original sets, costumes and unseen footage (though none of the actors is involved). After the tour launched in Singapore, Michael Edelstein, president of one of the organisers, NBCUniversal International Studios, remarked: “One of the things we have learned is that selling Britishness to British people is not as interesting as bringing the British experience to Americans.” When he says “interesting”, does he mean “lucrative”?
While Downton was a phenomenal success in Britain, Edelstein may have a point about Americans being more open to the idea of it being a totem of Britishness. Brits know Anglo porn, or stately home porn, when we see it. Never mind now, Downton wasn’t even representative of Britishness back then. Which may explain why most would think it absurd to yearn for an era when probably the most you could hope for was dying of consumption, aged 19, just after you finished blacking the grate in some toff’s scullery.
Downton owes its success to ordinary British people having a well-developed sense of humour about yon (tainted) olden days and the ability to enjoy an upmarket soap opera without caring too much about historical accuracy. But that’s as far as it goes. Most people in the UK would be about as likely to view Downton as symbolising Britishness as they would be to call the police station about a murder, saying: “It was Colonel Mustard, in the library, with the lead piping!”
In short, most Brits are able to separate fact from fiction, leaving it to American Downton Abbey fans to sigh nostalgically for a bygone Britain that so few people got to experience.
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