The luxurious lifestyle of Downton Abbey’s aristocratic Crawley family would no doubt help to keep worry lines at bay.
But as the hit ITV drama returned to screens in the UK on Sunday night, viewers raised questions over whether the characters have aged convincingly since it began in 2010.
With the current and fifth series set in 1924, the lords and ladies are supposed to have aged 12 years since the first episode, set in April 1912. One viewer wrote online: “Does the Earl of Grantham use Grecian 2000 or something? Why is the Dowager still alive and sharp-witted and [why do] the girls/boys still have the face of youth?”
The headstrong Lady Mary, who began the show at 21, is now, at 33, within touching distance of what was then considered middle age. However, while her life has been punctuated by heartbreak, the looks of the actress playing her — Michelle Dockery, 32 — remain unchanged. Her perfect ivory skin has not so much as a wrinkle. Dame Maggie Smith was 75 when the show began and her character was 70. Although Dowager Countess Violet Crawley is now 82 she has not visibly aged. Likewise, Robert the Earl of Grantham is now 58 but Hugh Bonneville, who plays him, is only 50 and still looks it.
Even the glossy coat of Isis, the Earl’s dog, has not gone unscrutinised, with one post reading: “How is Isis still so lively? If she were a puppy when the series started, she would be 11 by now, and labs already start to age at 11. But she was already full grown! Or does Lord Grantham just have a back-to-back succession of yellow labs, all named Isis?”
