It’s the sort of sloppiness that would have Carson bellowing from the butler’s pantry — an article of rubbish left on the mantelpiece.
Only Carson would be rather bemused to find a plastic water bottle among the antiques of Downton Abbey.
So pity the person who allowed this picture of Lord Grantham and Lady Edith to be released ahead of the new series of the popular ITV show featuring a thoroughly modern addition to the period set.
The gaffe was seized on by users of social media who rightly pointed out that plastic bottles didn’t come into widespread use until decades after 1924, the year when the new series opens.
It came as one of the show’s bosses admitted using online encyclopaedia Wikipedia for researching themes and details of the period. Executive producer Gareth Neame told an audience at the launch of the new series on Thursday: “Fortunately, in every single year of the 20th century, something happened of considerable interest. My history is advanced by looking at Wikipedia and looking at 1924 and what are the four really interesting things that happened.”
Wikipedia is written by members of the public and has become notorious for errors in its articles.
Downton has often been accused of historical inaccuracy. Historian Jennifer Newby branded the show ‘infuriating to watch’ because of the close relationships between the Crawleys and their servants. “The servants in the programme are far too clean,” she complained. “The reality would have been a lot more grubby, I don’t think people realise that the servants stank.”
Historian and broadcaster Simon Schama has also taken aim at the drama.
Referring to Julian Fellowes, the show’s creator, Schama said: “If he were really interested in the true drama attending the port and partridge classes, the story on our TV would be quite different.
“Instead of being an occasional suffragette, [Lady] Sibyl would have turned into a full-on militant.”
On Saturday, the cast of Downton Abbey got in on the fun, posting a group shot of them holding plastic bottles on its official Twitter account.
