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Ask any 鈥淒ownton Abbey鈥� fan about the wildly popular historical television drama and they will wistfully reminisce about being whisked away to a more genteel and elegant time in post-Edwardian England. With a majestic castle as the backdrop and actors adorned in lavish costumes, audiences were immersed into life as it was in the early 1900s. Or, were they? UNH historian Nicoletta Gullace takes a closer look at the beloved show to reveal that it may have been preserving history not as it actually was but as fans believe it ought to have been.

鈥淲hile historical objects, styles and period antiques were meticulously curated to ensure the authenticity of the show, the behavior and values portrayed by the characters in 鈥楧ownton鈥櫶齢ad a more modern slant,鈥� says Gullace, associate professor of听who studies 20th century British history. 鈥淟ife was hard and gritty in the early 1900s. So the show鈥檚 producers created a safe and more palatable experience to satisfy today鈥檚 viewer by airbrushing over some of the ugliness including severe poverty, human rights abuses, bankruptcy, rampant sexism and just how dirty it was to live during that period.鈥�

In her , recently published in the Journal of British Cinema and Television, Gullace, a 鈥淒ownton Abbey鈥� fan herself, acknowledges that the award-winning PBS drama was a fairytale of wealth and elegance driven by wonderful writing and intriguing plots. But as a historian 鈥� one who is often invited to speak about 鈥淒ownton Abbey鈥� 鈥斕齭he notes that the show fabricates a more 鈥榟abitable past鈥� that celebrates the rich and conservative while not offending today鈥檚 audiences. She cites examples like unlikely class interactions between servants and masters, the tolerance of sexual and social outsiders and the unending kindness of the wealthy Crawleys toward people regardless of their rank.

鈥淭he show鈥檚 producers created a safe and more palatable experience to satisfy today鈥檚 viewer by airbrushing over some of the ugliness, including just how dirty it was to live during that period.鈥�

鈥淭he drama did a remarkable job of getting people excited about history in a way real history usually can鈥檛,鈥� says Gullace. 鈥淢ost Americans don鈥檛 really know that much about British history so this introduced a whole new audience to this time period. But academic scholars often ask, to what degree were they learning the real history?鈥�

Gullace says that the magic of 鈥淒ownton Abbey鈥� was the way it created a fictional past that seemed so 鈥榬eal鈥� that viewers could imagine themselves living there. She points to the relatable feminist nature of many of the female characters. Each of the young women exhibited a plucky feminism 鈥� Sybil through women鈥檚 suffrage, Edith with her newspaper and Mary by asserting sexual autonomy. However, they aren鈥檛 really representative of the sexual mores of the time and would have been extremely rare. But to draw in American viewers, mostly women between 35 and 49, 鈥淒ownton Abbey鈥� carefully constructed a more desirable past, which also includes modern behaviors where women enjoy opportunities for autonomy and self-fulfillment, even though the most important ones center on the quest for true love.

Gullace acknowledges that it is hard to control any interpretation of the past in most creative mediums, especially for a show with such a passionate audience that craves a period that they can relate to. She points out that 鈥淒ownton Abbey鈥� is not any different from other living museums, such as New England鈥檚 Old Sturbridge Village, or any historical re-enactments that take place on battlefields across the United States. Their popularity, just like with 鈥淒ownton Abbey,鈥澨齭hows the public craves learning about history but wants it to be fun.