How Authentic is “Downton Abbey”?
Despite efforts at period detail, the show has been criticized widely for its linguistic anachronisms, including the contemporary accents of the wealthy characters. Some historians like Simon Schama have also been critical of the show’s historical inaccuracies. The relationships between the upper class and the servants have been called too informal by some (for example, servants below the level of butler and housekeeper regularly ignore protocol and address senior members of the family with personal requests or observations), but often times this has been defended as a dramatic license.