Downton Abbey finally to be seen in Scotland on STV

ITV in Scotland is to finally screen successful period drama Downton Abbey. Broadcaster STV has announced they will screen series one and two as part of their autumn schedule.

 

When series one of the costume drama was screened across the rest of the UK on ITV1, UTV and CTV in Scotland STV decided to screen their own long running crime drama Taggart in the slot instead.

Phyllis Logan, who plays the Downton Abbey Housekeeper Mrs Hughes told STV: “I’m delighted that STV is showing Downton Abbey in Scotland – it means my family and friends in Scotland will be able to watch it.”

The period drama, which follows the life and times of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants, is set in the early in the reign of King George V.

Iain Glen, joins the cast for the second series as new character, Sir Richard Carlisle, told STV: “I think good quality terrestrial drama made within the UK should be available to watch throughout the UK. No one expected Downton Abbey to be quite the global success it turned out to be and I think that added more voice to the argument.”

The second series of Downton has already been making newspaper pages with reports that Nigel Havers is to be one of the new main cast members joining a line up of actors including Hugh Bonneville and Maggie Smith.

Speaking to ATV Today last November Bobby Hain, Managing Director of Broadcasting and Regulatory Affairs at STV, told us on the question of screening the costume drama, “We would never say never. I think we will always look at future network programmes, remember though that we are a commercial business and everything we do has to give us a commercial return so we have to get the biggest audience that we can overall and deliver that to advertisers and more viewers…” He added “We would never turn our back on anything, we would always be open to the idea that we would look at everything afresh and consider what options we have going forward.”

Series one of Downton Abbey will get its Scottish début on Sunday August 7th and series two will be seen across the entire UK on Sundays beginning September 18th.