I missed the first ever episode of Downton Abbey and for some reason I never managed to watch that series so when ITV repeated it all before the second series was broadcasted I took the opportunity to watch it.

I love period costume dramas and I’ve seen just about all of them, the first one I remember is the 1960s black and white BBC version of The Forsyte Saga, I must only have been about nine years old then. I’m thinking that possibly I’ve got to saturation point with them because although I’ve watched Downton Abbey I haven’t been as enthralled by it as everybody else seems to be. I know – it’s tantamount to blasphemy in some circles to say something like that.

I don’t want to say too much about the details because I know that people in other countries haven’t seen the second series yet. Suffice to say that Jack and I have laughed at bits of it which have been shudderingly cheesy. It is predictable and the writing is really not very good. I was particularly annoyed when those famous words uttered by the dreadfully snobbish but vulgar MP Alan Clark, about the sort of people who had to buy their own furniture, were put into one character’s mouth.

I think the writing is embarrassingly lazy and this has turned Downton Abbey into something of a comedy for me. I wonder what I’ll think about the next costume drama which comes along!