Being obsessed – the revival of the 1920s

Being obsessed – the revival of the 1920s

I know I can become quite obsessed with things: films, series, actors, books… It is something my friends and family have to endure – me talking about nothing else but a series I have just watched and started to watch again and again. But how enchanting it is to recognize sometimes that I am not alone with these obsessions.

When I first started to watch Downton Abbey it was already a big success in Britain and the US. Not in Germany, though. The first series had only been broadcasted on a pay TV channel no one watches and the DVD I bought I had found on a table with junk DVDs the shop wanted to sell as fast and for the lowest price as possible.

I am not sure when and how that changed, but shortly before the third series started in Britain even friends I had never told about my obsession suddenly started to quote The Dowager Countess on Facebook – it was a real burst of excitement. Over the Christmas holidays 2012 the ZDF, a public broadcaster in Germany, finally broadcasted the first series of Downton Abbey – a mediocre success, with a viewing rate of approximately ten per cent. Not a surprise considering that the series was shown at 4 pm and bearing in mind that the DVD had been released before. ITV at the same time broadcasted the second Christmas Special, only days later Downton Abbey Series 3 was rated the eighths best TV series in 2012 in the Radiotimes Top 40 panel.

My first article for 20onemagazine.com