Downton Abbey…Down Under?

Just recently I finished watching four seasons of A Place to Call Home, forty-five episodes of a period drama set in post-World War II Australia. Since the Mercer County Library System owns all four seasons of the DVD, all I had to do was check them out and view them at my leisure. Needless to say, I binge-watched!

A Place to Call Home is the story of the wealthy Bligh family who live in a grand estate named Ash Park. A benevolent upper class hero, an indomitable heroine, a judgmental and strong-willed matriarch, secrets and intrigues, romance and betrayals, replete with sumptuous costumes and period décor makes the comparison to Downton Abbey inevitable. There are certainly some superficial similarities: Downton Abbey has the benign and upright hero Robert Crawley similar to George Bligh; instead of the stately Downton, there is the idyllic Ash Park and, of course, the Dowager Countess Violet’s doppelganger in A Place to Call Home is the hardnosed matriarch Elizabeth Bligh, who means to keep her family together and uphold their social position no matter the cost. But that is where the similarities end.

The drama in A Place to Call Home is set in 1953 while in Downton Abbey the time frame is 1912-1925. Additionally, there is no parallel of the servant’s lives below stairs in A Place to Call Home, no titles or royalty and the class structure is not as stringent, or as extreme. The conflicts and the unhappiness that the Bligh’s suffer are unique and differ markedly from the Crowley’s. While comparisons between the two shows may be inevitable, each drama is different and enjoyable in its own way.

A Place to Call Home begins with the courageous and extremely likable nurse, Sarah Adams, meeting wealthy widower, George Bligh, a decent sort, on a ship. Down-to-earth Sarah helps George’s ailing mother and prevents his son from jumping off the ship and committing suicide. (I will not ruin the story by divulging the big secret why a handsome, well-off young man with a beautiful and loving wife would want to commit suicide). Soon a mutual attraction develops between Sarah and George. Inevitably, Sarah’s calm and dignified manner endears her to George’s son, daughter, sister and daughter-in-law. But George’s mother, Elizabeth Bligh, will not accept Sarah as her daughter-in-law. This is partly because Sarah is Jewish and partly because she also appears to have a very mysterious past. Elizabeth will go to great lengths to make sure that Sarah and George part ways. She tries paying Sarah off and when that fails she invites the sister of George’s dead wife to lure him away from Sarah. Ruthless Regina Standish and George’s Machiavellian mother plot and plan endlessly to break off the romance between George and Sarah. Will they succeed? Watch the show and find out.

The series is about so much more than the romance between Sarah and George and the machinations of Elizabeth and Regina trying to break up the romance. There is George’s daughter, Anna, who wants to marry a farmer whose social standing is well below her own. Will Anna defy societal rules and succeed in marrying her childhood sweetheart, Gino? George’s sister, Carolyn Bligh, a bohemian, artistic sort, has secrets of her own. And then there is the handsome, moody doctor, Jack Duncan. Well-intentioned, but terribly scarred from the war, he seems to have a special place in the Bligh household and he is the only one who can manage the manipulative matriarch of Ash Park. Hmm, wonder why? Watch the show and you will find the answer.

The show certainly has its share of melodrama but it also examines the social and political climate in Australia after World War II. Pertinent issues such as bigotry, racial and religious prejudice, homosexuality, immigration, and women’s rights are all addressed as the characters grapple with the changing times in 1950s Australia. Trust me when I say the series is addictive with enough plot twists to keep you glued to the show until you have seen the very last episode. Do not wait too long to check out the existing DVDs. Due to popular demand, I hear that season five is in the making!

—Rina B.