Downton Abbey: this is why it has become such a global phenomenon

But very quickly it was clearly that it was going to be outstripping the makers' wildest dreams.

Back in 2013, just as he was working on the fourth season. Downton star Hugh Bonneville, who lives near Midhurst, pondered just what exactly had happened.

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As he admitted, the whole thing has been quite a phenomenon. All the ingredients for success were there, but it was impossible to foresee the series taking off in the way it has.

“There is no question it has taken off in an extraordinary way, but I think the point is that the characters are characters that you want to spend time with and that there are good stories. There are good production values and good actors, but these are people that you want to spend time with, and it has had the same effect in each country it has been shown: 150 countries. It has even been shown in China, and they are very keen on it. I am not sure how the British feudal system fits into Communist China!”

You could argue that the global audience is lapping up the Britishness of it; but as Hugh points out, that could easily have been a reason why it wouldn’t travel: “But it is true to its own world, albeit a fictional one, and it seems to have captured the imagination. People recognise the relationships between the characters, and it have proved to be family viewing. You can sit there with three generations of the family, and you know that you are not going to be squirming in embarrassment or seeing someone have their face ripped off!”