Downton shoots itself in the foot as gun enthusiast gives both barrels over historical inaccuracies

When it comes to historical accuracy, Downton Abbey has long been wide of the mark.
Sharp-eyed viewers have spotted TV aerials and double yellow lines in the Edwardian costume drama.
Even modern language has intruded into scenes, with phrases such as ‘boyfriend’ and ‘get knotted’ slipping into the script.

Inaccurate: Eagle-eyed viewers have pointed out mistakes in the clothes worn by members of the Downton Abbey shooting party

Now the ITV favourite has come under fire for costume errors in its Christmas special.

 

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Gun enthusiast and former editor of the Shooting Times, Tony Jackson, gave the show’s makers both barrels for  inaccuracies in clothes worn during a game shoot.

Oops: TV aerials and double yellow lines have also appeared in the hit ITV series

Mr Jackson, 74, said: ‘The scene is supposed to depict a shooting party in 1919-20, but they are dressed as though they are in the 1890s. It is full of errors. Why on earth didn’t they do their research properly and get it right?’
Mr Jackson, who has published several books on shooting, added: ‘The guns are wearing leather  gaiters – an item of clothing that would not have been worn during the Twenties.
All would have worn stockings, plus fours and possibly light-coloured spats. The only people who would have worn gaiters would have been the hired help.’
Mr Jackson also describes the outfit worn by Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) as ‘completely wrong’, as in addition to his leather gaiters, his breeches make him ‘look more like a groom’.
Current Shooting Times editor Alastair Balmain criticised the dogs in the scene.
He said: ‘The yellow Labrador would have been highly unlikely to feature prominently on the shooting field until a few years later.

The show's makers denied they had made any mistakes claiming their costume designers put in 'hours and hours' of research

Secondly, the English springer spaniels shown appear a bit small for the time and it is unlikely they would have been used as peg dogs, but would have been used by the beaters to flush game over the guns.
More typical dogs for the guns would have been flat-coated retrievers.’
The show’s makers denied they had made any mistakes. A spokesman said: ‘Our costume designers put in hours and hours of research and there are images from the time of Edwardian men wearing leather gaiters on a game shoot.’

 

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