If You Love 'Downton Abbey' and Hotels, You Must See 'The Grand'

April 13, 2012 at 1:38 PM | by JetSetCD | Comments (0)

We have a few questions for you. 1: Do you like Downton Abbey? 2: Have you seen all the episodes? 3: Are you looking for another similar show to replace it or even supplement it?

If you answered yes to at least two of those questions, then fire up the Netflix because Instant Streaming has the entire two seasons of a British period drama set just after World War I which have all the upstairs-downstairs drama of Downton and more. It's called The Grand, it came out in 1997-1998, and it all takes place in a hotel. SCORE.

Here's how imdb begins to explain the plot:

At the end of World War I, the Bannerman family re-opens the Grand Hotel after a lengthy closure and a costly re-furbishing. The hotel has been in the family for a long time and George Bannerman and his wife Sarah desperately want to make a go of it. Their son Stephen has returned from the wars without any physical harm but still suffers from the mental anguish of seeing so many of his comrades-in-arms falling on the battlefield.

...And there you have the first five minutes of the 18-episode series.

We laughed, we cried, we became extremely thankful that the workings of hotels today have changed so much from back then. If you're employed in hospitality, you'll probably get sucked into series quicksharp and see what we mean. We devoured the series in three days. Perhaps you can do better.

Fun fact: the series stars dashing actor Stephen Moyer in the role of the son, also named Stephen. You may know Mr. Moyer better now as the sympathetic vampire Bill Compton on HBO's True Blood. He was replaced by another actor in the role of Stephen about halfway through the complete series of The Grand, which explains why we totally felt like the character had somehow lost his hotness.

[Photo: imdb]

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