Fifteen years ago, no one knew if a tale of country house life would strike a chord.

For the British TV audience, 9 p.m. on Sunday 26 September 2010 suddenly became dawn on 15 April 1912. A telegram was received at a Yorkshire village post office that led the telephonist to exclaim, “Oh, my God!” the first spoken words (should this ever come up in a quiz) of a new ITV seven-part drama, Downton Abbey. The news is conveyed to Robert, Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), that two members of the Crawley family – screenwriter Julian Fellowes educating viewers that aristocrats have both clan and titular surnames – had died the previous day when the Titanic sank.

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