South Sea Island Home: Downton Abbey - my advice to Julian Fellowes

Dear Mr. Fellowes,

Thank you for creating Downton Abbey.

Thank you for providing a reason... a very valid reason.... for me to not do my housework so I can catch up on episodes, and to go out and buy pretty dresses, and to dream of hiring servants, and to pretend for a fleeting moment that the basement in my house is my very own Downstairs and that dinner will be served promptly.

And thank you for making me feel good about not hiring a Nanny.

I have forgiven you for killing Matthew. It took me two whole seasons, but I have. Truly.

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As one of your millions of viewers, I wondered if you'd be interested in my humble opinions

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Downton Abbey gives us a little escape from the madness that is the modern world. It sweeps us through the ages gone, back to a time in the world in which my grandfather always described to me as a 'golden era to grow up.' The 1920's.

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Have you ever given any thought to what era in history you would like to live, if you had the chance to choose?

For me it would be the 1920's, based purely on my grandfather's recommendation, and the clothes that they wore. I realize that, given our current time in history, we know that the second world war was just around the corner for those who lived then, but is any time in world history safe? Maybe those born in the 1950s and 1960s have had the most peaceful and comfortable time in history, but those children may yet live to see their grandchildren caught up in a terror fight against the evil that is rampaging across the middle east at the moment.

So please don't stop writing this loveliness that is Downton Abbey.

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So Downton Abbey gives us a blissful escape back into a world of order and beauty and we love it for the sheer humanness of it, where the struggles of the people then are similar to the struggles we have now. Human nature never changes. We still want love and happiness.

So Mr. Fellowes, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for creating this series, this escapism, these indulgent hours.

But (and there's always a but, isn't there), here is some free advice for series 6.

1. Please, please, please can we dispense with the storyline that sees Anna and Mr Bates heading off to jail at every other episode. It's getting very tiresome. I think they are due some happiness, and if they are not, can you please find something different to torment them with. It is done now, Mr. Fellowes. It is so done.

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2. Could someone, anyone, please give Mary some better lines. Poor girl always looks like someone's holding a gun to her back for every word she speaks. The lines need to be longer than one sentence, also.

3. Please don't kill off anymore spouses. Each one of those three little kiddos has a parent who has been killed off. The odds of that happening in one family, in real life, are pretty rare, so it's starting to look a little ridiculous.

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4. Please don't ever, ever kill off Mrs. Hughes. I will stop watching it, if you do. She is by far the best character in this entire thing. And don't kill off the Dowager Lady Grantham either, if you don't mind.

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5. It would be nice to see Mrs. Crawley find romance. She does it so well.

6. To be honest, it's getting rather predictable with all the love affairs and love children that keep popping out of the woodwork. Could we think of some more original story-lines now that those have been done to death? If you're heading into WWII you could really have some fun with thinking up new plot ideas. Lady Mary could join the Resistance. I bet she'd make a super spy making love to the enemy while stabbing him in the back at the same time. She wouldn't even wince.