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From The Guardian:

Hugh Bonneville and Gillian Anderson play the Mountbattens in Gurinder Chadha cheekily Downtonised but watchable version of history

What does Downtonised mean? Google Web Search gives a few other contexts, such as this one, also from the Guardian:

While the US TV view of the UK is all Downtonised nostalgia, British telly is obsessed with documenting the extremities of America.

And from the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting:

It was almost as though the trial had never been won, and we’d been served a sanitised, Downtonised version instead.

I can't find a meaning in the usual sources. What does it mean?

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  • The only thing I can tell is that it's capitalized so it must be a proper noun. – user178049 Mar 18 '17 at 13:57
  • It is probably meant to echo "bowdlerized". – Tᴚoɯɐuo Mar 18 '17 at 14:17
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I believe it might be a reference to the British TV series 'Downton Abbey'. As such it would be referring to the style of the show and it's handling of the events it portrayed.

Sadly I only saw the first series so can't definitively say if its a good or bad thing to be, though your quote from icrl.co.uk implies it's not that great.

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  • I suppose that the followup question would be: what characterises Downton Abbey, but that question may be better asked on Movies & TV… – gerrit Mar 18 '17 at 18:50

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