Should You Fill A Prescription For Doctor Thorne?

What Is This Thing?

In Victorian-era Greshamsbury, England, a local doctor tries to sidestep the scheming of his upper-class neighbors, while safeguarding a scandalous secret of his own.

When Is It On?

Whenever you want...starting Friday, May 20, when all four episodes of the show's first season will be available to stream on Amazon Prime.

Why Was It Made Now?

Because Downton Abbey has just ended, and America needs a new dressed-up period soap opera to fill the void.

What's Its Pedigree?

My mention of Downton was no accident! Its creator, Julian Fellowes, has also written Doctor Thorne, adapting in from the novel of the same name by the famously prolific Anthony Trollope. And the cast is full of English faces you already know from other prestige productions: the titular doctor is played by Tom Hollander, most recently of The Night Manager, but also of the sitcom Rev; Deadwood's Ian McShane plays Scatcherd, a low-born townie made good (and after serving a manslaughter sentence no less); highly sought-after American heiress Miss Dunstable is played by Mad Men alumna Alison Brie; and Rebecca Front of Humans and The Thick Of It plays Lady Arabella Gresham, head of an elegant estate...at least until it's seized by her family's creditors.

...And?

Superficially, there are similarities between Thorne and Downton other than that Fellowes is behind them both: Lady Arabella, like Lord Grantham at the start of Downton, is looking to secure the future of her estate. However, while Lord Grantham's concern was primarily to keep it in the family by marrying one of his daughters to Downton's heir; it wasn't in any real peril other than getting inhabited by people other than Cora and Robert (and that remained true until Robert thought he could get cute with his investment decisions, IDIOT).

But Lady Arabella's situation is a lot more dire: the estate has taken on crushing debt, and the only way out to shore up the Greshams' finances is for her children to marry rich. This project is so desperate that as we meet them, Lady Arabella's ultra-toff daughter Augusta (Gwyneth Keyworth) is about to be married to the portly, dull, and decidedly un-posh Mr. Moffat (Danny Kirrane), who's so grubby he's actually a POLITICAL CANDIDATE. For her son Frank (Harry Richardson), Lady Arabella has set her sights on Miss Dunstable, the American who's come to England with all her cash specifically to find a fancypants husband to lend it some nobility (much as, one imagines, a young Cora Levinson did); and while a character with a mission so calculated could be repulsive, Miss Dunstable is mischievous and winning -- in other words, an Alison Brie character. Unfortunately for Frank, he's already in love with Doctor Thorne's niece and ward Mary (Stefanie Martini), who would never be approved as his match since she has neither birth nor wealth to recommend her. WHAT IF HALF THAT EQUATION WERE TO CHANGE, THO?

So while Downton took itself, and the Crawleys' dynasty, very seriously, Doctor Thorne is closer to a Jane Austen-ish comedy of manners; even the aforementioned manslaughter, which pretty much kicks off the series premiere, barely seems tragic. In fact, given the Very Large And Potentially Life-Altering Secret Doctor Thorne is keeping from both Mary and Scatcherd, it almost has less in common with Downton than with Three's Company -- though a Three's Company with uniformly excellent performances, impeccable costuming, and a generally very expensive-seeming handsomeness.

...But?

I have to think that even in Trollope's time, readers would have had a pretty good idea of how this story of a nice, rich boy and his nice, comparatively poor intended was going to end, and the event that would make it possible: so far I've only watched the first episode, but I'm pretty sure all the seeds for a fairly predictable finale have already been planted. But you don't watch a show like this for shocking plot twists: you watch to see how your faves and their antagonists win their victories and suffer their comeuppances, respectively, delivering tart zingers along the way.

Also, if you're counting on learning more about the lives of servants in elegant country homes, there's none of that in the first episode either.

ALSO also: the episode bumpers in which a plummy Julian Fellowes sits in his fake drawing room and sets the scene are extremely corny and unnecessary. Is this his bid at becoming a recognizable C-list celebrity in his own right? If so, he should...not.

...So?

Amazon is probably hoping you'll want to watch this because it's the new Downton, which it kind of is and kind of isn't. But if you're interested in a lighter Middlemarch with a cast of characters small enough for you to retain everyone's name, this sub-four-hour commitment fits the bill.