An Engineer Looks at Downton Abbey

Like most of America and England, I am a huge fan of Downton Abbey.  This summer I will be traveling to England and was lucky enough to get tickets to tour Highclere Castle.  I can fill everyone in on what it was like.

The series might be helpful to some engineers, but it is probably one big case study for the legal and financial planning industries.  The entire plot is one big estate-planning problem.  From selling the house to family trusts to making sure Matthew had a will provide lessons to those that serve mostly the upstairs part of the great manor houses.

Maybe PBS Masterpiece Theater will take up a story on the anglo-engineering aristocracy.  My suggestion (more than happy to have a producer or two call me) on a story would be called "The Remarkable Brunels" - - following the lives of Marc Brunel and son Isambard Kingdom Brunel (the name alone has PBS hit quality).

I would make the Brunel's tunnel under the River Thames a key storyline.  The story of Brunel's tunnel is a fine combination of drama, farce, ingenuity, showmanship and sheer engineering chutzpah.  The great underwater crossing was a feat of engineering which the Victorians (another plus for the PBS crowd), as seen on Masterpiece Theater are never short on hyperpole, called the Eighth Wonder Of The World.  Its continued use today as part of the East London Line is testimony to the far-sighted technical skill of the Brunels.

The story would be interesting to modern engineering and construction professionals.  The Brunel brand could be characterised by innovation, technical challenge, flair and practicality, but they also had an acute marketing sense.  Marc Brunel (who was born and raised in France - - another PBS plus) knew that everything had to be done to coax the public down into this strange, somewhat threatening subterranean world.  So they built a shopping arcade under the Thames. 

Let's keep our fingers crossed - - "The Remarkable Brunels" hopefully coming to your local PBS channel very soon!