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Milton Keynes is to stage a parody of the famous Downton Abbey BBC drama – and it’s called ‘Downtroddon Abbey’.

Aspley Guise-based drama group The Chameleons will be presenting the show next month after the script was written by two local residents, Robert Lindsay and former Citizen journalist Fraser Pearson.

The pair are neighbours in Woburn Sands and based their parody on a fictitious house called Downtroddon Abbey, somewhere near Aspley Guise, in 1912.

The cast of the hugely popular Downton Abbey

Home to the Earl and Countess of Husborne Crawley, their wayward family and eccentric servants, the property seems to be on the verge of falling into the hands of a distant relative - unless someone can come up with a devious scheme.

Robert, who previously wrote a parody of An Inspector Calls, which the Chameleons performed in 2021, said: “Downtroddon Abbey was an idea that came to me a little while ago while watching reruns of Downton Abbey.

“I like to poke fun at serious works and believed that there was more than enough within the original to create a parody/comedy delivered as a play.

“Fraser and I had great fun writing it, and we hope people enjoy watching it at least as much!”

The Chameleons Drama Group in Aspley Guise is staging Downtrodden Abbey, a parody of the famous 'Downton Abbey TV show

Fraser said: “When Rob invited me to collaborate it took me a while to get into the swing of it. Although I had careers in journalism and PR, I hadn’t dabbled in so-called creative writing since the 1980s.

“The other slight drawback was that I’d never actually seen Downton Abbey before. I binge-watched it on DVD for weeks before feeling brave enough to put finger to keyboard.”

Performances are at Aspley Guise Village Hall on Thursday 16, Friday 17 and Saturday 18 November, starting at 7.30pm.

Tickets cost £12 for adults and £10 for concessions (over 60s and under 16s), and are available from TicketSource here.

The Chameleons were founded in 1947 and have ventured into most aspects of stage entertainment. They enjoy a lively social calendar as well as treading the boards.

New members are welcome – just pop along to one of their meetings, which take place most Tuesdays at 8pm at Aspley Guise Village Hall.

You can find them online here and on their Chameleons Drama Group page on Facebook.

Milton Keynes to present its very own version of popular Downton Abbey television drama