As the new feature film Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale opens worldwide, we see for the final time the elegant, glamorous and always dramatic world of Lord and Lady Grantham and their family. We also have a chance to look back at the evolving fashion and hairstyles of Downton's characters as they have evolved from the series debut set in 1912 up to this final film set in 1930.

Joining The Gilded Gentleman table to trace this fashion history is listener favorite Dr. Elizabeth L. Block, who takes us from the high Edwardian style we saw with Violet, the Dowager Countess, to the body hugging slinky styles of Coco Chanel we see on Lady Mary in this latest film.

We also explore the flapper look, the influence of war years on fashion and how the great cultural forces such as the Ballets Russes all influence the styles of the Crawley sisters. And we even take a look downstairs and talk about how styles for domestic staff were shifting as well.

This episode was produced and edited by Kieran Gannon.

Butlers, it seems, know everything. They are privy to the goings-on above and below stairs, and, of course, they keep it - mostly - to themselves. Agnes van Rhijn's very British butler Bannister has become a show favorite as he manages the downstairs staff and to a certain degree life above stairs as well.

Simon Jones, who plays the role of Bannister, is a veteran actor with an astonishingly impressive list of credits from stage, film and television. Jones has played roles in such productions as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Brideshead Revisited and Downton Abbey. His past co-stars include Sir Laurence Olivier, Dame Maggie Smith, Angela Lansbury, Lauren Bacall, among so many others.

In this special episode, Simon Jones sits with Carl to talk about those roles, and of course that of Bannister on The Gilded Age.

This interview first ran in December of 2023.

One of the most anxiously followed storylines in HBO's "The Gilded Age" has been the love story between Oscar van Rhijn and John Adams.

Adams (Claybourne Elder), who was born into a prestigious New York family as the descendant of a Founding Father, became a fan favorite as the couple navigated their complex relationship out of society's glaring view.

Following the dramatic events of Season 3, actor Claybourne Elder joins The Gilded Gentleman, along with Greg Young of the Bowery Boys Podcast, to discuss his role and character, what filming the series was like and what the life of a gay man in the Gilded Age might have been like.