Oscar-winning British whodunit that inspired Downton Abbey is on TV tonight | Films | Entertainment

Julian Fellowes is best known for creating the highly popular upstairs-downstairs period TV series Downton Abbey, which spawned a trilogy of motion pictures.

But a few years before the show debuted on ITV, he won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Gosford Park.

Inspired by Jean Renoir’s French film The Rules of the Game, the story follows a group of 1930s wealthy Brits and their servants on a shooting weekend at an English country house, when a murder occurs.

Nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Gosford Park boasts an impressive all-star ensemble cast.

The film includes Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Charles Dance, Tom Hollander, Laurence Fox, Kelly Macdonald, Clive Owen, Helen Mirren, Emily Watson, Derek Jacobi, Richard E Grant and Stephen Fry as the Inspector. Originally, Downton Abbey was set to be a spin-off of Gosford Park, before it became a standalone series set earlier, starting from 1912.

Gosford Park airs on BBC Two at 10pm tonight and will be available to stream on BBC iPlayer for a limited time afterwards.