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Tuesday, Nov 13, 2012 6:30 PM UTC

Michelle Obama begs ITV for DVDs of “Downton Abbey”

The first lady and President Obama are such big fans of the costume drama that they requested advance copies VIDEO

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Topics: Celebrity, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, TV, Homeland, Downton Abbey,

Michelle Obama begs ITV for DVDs of (Credit: AP)

The Obamas are huge fans of British costume drama “Downton Abbey.” The Sun reports that Michelle Obama “begged” ITV executives for DVDs of Season 3, which has already aired on the public access channel in Britain.

A source from ITV1 told the Sun, “We know it’s very popular in America as it’s so quintessentially British. We’d heard the Obamas liked to watch it but we were very surprised when someone from the First Lady’s office got in touch asking for the series.” ITV was “more than happy to sort out some DVDs for them to send over,” but emphasized that “we hope they keep the spoilers to themselves as our US fans may not know about … well, you know what!” (The above Sun article contains said spoiler, so read at your own risk).

The president has also invited “Downton” high society Hugh Bonneville (Earl of Grantham) and Elizabeth McGovern (Countess of Grantham) to his White House dinner for David Cameron in March.

“Downton” isn’t the only drama that the Obamas love. Upon hearing that “Homeland” is one of the president’s favorite shows, the cast sent  him a signed DVD set. On the Jonathan Ross Show, “Homeland” star Damian Lewis revealed that he signed the DVD with a special message: “I went, ‘From one Muslim to another’ in an indelible Sharpie. I couldn’t take it back.”

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Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com. More Prachi Gupta.

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