Hugely entertaining series with great acting. Looking at it from a socio-historic aspect it amazes me how a very small percentage of (dubiously) privileged people could have had so much much power over such a large demographic of ordinary people.
It's also quite intriguing to see a strata of 'pecking order' amongst the lower order.
What amazes more is that the so-called plebs were sufficiently brain-washed by the prevalent society (which included the clergy), to actually believe that this was the 'natural order'. "The likes of us aught to know our place" <barf>
This is why I like (the founding fathers) of America. In 1776 they just up and figured that they weren't standing any more of this nonsense. They made a good start by kicking out a mad German king, thus ceasing all inherited nobility.
Of course, they replaced it with a bizarre adulation of wealth and 'celebrity'. 