Tag: Downton Abbey

Farewell, Downton

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Photo: Rory Mulvey/Focus Features

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is a work at fascinating odds with itself. On one hand, the film is the ultimate nostalgia bait, the third spinoff of Julian Fellowes’s upstairs-downstairs series that debuted in 2010 and has endured, in some form or another, since then. It goes down easy, the atmosphere so enveloping that you basically forget how this whole project is a love letter to the aristocracy and a patronizing pat on the head for the working class. On the other hand, despite being the narratively thinnest film in the franchise, The Grand Finale is also the most existentially despairing, driven by the questions of what it takes to enact social change and, ultimately, what it means to leave Downton Abbey behind.

The Grand Finale offers answers that are totally unsurprising. Time marches forward, and there’s nothing we do can stop it. The new generation will always make choices their elders don’t quite understand. Capitalism is better than socialism. (I don’t agree with that one, but The Grand Finale makes that point at least three times!) Downton Abbey fans have seen this all before. But that also might be what makes The Grand Finale such an effective end point for this franchise. It reassures us that everything the ever-growing Crawley family holds dear — their money, their property, their proximity to power, and their belief in the royal hierarchy as the best way to rule — remains worthy of protection, and it also offers the thinnest sliver of forward progress to appease any worries that the series’ interest in the past is also an explicit endorsement of conservatism or traditionalism. It’s a perfect threading of the fanciful fan-service needle, aside from the fact that (spoiler alert!) Matthew Goode isn’t onscreen for even one moment. He’s now claimed two scheduling conflicts as reasons he doesn’t appear in these movies; was Dept. Q worth missing out on Goode in a tuxedo? Arguable.

Just like how the previous film, A New Era, was a fairly meta experiment in what it takes to make a Downton Abbey movie, The Grand Finale is a meta experiment in what it takes to end the whole thing. (Simon Curtis directed this one, too.) Set in 1930, The Grand Finale begins a couple years after the events of A New Era, with everyone on the precipice of change. In A New Era’s final act, the Earl of Grantham, Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville), told his eldest daughter, Lady Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery), that Downton Abbey and the future of the family were now in her hands. Similarly, longtime Downton butler Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) was finally preparing to retire and hand the running of the home’s staff over to former footman Andy (Michael Fox). What would these men, whose decades were defined by service, do when their time is over? What would their purpose be?

The Grand Finale equates these questions as if these men are of the same class, because it’s always been part of Fellowes’s imagination that Lord and Lady Grantham and all their family members are extremely considerate, kind, patient, and generous toward their household staff, no matter how anachronistic that characterization may be, as though the kindness would erase the massive wealth gaps with which these characters live. And he applies the same Pollyannaish touch to the film’s other source of drama: Lady Mary’s divorce from her second husband, race-car driver Henry Talbot (Goode). In this age of gossip columnists and paparazzi photographers, Mary is immediately shamed by negative press coverage of her divorce, and she becomes a social pariah as soon as the news gets out. (Viewers of The Gilded Age, Fellowes’s currently airing 1880s-set historical drama, will recognize that the writer is doing some double-dipping here; the impact of a high-society lady’s divorce is also a major plot point in the HBO series’ third season.) Mary’s family is ready to go to war for her, but they have bigger things to worry about when Lady Cora’s (Elizabeth McGovern) brother Harold Levinson (Paul Giamatti) arrives in London to discuss the settling of their mother’s estate. The fact that Harold brings along an unknown-to-the-family American businessman named Gus Sambrook (Alessandro Nivola) is weird, but Gus is such a smooth talker, effective flirter, and loquacious flatterer that Mary lets her guard down — maybe to her detriment.

Downton Abbey’s (white) ensemble grew more sprawling with each season and film, and a number of other story lines — one about a county fair and one on the entertainment industry — fly around The Grand Finale to appease them all. (A New Era had a Black band performing in Paris; The Grand Finale has a silent South Asian family bowing to nobles while watching the horse races — that’s all the diversity you’ll get in this ever-so-genteel version of Europe before World War II.) In typical Fellowes fashion, all these subplots involve class and social status in some way, and also in typical Fellowes fashion, they all boil down to “Isn’t it wonderful when the rich are nice to the workers whose labor funds their privilege? But, like, don’t get any revolutionary ideas!” How this franchise has eroded the initially shit-kicking ideologies of Allen Leech’s former Irish socialist Tom Branson boggles the mind; as if his saving the king from assassination in A New Era weren’t enough, in this film he says being a capitalist is simply “being sensible.” Fellowes’s affection for the monarchy is explicit and implicit, and his writing treats the briefest moments of attention from the wealthy — actor Guy Dexter (Dominic West) remembering Downton’s staff; playwright and composer Noël Coward (Arty Froushan) acknowledging the work of footman turned screenwriter Mr. Molesley (Kevin Doyle) — like earth-shattering events of diplomacy. Attempting any kind of praxis read of The Grand Finale is a fool’s errand.

Yet The Grand Finale moves briskly because it’s the cinematic equivalent of great gowns, beautiful gowns. John Lunn’s soaring score makes shots of Highclere Castle, which stands in for Downton Abbey, particularly magical; Anna Robbins’s luxurious costumes, all satin, lace, and brocade, are once again gorgeous; Nivola’s smirk is a welcome bit of Yankee attitude. (God, that smirk!) The resplendent production and art design complement theater shows, dinner parties, horse races, and carnival outings, and the deeply experienced cast members hit all their marks of humor and pathos. Put aside the (lack of) realism of any of this and it’s thoroughly pleasurable, especially in how it’s a movie for the girlbosses, with Mary, Cora, Isobel (Penelope Wilton), and Lady Edith Pelham (Laura Carmichael) all getting moments to tell men what’s what, another recurring Downton Abbey bit; how gracious of their elder male counterparts to step aside so they can step forward. Lord Grantham’s disgust with the word “weekend” would have been the film’s funniest moment, until Harold falls asleep reading Charles Dickens and asks if Downton Abbey has any murder mysteries in its library, only to be snippily told by the butler that there might be some in the nursery. This film has no interest in the family’s children; they only appear onscreen to be read to and play bucolically with their nannies. But Fellowes’s formula provides such smooth-brained pleasure that I wouldn’t be surprised if Downton Abbey: The New Class materializes in a decade’s time. This franchise may claim it’s finally leaping into the future, but its identity will always be in an idealized version of a wealthy white past.

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Roxana Hadadi

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September 12, 2025
Exclusive: Lesley Nicol reveals ‘exciting’ new chapter after Downton Abbey and the kindness of Highclere Castle’s owners after husband’s death

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Lesley Nicol has opened up about her “exciting” new chapter after Downton Abbey, which ends with its third and final film, The Grand Finale, after 15 years. The actress, who plays the no-nonsense cook at the heart of the bustling downstairs kitchen, Mrs Patmore, sat down with HELLO! for an exclusive interview, this time in a luxury Mayfair hotel, where she opened up about landing a role she’s been waiting years for, finding love later in life and the kindness of Highclere Castle owners Lord and Lady Carnarvon after the death of her husband.

Embracing a new chapter

As Downton closes its doors for the final time, Lesley is looking forward to swapping Mrs Patmore’s kitchen for London’s South Bank, having landed her first-ever role at the National Theatre in an adaptation of Noel Streatfeild’s beloved children’s novel, Ballet Shoes.

“I’m 72 and have waited a very long time to get offered a job at the National. I’ve always wanted to work there, so I’m thrilled,” the Manchester-born actress said.

© Carnival Films/Nick Briggs
Lesley Nicol plays Mrs Patmore in Downton Abbey

“This is a new chapter and it’s a good one.”

Lesley is embracing a new stage in her life in other significant ways, too. It has been three years since the death of her husband, David Heald, a spiritual healer who died unexpectedly at the age of 76 in May 2022.

“Without my husband, it’s horrible. But this is a new chapter and it’s a good one,” said Lesley, who recently starred in ITV’s powerful four-part drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, playing real-life subpostmistress Pam Stubbs, who was wrongly accused of theft. “I’m moving house, I’ve got a new job, I’m fit and well, so it’s exciting.”

After David passed away, Lesley was invited to spend Christmas at Hampshire’s Highclere Castle, which provides the spectacular backdrop to Downton Abbey, by its owners, Lord and Lady Carnarvon, who first welcomed the actress and her husband to stay there after she opened the village fete in 2015.

© Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock
Lesley is starring in a new play at the National Theatre

“I was very touched by that, because we’re not intimate friends,” she recalled. “I thought: ‘That’s very brave; you could have this weeping woman for Christmas.’ Lady Carnarvon is very kind.”

“Things happen when they’re supposed to happen. Keep your heart and your mind open and see what’s coming next.”

Finding love later in life

Just like her character in the drama, Lesley found love in later life, having met David when she was 50, at a reiki class he was teaching. Drawing parallels between Mrs Patmore’s romantic relationship with the local farmer, Mr Mason (played by Paul Copley), and her own, she said: “For her to experience love later in life is great, and of course, in my own life, it was equally a wonderful thing to happen. It’s lovely that she gets her new chapter with a lovely person.”

© David Buchan/Shutterstock
Lesley pictured with her husband David Keith Heald in 2020

Encouraging women not to give up on finding romance is something Lesley is passionate about. “I’ve spoken to women who go, ‘It just hasn’t happened for me,’ and I go, ‘Well, don’t listen to people saying, “You’re over 40, forget it!” Don’t listen to that; it’s not true,’” the actress said.

“Things happen when they’re supposed to happen, in my view. So keep your heart and your mind open and see what’s coming next.”

Finding new passions

One of her surprising new discoveries is her passion for cooking. “I’m beginning to enjoy cooking a bit, ironically. It’s taken me a very long time,” she said, admitting that she’s “nowhere near” as skilled as Mrs Patmore.

“I don’t eat meat any more, so my mission is to try to make food that will make a meat-eater go: ‘That’s really nice.’”

She’s also working with a personal trainer named Vlad, who “takes no prisoners”. “It’s really serious weights and squats,” she said. “They’re horrible, hideous things, but it will make me stronger, so there’s less likelihood of falling. It’s tough, but he’s committed to making me more functional, physically.”

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale comes to screens on 12 September

She may be closing the book on Downton, but Lesley has plenty of chapters to enjoy in her own life. “There are still wonderful possibilities and I never want to stop working,” she said. “I’m not going to retire, so if I’m allowed to keep going and doing a variety of things and I’m well enough to do it, bring it on.”

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is in cinemas from 12 September.

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Nicky Morris

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September 11, 2025
‘Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’ Review: The Beloved Franchise Bows Out on a Confident Parting Note

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All good things must come to an end. Even “Downton Abbey,” the beloved historical drama that launched an instant fandom in 2010 when it started off as a lavish TV series about the inner workings of an aristocratic post-Edwardian family, the Crawleys, and their devoted staff.

Since then, writer-creator Julian Fellowes has gracefully transformed the series into an equally alluring three-film trilogy. And with the elegant and sharply humorous final edition, “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,” he proves yet again that he knows exactly how to harness the elements that made the show so steadily captivating, beyond its gorgeous costumes and detailed production design: a commitment to consistent character work across the era’s social class lines, as well as a handsomely sober portrayal of the past with a steady gaze toward the future.

In that, many hardcore “Downton” devotees will know that one of the mainstay themes of the franchise has been preserving Downton’s well-earned honor across the changing times, which have challenged the family and their servants with various ups and downs, with many an impossible-to-please, high-profile guest, and instances of love, death and even war that entered the orbit of the Crawley estate. Through it all, protecting that top-drawer “Downton” integrity — not just of the fictional house, but of the entire franchise — must have been on Fellowes’ mind as a priority too, while he thoughtfully evolved the upstairs and downstairs residents of the majestic estate on their own plausible terms.

In the final film, one character wistfully suggests that the past might be a more comfortable place to live than the future. Be that as it may (especially for the privileged), but if “Downton” owes its enduring appeal to anything, that would be Fellowes’ determination to gradually push the characters we’ve gotten to know so well out of their comfort zones in the cozy past. And so “The Grand Finale” is proudly marked by that disposition too, perhaps more than either “Downton” movie or any of the TV episodes that came before it. Despite the nostalgic glow that prettily coddles the film, there is a delectably unsubtle passing-the-baton theme that runs through the richly populated affair.

The latest story starts off with a scandal — the very kind that would make us feel grateful for the present times and be rightfully judgmental of the past — involving Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery), who’s been navigating the social scene as a freshly divorced woman. We are in the 1930s now, and the shiny London season — with Noel Coward plays and lush balls, like the one Lady Petersfield (Joely Richardson) throws annually — is in full swing. But when Lady Mary shows up to the affair in an unapologetically crimson gown with her parents Lord and Lady Grantham (Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern), little does she know that she is about to be humiliated by getting kicked out of the party. Turns out, divorced women weren’t welcome at the time. (Perhaps, Fellowes’ script contrastingly suggests, the past wasn’t all that comfortable a place, after all.)

The troubles only grow when Lady Grantham’s American brother Harold (a winsome Paul Giamatti) turns up with mysterious financial advisor Gus Sambrook (Alessandro Nivola, wonderfully enigmatic) and a side of some bad news. It seems he has lost a great deal of the fortune left from the Dowager Countess of Grantham (late Dame Maggie Smith), and whatever he was able to salvage, he did thanks to Gus. Feeling like an outcast and burdened by financial troubles, Mary falls for the loose-limbed American charms of Gus’, and the two have a one-night stand that Mary’s loyal right-hand Anna (Joanne Froggatt) discreetly notices. Come to find, Gus is not the reliable advisor he says he is, though he’s certainly bold enough to threaten Mary’s reputation.

Enter clever Tom (Allen Leech) to blow Gus’ ruse and save the family from further ruin with his business sense, as well as Mary’s formidable sister Edith (Laura Carmichael), who, along with reliable members of the Downton staff, slyly puts together a dinner party to restore Mary’s social standing. The bait for the guests? The in-person attendance of Noel Coward (an absolutely delightful Arty Froushan) and film star Guy Dexter (Dominic West, in a charismatic return). Traveling with the duo is former Downton staff member Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier), who is now Guy’s partner, dresser and close friend. In one scene, he joins the “upstairs” ranks for a drink as a signifier of the changing times. Elsewhere, during a satisfying scene set against the backdrop of horse races (and many, many spectacular hat varieties), Edith tells off Gus in non-negotiable terms, stepping in to protect the dear sister with whom she’d formerly had a complex relationship.

The crowded film includes other plotlines around reluctant-to-retire butler Carson (Jim Carter) and his enthusiastic successor Andy (Michael Fox); the impending County Fair, now open to Daisy (the always enchanting Sophie McShera) taking over for Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol) as Downton’s cook; and Kevin Doyle’s successful screenwriter Mr. Molesley, desperate to make himself visible to Noel Coward. It’s no easy task, given that Coward is busy being inspired by Lady Mary’s divorce story, which will serve as the basis of his play “Private Lives.”

It’s no surprise that “The Grand Finale” is thoroughly fun, stunning to look at (one more hat-tip to the costumes, especially the bias cuts and cowl necks, designed by Anne Robbins) and aptly emotional as the iconic brand’s swan song. There are expected doses of fan service throughout (including a playful wink to one of Dame Smith’s most unforgettable lines, “What’s a weekend?”) and a neatly achieved final sequence that says a lovely and memorable farewell to all those for whom the show has meant so much. But what lingers most after “The Grand Finale” is its handle on the end of an era, which inherently comprehends that big ideas matter more than massive estates. (In that, a scene where Lady Mary and Lord Grantham entertain buying an apartment in London is beautifully written.) What also packs a punch is the final dedication to Dame Maggie Smith, who might not be with us anymore, but her spirit is generously felt all over “The Grand Finale.”

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Tomilaffly

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September 5, 2025
Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery Is Expecting Her First Child

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Michelle Dockery will soon be a mother. The British actor, who became famous for playing Lady Mary Crawley in Downton Abbey, revealed her pregnancy Wednesday at the London premiere of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, which will be released to theaters September 12.

Looking ravishing in a powder blue gown, the actor showed off her baby bump. The child will be the first for Dockery and husband Jasper Waller-Bridge—younger brother of Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge—who accompanied Dockery on the red carpet.

The actor and her husband, a creative director of a management company, were married in 2023 in an intimate London ceremony. Their wedding came just over a year after they announced their engagement in the pages of the Times, in a very classic and formal manner. The pair has not discussed how they met, though they were first spotted together in 2019 at the Rome Film Festival. They married at St. Nicholas Church in Chiswick, London.

Dockery’s romance with Waller-Bridge follows her relationship with partner John Dineen, who died in 2015 at 34 from a rare form of cancer. Allen Leech, who plays Tom Branson on Downton, had introduced them. “I refer to myself as a widow, yes. We were engaged, and married at heart, and so I do consider myself a widow,” Dockery told The Guardian of her fiancé in the aftermath of his passing. “I’ve never been more committed to anything in my life than to him. So at the time everything just shut down: work, everything. Work didn’t matter. You suddenly become an [oncological] expert. This stuff becomes your world, and that of course was my priority.”

This story originally appeared in VF Italia.

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Antonella Rossi

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September 4, 2025
Michelle Dockery Bids Farewell to ‘Downton Abbey’: “It Feels Like it’s Come to its Natural Ending”

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Dockery herself received three consecutive Emmy nods for best lead actress in a drama series, and she picked up several SAG Awards. “There was such a circus around it all when we were promoting it and being at various awards shows—but every time we went back to film the series, it didn’t feel any different,” she says. “That never changed.”

She still remembers the words of wisdom Bonneville shared with her and Laura Carmichael, who plays Mary’s sister Edith, after the first season aired. “He said, ‘Relish this, ‘cause it doesn’t happen. It rarely happens more than once,being a part of something so huge like this,’” she recalls. “It really stayed with me, and I haven’t taken any of it for granted.” Dockery has taught her costars as well: “From the minute we started working together I had one thought: I will learn from this one,” says Elizabeth McGovern, who plays Downton’s demure and loving Countess of Grantham.” I watch her like a hawk. She’s rare. She has the radiance, charisma, and talent of a superstar, but she’s a team player. She loves other people’s work, even though she’s best at pretty much everything.”

In between trips to Downton, Dockery has made numerous TV series: the western Godless, the murder mystery Defending Jacob, the courtroom drama Anatomy of a Scandal, and the seductive thriller Good Behavior. She also worked with director Guy Ritchie in the movie The Gentlemen and returned to the stage in 2017 to star in the National Theatre’s production of Network, opposite Bryan Cranston. “It did create a big shift for me. There were job possibilities before, but nothing had opened the door the way that Downton did,” she says. “It definitely opened up a lot of opportunities.”

Joanne Froggatt, who plays Anna, admires Dockery’s range. “As an actor, Michelle has fantastic taste, which makes all the difference. She chooses projects with real substance—stories backed by brilliant talent both on screen and behind the scenes,” Froggatt says. “She’s never afraid to take on roles that push her in new directions, and in doing so she shows just how versatile and compelling she is as a performer.”

As Dockery, 43, closes the Downton Abbey chapter of her life, her onscreen character will remain close to her. “I grew up with her. I was 26 when I started playing her; between then and now, we have grown into women,” she says. “I take her with me sometimes in other roles because there’s this brilliant complexity and stoicism, and she’s such a rich character. Any other character I play, I’m always looking for those nuances.”

But stoicism is only one aspect of Dockery’s own personality. “I sometimes wish Lady Mary fans could see Michelle between takes,” McGovern says. “After a frosty, tragic scene, she becomes a clown, doing imitations with an elastic face and body that makes me laugh and laugh.”

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August 29, 2025
Immersive Events Redefine Millennial Nights

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Escaping reality and slipping into a cool alternative universe has helped immersive events explode

For millennials, nightlife no longer means just bars and concerts—it’s about stepping into another world. Across the country, immersive events redefine millennial nights, offering elaborate evenings where guests trade everyday stress for ball gowns, masquerade masks, and story-driven adventures. From fairytale masquerades to sprawling fantasy festivals, these events have become a millennial favorite, combining nostalgia, creativity, and community in one unforgettable package.

RELATED: The History Of The Cocktail Party

Unlike traditional costume parties, immersive fantasy gatherings are built around world-building and storytelling. Guests often adopt characters, engage in live-action quests, or simply revel in the spectacle of atmospheric venues transformed into castles, enchanted forests, or 19th-century ballrooms. The appeal is both escapist and social: attendees get the chance to embody a different self, share experiences with like-minded dreamers, and post Instagram-worthy moments feel lifted straight from a novel.

The roots of these events stretch back further than TikTok trends. Many organizers openly draw inspiration from the grandeur of the Gilded Age—an era of lavish balls and ornate social gatherings. In fact, some fantasy balls mirror the sweeping elegance of 19th-century high society, with silk gowns, chandeliers, and champagne fountains setting the stage. For millennials raised on period dramas like Downton Abbey, stepping into such an event feels like walking onto the set of a beloved show. The allure is as much about time travel as it is about fantasy.

But the modern twist lies in the interactivity. Unlike the rigid etiquette of the Gilded Age, today’s immersive experiences invite play. Guests might join a treasure hunt, dance under fairy lights, or take part in collaborative storytelling arcs. Companies like Eudantria Events and other boutique organizers have built loyal followings by blending historical opulence with modern inclusivity, giving everyone a role in the spectacle.

RELATED: Mixed Messages From The Feds About Cannabis

Why the sudden rise in popularity? Experts point to the stress of digital life and the desire for meaningful in-person connection. A themed ball offers both: a carefully curated environment where phones take a backseat to face-to-face storytelling, yet where every chandelier-lit dance floor is still perfectly Instagrammable. For millennials balancing work, side hustles, and endless screen time, a fantasy night out feels like the ultimate luxury.

Immersive fantasy events also tap into a larger cultural shift toward experience over things. Instead of buying another gadget, millennials are spending on memories, communities, and creative expression. Whether channeling the elegance of Downton Abbey or the magic of Tolkien, these gatherings deliver a sense of wonder and belonging.

As mainstream media slowly catches on, one thing is clear: immersive fantasy events aren’t just a passing fad. They’re becoming a cultural cornerstone for a generation that craves both escape and connection. In many ways, they’re the modern equivalent of the Gilded Age ball—only with more dragons and less social hierarchy.

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Sarah Johns

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August 19, 2025
All ‘Downton Abbey’ seasons ranked worst to best

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If you haven’t yet fallen down the rabbit hole that is Downton Abbey, what are you waiting for? It’s only one of the most delightfully snooty television series ever made!

Downton Abbey went on to air for six seasons, including with two Christmas specials. Two feature films followed in 2019 and 2022. A talented ensemble cast includes highly respected actors such as Dame Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Brendan Coyle, Jim Carter, Michelle Dockery, and Siobhan Finneran.

Read on to see our ranking of each season of Downton Abbey, from worst (but still outstanding!) to best.

Season 4 (2013)

(ITV)

For many fans, season 4 felt like a placeholder for the series. After Matthew’s (Dan Stevens) explosive death in the season 3 finale, Lady Mary (Dockery) finds out that his death has relieved her and Downton Abbey from their financial troubles … for now. She’s left to raise their newborn son and turn down suitors, and her story is just terribly sad. Meanwhile, Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) begins a doomed romance with a married man and has a baby out of wedlock, later secreting the baby onto the grounds to be raised by a servant. Downstairs, Anna (Joanne Froggatt) is raped, and Bates (Coyle) gets framed for murder (again). It’s bummer after bummer in this season, and with no unifying storyline the whole thing falls flat.

Season 6 (2015)

(ITV)

The final season of Downton Abbey is satisfying because it wraps up multiple storylines at once, including the marriage of Carson (Jim Carter) and Elsie (Phyllis Logan). However, a lot of people complained that it seemed rushed. Both Mary and Edith have stepped up as working mothers, with Mary managing Downton’s daily business and Edith managing a magazine. Lady Rose (Lily James) and her new husband leave for New York City, Tom Branson (Allen Leech) goes to Boston, and Anna faces murder charges. It’s a nostalgic goodbye to characters we’ve come to love.

Season 5 (2014)

(ITV)

Season 5 of Downton Abbey feels like a true soap opera, but any time spent with these characters is still time well spent. Robert (Bonneville), Mary, and Branson are running Downton together now, but Branson wonders if he’s meant for more. Mary finds that she’s ready to love again, and Edith has trouble coping with giving her daughter up. Soon Violet (Dame Maggie Smith) finds out about Marigold, and it’s just a matter of time before the little girl is brought to live in the big house. Downstairs, the servants worry about the future of the estate as well.

Season 3 (2012)

(ITV)

Fair warning, season 3 of Downton Abbey will require all of the Kleenex you have. Not just some; all of them.

Downton Abbey is transformed into a convalescent home for wounded officers at the end of World War I. Sybil becomes a nurse to pitch in on the war effort, and Mary and Matthew finally tie the knot. Robert watches as other great estates in England fail to move into a more modern new world and close their doors for good. Then, the unthinkable happens. Sybil, the sweetest, kindest member of the Crawley family, dies in childbirth. Just when we’ve recovered from that sudden loss, Matthew also loses his life in a driving accident, leaving the season dangling on a cliffhanger.

Season 1 (2010)

(ITV)

The first season of Downton Abbey is the one that got us all hooked, so it has to be high up on this list. Here we get to meet each member of the Crawley family as well as the servants who complete their lives. In the first season, the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 causes financial and inheritance concerns for the family. Robert frets that the estate will go to a distant family member, and World War 1 looms.

Season 2 (2011)

(ITV)

Fans and critics adored the second season of Downton Abbey, which felt practically perfect from start to finish. The estate is struggling to stay afloat amidst the ongoing Great War, and Matthew comes home paralyzed from the waist down. He becomes engaged to marry Lavinia (Zoe Boyle), but when she dies from Spanish Flu he and Mary rekindle their romance. With themes like blackmail, betrayal, and lust at play, this is one of the poshest soap operas you’ll ever fall in love with.

All seasons of Downton Abbey are currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

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Beverly Jenkins

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October 12, 2024
Farewell, Dame Maggie Smith – 70 Years On The Silver Screen

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On Friday, September 27, the death of Dame Maggie Smith was announced.

I’m sure you know her as the caustic Professor Minerva McGonagall, famous for her stern manner with the young wizards at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter franchise.

Check out Maggie Smith behind the scenes in Harry Potter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkSdHpEfT-0– YouTubewww.youtube.com

Others remember her as the Dowager Countess of Grantham from the hit series Downton Abbey. She portrayed Violet Crawley, the grand matriarch famous for her sharp one-liners throughout the show’s six seasons.

Smith’s career spanned seven decades and ran the gamut from playing Desdemona to Laurence Olivier’s Othello at London’s National Theater to her Oscar-winning turn as Miss Jean Brodie to the Reverend Mother in two of Whoopi Goldberg’s Sister Act films.

She also received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for California Suite (1978) and a Tony Award for Lettice and Lovage in 1990.

Tributes have been rolling in since news of her death was made public, and she’s been remembered with great fondness by those who worked with her – some of whom also experienced her cutting wit and lack of patience for foolishness or mediocrity.

Smith was 89 years old and died in a London hospital.

This clip from 1969’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, the story of a Mussolini-admiring schoolteacher in 1930s Scotland, offers a fine glimpse of Smith in an Oscar-winning role early in her career:

– YouTubewww.youtube.com

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Popdust Staff

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September 27, 2024
Dame Maggie Smith, venerable British actress, dies at 89

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Maggie Smith, the venerable British actress whose career on stage, film and television spanned more than 60 years, has died. She was 89.

Her sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, confirmed she had died in a statement to the Press Association.

Having appeared in more than 50 films, Smith was considered one of Britain’s best known actresses and was beloved by recent generations for her roles as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the “Harry Potter” films and the Dowager Countess of Grantham on television’s “Downton Abbey.”

Actress Dame Maggie Smith arrives at the Royal Film Performance and World Premiere of the film, “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”, in London Feb. 17, 2015.

Peter Nicholls/Reuters

British actress Dame Maggie Smith poses in London, Dec. 16, 2015.

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In addition to winning two Academy Awards, Smith earned five BAFTA Awards, four Emmy Awards, three Golden Globes, five Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Tony Award. In 1990, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Born in Ilford, Essex, Smith moved with her family to Oxford when she was 4 years old. Her father, a public health pathologist, worked at Oxford University. Smith attended Oxford High School until age 16 when she left to study acting at the Oxford Playhouse.

In 1952, she made her stage debut with the Oxford University Drama Society. A decade later, she was acting opposite Laurence Olivier and earning her first Oscar nomination for 1965’s “Othello.”

English actress Maggie Smith with her son Chris Larkin, Apr. 21, 1970, in London.

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Actress Dame Maggie Smith in the dressing room of The Old Vic, in London, Oct. 24, 1967.

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By 1970, she had won her first Oscar for “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.” Another followed in 1979 for “California Suite.”

Smith appeared in a variety of films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including 1985’s “A Room with a View” and the 1993 comedy “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit” with Whoopi Goldberg. But she became a worldwide star in the autumn of her career after starring in the “Harry Potter” film franchise, which ran from 2001 to 2011.

In 2010, she was cast as the witty Dowager Countess in “Downton Abbey,” earning her a slew of awards, including three Emmys and a Golden Globe.

The actress battled and beat breast cancer while starring in the “Harry Potter” films.

She welcomed two children, Larkin and Stephens, from her first marriage to actor Robert Stephens. Smith’s second husband, the playwright and screenwriter Beverley Cross, died in 1998.

Smith is survived by her sons and five grandchildren.

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September 27, 2024
Dame Maggie Smith, Oscar Winner and ‘Downton Abbey’ Star, Is Dead at 89

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Dame Maggie Smith, the legendary British actress who stole scenes in everything from the Harry Potter franchise to Downton Abbey, has died at the age of 89.

Her sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, released a statement through publicist Clair Dobbs that Smith died on Friday morning in a London hospital. “She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother,” they said.

Maggie Smith, April 1964.Terence Donovan/Camera Press/Redux.

Born in Essex in 1934, Smith began her career on stage in London before making her Broadway debut in New Faces of ‘56. Alongside the likes of Dame Judi Dench and Vanessa Redgrave, Smith soon established herself as one of the major talents of the British theater becoming a mainstay of the National Theater and Royal Shakespeare Company. She transitioned from the stage to television and film, winning a leading actress Oscar in 1969 for starring in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. She’d follow that Oscar win with a best supporting actress Oscar less than a decade later for her performance in California Suite in 1978.

Smith made her immense presence felt to a younger generation as transfiguration professor Minerva McGonagall in the eight Harry Potter films from 2001 to 2011. But it was her role as the wry and hilarious Dowager Countess of Gratham on Julian Fellowes’s Downton Abbey that made her a household name. Smith earned three Emmys for her work as Violet Crawley on the British period drama. She was one of the rare actors to earn the Triple Crown of acting—winning a competitive Tony, Emmy, and Oscar—and did so by nabbing two Oscars, four Emmys, and a Tony over the course of her storied career.

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Chris Murphy

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September 27, 2024
Actress Maggie Smith, known for ‘Harry Potter,’ ‘Downton Abbey,’ has died

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LONDON — Maggie Smith, who won an Oscar for “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” in 1969 and won new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in “Downton Abbey,” has died, her publicist said Friday. She was 89.

She was frequently rated the preeminent British actress of a generation which included Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench.

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“Jean Brodie” brought her the Academy Award for best actress and the British Academy (BAFTA) award as well in 1969. Smith added a supporting actress Oscar for “California Suite” in 1978.

Copyright © 2024 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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September 27, 2024
Need to Binge ‘Downton Abbey’? Here Are all the Movies, in Order

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A new Downton Abbey movie is on its way! Does that mean it’s time for a rewatch of the previous Downton Abbey movies? If so, here’s your watch order.

If you’re just interested in the movies, then you don’t have too much homework. Before the upcoming Downton Abbey movie, there have only been two previous films.

However, if you dive right into the first Downton Abbey movie, you may be in for a rude awakening, since it picks up where the TV show left off. The Downton Abbey TV series ran for six seasons from 2010 to 2025, and had a total of 52 episodes. Although the quality of the series can get a little spotty at times, with ham-fisted storylines and recycled ideas, there are some pretty incredible highlights during the show’s run. Plus, the series introduces audiences to the main characters in the films. The show is definitely worth a watch, if you’re familiarizing yourself with the world of Downton Abbey.

What is Downton Abbey about?

Downton Abbey follows the exploits of the people who live in an English estate at the turn of the 20th century. The show and films follow the Crawleys, the aristocratic owners of the estate, as they deal with issues like marriage proposals and a volatile economy. Meanwhile, the Crawleys’ staff, consisting of maids, manservants, cooks, a butler, and other service professionals, form close-knit relationships with each other and strike out on their own in searches for prosperity and fulfillment. Both storylines—the family and the servants—are equally engrossing.

If you’re down with the premise and you’ve seen at least some of the original series, here are the Downton Abbey films in order!

Downton Abbey (2018)

(ITV)

Downton Abbey, which came out after the TV series concluded, picks up where the show left off with the Crawleys preparing for a visit from the Queen.

Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)

Downton Abbey: A New Era takes place in 1927, at the dawn of the film era. A production crew comes to the estate to use it as a setting for a silent movie.

Downton Abbey 3 (forthcoming)

(Focus Features)

We don’t know the plot of Downton Abbey 3 yet. However, we do know that Paul Giamatti will be reprising the role of Cora’s brother Harold, the American playboy. Looks like drama is afoot!

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Julia Glassman

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May 13, 2024