It wouldn’t be Christmas Day without a visit to the bustling grounds of Downton Abbey, with all the drama and revelation that surrounds their festive celebrations.
Despite being a Christmas related episode, DOWNTON ABBEYÂ was full of the drama that followed the previous episodes earlier in the year- even if it did only get going roughly an hour in!
Christmas at Downton saw many secrets and revelations come to light, not only amongst the esteemed Crawley family but also amongst their loyal servants and viewers had to be vigilant to follow the drama that unfolded.
The episode started out with the Crawley family preparing to travel to Brancaster Castle, after being invited by Lady Rose’s in- laws ‘The Sinderby’s’. The planned get together, for a bit of old fashioned grouse shooting sooned turned into a traditional family gathering, with arguments, undermining remarks and shocking revelations.
Upon the families arrival at Brancaster Castle there was already a sense of entitlement surrounding the merging families.  New Tricks’ Alun Armstrong was superb in his portrayal of Stowell, the Sinderby’s Butler.  His initial hatred towards Tom Branson and almost everyone he deemed unworthy, added humour alongside realism of the attitudes to class and status that plagued society at the time. However throughout the episode we start to see how even class and honour can be lost when you have been drinking, as Butler Stowell was quick to let slip the secrets of Lord Sinderby in retaliation for being insulted and undermined.
This revelation of secrets, accompanied by the twisted Barrow’s eagerness to also embarrass Lord Sinderby, led to a shock double arrival.  The arrival of a young woman with a small child immediately has viewers rolling their eyes, after all the hypocritical smugness of Lord Sinderby was soon thawed when he almost collapsed in disbelief at the arrival of the pair. As viewers and many of the guests realised was that Good old Mr Sinderby has indeed been unfaithful, and as a result had a secret child he wish remained that way. The quick thinking of Daughter- in- Law Rose meant that his deceit was hidden from the public; however the polite and reserved members of the party were not born yesterday!
However it’s not all drama and deceit at the Brancaster gathering, as there may be a new romance to entertain loyal Downton Abbey viewers. Throughout the two- hour special, viewers saw a mutual love/hate relationship between Lady Mary and newcomer Henry Talbot (played by Matthew Goode). It’s safe to say Lady Mary isn’t shy when it comes to love and romance, especially before marriage, but their relationship was teasing from the start with their flirtatious behaviour accompanied by a sense of rivalry and independence.
Lady Mary wasn’t the only glamourous woman to be embroiled in the complications that surround love. Her Grandmother, The Dowager, also revealed her somewhat racy past – well, racy for that era anyway!  The elderly head of the family revealed to her cousin Isabel that she had planned to elope years ago with Prince Curagin and was saved by the Princess Curagin, who carried that heartache for years after. When they finally met at the Dowagers home, Princess Curagin was reunited with Prince Curagin infront of the Dowager and the tension could be felt in the living rooms of every viewer.  The uncomfortable meeting symbolised the complicated love triangle that once occurred between the three, yet would only ever be speculated by those outside of the situation.
Despite the feelings of love this encounter ended sadly for the Dowager, who had to face up to the idea that she could never act upon any feelings she had, or has for Prince Curagin. Although despite her heartache the Countess still had the childish antics of her butler Sprat and his ongoing feud with Denke to deal with. With the two adults trying to outdo one another, Maggie Smith excells as the fed up Dowager who has to play mother to her employees.
Julian Fellows made sure that the Christmas episode captured both sides of Downton Abbey, with the servants also embracing the drama of Downton.
With the lovable Anna Bates still in Custody over the murder of Mr Green, a dark secret from her past is revealed to her loyal husband Mr Bates. It seems that Anna has had experience of defending herself against unwelcomed attention in the past, and it was revealed that she had defended herself with a knife from her step father which may go against her flawless character. As Mr Bates grew concerned over  his wife’s imprisonment he tried to save her by destroying his name and confessing to murder, all whilst hiding out in Ireland before he could return. One downside to the Downton Abbey Christmas episode is that the murder of Mr Green is still unsolved and viewers will have to wait until autumn to find out what happened.
The episode started to wind down as Christmas was celebrated back at Downton Abbey with a drunken Lord Grantham becoming emotional with the prospect of Son-in-Law Branson leaving for Boston.  Despite the festivities there was an emotional moment between Lady Mary, Lady Edith and Branson when they remembered Lady Sybil whist preparing their children’s Christmas.  However Lady Edith was secretly happier with being able to spend a Christmas with her daughter Marigold, who she can secretly parent for now.
Despite all the drama and revelations that popped up in the Downton Abbey Christmas episode, viewers were delighted to see couples start to form and come together as a family in the same household. Mr Mosely and Baxter joined forces to prove Mr Bates’ innocence allowing him to return to newly realised Anna for Christmas, and Mrs Hughes and Carson ended the episode with the most pleasing outcome of the Christmas episode to date. As the older servants serving the Crawley family, Mrs Hughes and Mr Carson joined forces not only on their business venture, but will soon be joined in matrimony. The demure romantic story has been evident for many episodes, and viewers finally got to see two of their favourites plan to spend their later years together.
The DOWNTON ABBEYÂ Christmas episode was full of secrets and revelations that bought to light many character flaws amongst some of our favourites. But unlike many previous episodes that have featured Christmas horrors and dark entertainment, viewers experienced the trials and tribulations of love, motherhood, peoples pasts and marriage , which all worked out well in the end for the Downton Abbey household.
