25/12/2011
- Radio Times
- Review by:
- Alison Graham
As the doors open again at Downton Abbey, the magnificent Christmas tree is lit and masters are giving servants their gifts. But there’s a shadow across the celebrations as decent, wronged John Bates (Brendan Coyle) languishes alone and quietly despairing as he awaits trial for murder. And such is the weight of evidence, it seems that the hangman beckons…
It’s a terrific episode that crackles with life and rings with emotion. There’s Bates’s wife Anna (Joanne Froggatt), mourning the married life she may never see and Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) trapped in a loveless and purely pragmatic engagement to cold, controlling press baron Carlisle (Iain Glen).
Her beloved Matthew (Dan Stevens) hovers in her life but both are only too aware of their duty. Honestly, it has absolutely everything you could want for Christmas Night. Even snow.
About this programme
The residents celebrate Christmas 1919 with a lavish party, but tensions are rife and Bates's arrest casts a shadow over the festivities. Mary has to consider her future with Sir Richard Carlisle following a disagreement at a shoot and Violet has concerns about Rosamund, whose new suitor - the dashing but raffish Lord Hepworth - is not all he seems. One-off festive special of the hit costume drama, guest starring Nigel Havers and Sharon Small, with Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Iain Glen, Maggie Smith and Samantha Bond.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham
- Maggie Smith
- Robert, Earl of Grantham
- Hugh Bonneville
- Lady Edith Crawley
- Laura Carmichael
- Mr Carson
- Jim Carter
- John Bates
- Brendan Coyle
- Lady Mary Crawley
- Michelle Dockery
- Matthew Crawley
- Dan Stevens
- O'Brien
- Siobhan Finneran
- Anna
- Joanne Froggatt
- Thomas
- Rob James-Collier
- Mrs Hughes
- Phyllis Logan
- Cora, Countess of Grantham
- Elizabeth McGovern
- Daisy
- Sophie McShera
- Mrs Patmore
- Lesley Nicol
- Sir Anthony Strallan
- Robert Bathurst
- Lady Rosamund Painswick
- Samantha Bond
- Isobel Crawley
- Penelope Wilton
- Judge
- Timothy Carlton
- Mr Mason
- Paul Copley
- George Murray
- Jonathan Coy
- Sir Richard Carlisle
- Iain Glen
- Lord Hepworth
- Nigel Havers
- Marigold Shore
- Sharon Small
- Jury foreman
- Dominic Kemp
- Defence barrister
- Simon Poland
- Prison officer
- Tony Pritchard
- Prosecution barrister
- Nick Sampson
Crew
- Director
- Brian Percival
- Executive Producer
- Gareth Neame
- Executive Producer
- Julian Fellowes
- Executive Producer
- Rebecca Eaton
- Producer
- Liz Trubridge
- Writer
- Julian Fellowes
- Categories
- Drama
