Downton Abbey, Series 3 Scripts (Official)
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59 Clarkson’s come with his invitation to the fair, so the audience is gradually being told that this is going to be the big finish for the characters who stayed at Downton, while the Ghillies’ Ball will be the Duneagle big finish.
60 Some of the Duneagle interior scenes – and this is one of them – were shot at Wrotham Park, where we filmed Gosford Park in 2001. This was to avoid needless expense on overnights up North. It’s a lovely house, actually.
61 To Mrs Hughes, servants sitting down in a drawing room is an intolerable breach of discipline. In fact, servants never sat in any room used by the family or in the family’s presence right through my growing-up years. You could go and see an old cook in her cottage and you would both be sitting down, but in the big house no servant ever sat. Queen Victoria took it further – her Prime Ministers didn’t sit (something we got wrong in the film Young Victoria when Sir Robert Peel sat down while talking to the Queen) – but Edward VII changed the rules and he allowed some people to be seated. Even so, for a servant to sit in front of you was considered calculated impertinence.
62 Charles Edwards, who plays Gregson, knew exactly what he was up to and did a perfect cast, whereas Dan Stevens had to learn how to do it from Alastair Bruce, so we had to rifle through the shots in the edit to find a moment where they both looked as if they had got it right.
63 This and Scene 69 are useful scenes for Matthew. We think of him as a nice and progressive young man, but the danger is that we might forget he takes his duties as Edith’s brother-in-law seriously. The fact is, he can’t stand by and let Edith enter an illicit relationship, however much he likes the man. This is the kind of responsibility that, in those days, your role in a family placed on you. We’ve rather abandoned that now and a young man today who was married to one sister might not feel morally responsible for another, but that wasn’t true then. Particularly in a family where there is no brother. Rather like Mrs Hughes, however much he is a modern man, Matthew is only modern in that context. He is still a child of his own time, as we all are.
64 If you live where drink is limited, there is always a great temptation when you go into a free bar at a wedding or a party to overindulge, because normally you have neither the money nor the opportunity to drink too much. It’s why I have to say I’m a believer in keeping drink in the house, because if it’s always there and it’s always available, no one needs to feel they have to get six glasses down their neck as soon as they have the chance. But there are others who would no doubt disagree.
65 This is one of those moments when Thomas is allowed to redeem himself. He is taller and older than Jimmy and he has no other motive than to protect the younger man. I hope that is clear. There is nothing in it for him. And the audience should be able to deduce that he is genuinely fond of Jimmy, who runs off – hopefully feeling rather guilty.
66 Isobel understands that once Clarkson has proposed and she has turned him down, their relationship will be altered. So she is determined to stop it ever getting to that if she can. Something I’ve observed in life, with admiration, is when women – or even men these days – turn off a potentially embarrassing situation before it can develop into one, and that is what she is doing here. She is saying no, but it is well wrapped up.
67 Rose is in fact wearing a dress very like one that was worn by the Princess Royal, as King George V’s daughter Princess Mary later became. She was photographed in it. Violet’s line, ‘I wore the crinoline, the bustle and the leg-of-mutton sleeve. I am not in a strong position to criticise,’ is a reminder that a woman then in her late seventies had been through a series of vastly different fashions, because of the changing role of women. By 1921 modern women would have found the crinoline totally impractical. And this change has happened within Violet’s lifetime.
68 Violet would have been seventy-nine in 1921. She was born in 1842, married at eighteen, and that year, 1860, she went to her first Ghillies’ Ball at Balmoral. It is true that the Queen never objected to the ghillies getting drunk, even though it used to drive the courtiers mad.
69 Jimmy is troubled by the fact that he is in debt to someone whom he felt happier disliking, which I believe is truthful.
70 Matthew and Mary here are based on me and Emma. Actually, Emma used to go off to a house nearby in Hampshire, where she grew up, and they would have reeling parties that included Alastair Bruce. She took it very seriously and went up for the Skye balls for years. All of which I am afraid I have taken from her. But marriage is compromise, isn’t it?
71 Carson allows himself to demonstrate a softness of heart with the child that I think is quite useful to us. We indulge in a little bit of nostalgia, as we know we’re boiling up to the end of the show for the year.
72 I was sad to lose this as I wanted to make it clear that Cora is reluctant to take Rose without Susan’s cooperation, which would put her on the moral high ground. But I suppose we know she’s going to do it.
73 I have a good deal of sympathy for Shrimpie in this scene, because he represents many people in the 1920s who suddenly, one dark day, realised the game was up. They had received one too many bank statements written, as they used to be so charmingly, in red ink and they had to wake up to the fact that their way of life could not go on indefinitely. This is when the great sales and demolitions got under way. And, whatever one feels about the rights and wrongs of the system, it must have been very sad for them to watch it crumble away on every side when it was all they’d ever known.
74 I like to emphasise the friendship between Mrs Patmore and Mrs Hughes. I’m sure those workplace alliances got you through this life.
75 This is one of our first indications that the war really has changed Edith, that she will no longer necessarily do what she is told. This is her crunch time. In simple terms, she is not prepared to give him up.
76 This means that O’Brien will now happily pinch Wilkins’s job when it comes to it.
77 The British upper classes on the whole – and of course it’s a generalisation – like to minimise what’s wrong with them physically, whereas there are other nationalities and other social groups who like to maximise it. Here, Mary deliberately trivialises her anxiety and she is mistaken to do so.
78 That was a phrase of Nanny’s.
79 Edna is beginning to overplay her hand. Carson knows that she will have to be sacked, because it’s all got out of control. This aspect of her character is based on a maid of my mother’s before the war. She was called Esther. One evening she made it clear that she thought she was now indispensable to the family and so she didn’t have to do what she was asked any more, unless she chose to. She left the following day.
80 Susan is a sort of villain in the story, because we must have some villains and it’s good to have an upstairs villain instead of only Thomas downstairs. But I put in this scene so we would understand that there is another side to her story, that it isn’t all her fault.
81 Branson acknowledges here that he’s made a mess of things by abandoning the rules, and he immediately makes another mistake by asking Mrs Hughes to falsify the reference and make it a glowing one. This will, we already know, come back to bite him in the bottom. I suppose I was saying that it is necessary to be tough in this life, which seems a bit harsh.
82 This is where we indicated, economically and visually and without dialogue, that O’Brien and Susan had reached an understanding. I thought the actresses did it rather well.
83 Anna, most unfortunately, decides to say, ‘Get Mr Matthew’s car taken to the station and have the others brought here. Mr Matthew can drive himself to the hospital and come back with the news when he is ready.’ So here the death sentence has been passed on Matthew.
84 This resolution – that Jimmy and Thomas are going to be friends – has been set up to be mined in the next series. They will be in cahoots more or less from now on.
85 The demonstration of Matthew’s and Mary’s happiness was the scene I wanted to end the episode with. And so I spoke to Dan Stevens. He had
been very definite about leaving the show, as we know, but I asked him if he would reconsider, let this episode end happily before coming back in Season Four to be killed, or die in some way, right at the start. He thought about it, but finally he just felt he couldn’t. I was very sorry, but I also sympathised with what he was trying to do, and so I had quite mixed feelings. Anyway, I knew I had to kill him by the end. Then I woke up one morning and I realised that his decision meant we could have a six-month gap between his death and resuming the story the following year. We wouldn’t need to have funerals or memorials and Mary reeling at the onset of her grief. We could pick it up again when Mary was beginning to come out of it, which actually had far more dramatic potential than her just sobbing. And so although I was very, very sorry to spoil a lot of Christmas evenings, nevertheless it allowed us a far more interesting role for Mary, both to act and to watch, in Season Four.
86 ‘Learning curve’ was one of the phrases that the press pounced on, saying it came from the 1960s. In fact, one journalist wrote a half-page article on how ridiculous it was that I had used it. The truth is, ‘learning curve’ was coined in 1879 and originally used as a scientific term. But by twenty years later it had entered popular slang. Its meaning was the same – accelerated learning – but used to describe social situations, ‘that was a learning curve’, in an unscientific way. I pointed this out to the journalist, who acknowledged that he’d been wrong, but he never wrote a retraction. I thought that was rather disappointing. Not surprising, given what they’re like, but disappointing.
87 Matthew hums a tune as he drives over the hill… That is the moment when we tell the audience what’s about to happen. The moment following is put in to make it quite clear to the audience that darling Matthew has had it. Before the truck has appeared, though, they already know it’s all over.
88 It was very sad for me, too – the man what done it. This nice, handsome young man that we’d all grown so fond of was dead. We loved Matthew and we loved his journey. And Dan Stevens, of course, was terrific throughout.
89 And now, for a moment of maximum and pure sorrow, we mount this iconic tableau of mother and child. Mary has become the Madonna.
PICTURE SECTION
MATTHEW: You came. To be honest, I wasn’t completely sure you would.
MARY: I’m glad to hear it. I should hate to be predictable.
(© Nick Briggs)
BATES: What news could I have in here?
(© Joss Barratt)
MARTHA: Come war and peace, Downton still stands and the Crawleys are still in it.
(© Nick Briggs)
MRS PATMORE: She ate it, then. I’m never sure about Americans and offal.
ALFRED: I think she’d eat whatever you put in front of her, that one. What a gob. I thought Mr Carson was going to put a bag over her head.
(© Gary Moyes)
ANNA: I just want to find out the truth.
MRS BARTLETT: It won’t change anything, you know. You give me money, because you think I can get him off… I wouldn’t if I could, but I can’t.
(© Giles Keyte)
STRALLAN: I can’t do it… I should never have let it get this far. I should have stopped it long ago…
EDITH: What do you mean? We’re so happy, aren’t we? We’re going to be so terribly, terribly happy.
(© Joss Barratt)
VIOLET: So encouraging to see the future unfurl.
MARTHA: As long as you remember it will bear no resemblance to the past.
(© Nick Briggs)
MRS PATMORE: Slice that finely, and fetch some parsley. And cut the dry bits off.
(© Joss Barratt)
THOMAS: Alfred, Alfred. I remember when my welfare was all you cared about.
O’BRIEN: But you can look after yourself these days, can’t you? And I like to give help where it’s needed.
THOMAS: You like to control where you can.
(© Gary Moyes)
SYBIL: Have you seen her?
BRANSON: She’s so beautiful. Oh, my darling. I do love you so much.
(© Joss Barratt)
PHOTOGRAPHER: If you could all form a group around the father.
(© Giles Keyte)
CARSON: This is a proud day, Mrs Hughes.
MRS HUGHES: I don’t know if I’m proud, but I’m very glad you’re happy, Mr Carson.
(© Nick Briggs)
ISOBEL: Ethel? What’s the matter?
ETHEL: I had rather a nasty encounter in the village, that’s all… Mrs Bakewell refused to serve me. In the end her husband did, but it wasn’t very nice.
(© Giles Keyte)
THOMAS: I’m here now.
(© Giles Keyte)
GREGSON: Well, I hope this means you’re persuadable, Lady Edith.
EDITH: I’ll think about it, I promise. I just felt I had to meet you and see what it would be like.
(© Cathal MacIlwaine)
ALFRED: But shouldn’t I be carrying the pork and Jimmy the veg? I am first footman.
MRS PATMORE: Never mind that. Up you go.
(© Nick Briggs)
ROSAMUND: I did think we’d have dinner together. And then we can have a proper catch-up.
MATTHEW: If that’s what you’d like, but please don’t let me be a nuisance.
ROSAMUND: I insist. A good family gossip will be my payment in kind.
(© Giles Keyte)
BRANSON: If I were to say I’d live with you while Sybbie’s little, and that we wouldn’t move out until she’s older, would you mind?
(© Giles Keyte)
ROBERT: Right, gentlemen. Time’s up to resume play.
(© Giles Keyte)
MATTHEW: I didn’t know it was possible to love as much as I love you.
(© Giles Keyte)
JUDGE: I declare the Downton team the winner!
(© Nick Wall)
SUSAN: Would you speak well of me to Rose? Not every day, but sometimes?
CORA: Of course I will. I promise.
(© Nick Wall)
SHRIMPIE: What are we going to do about Rose?
(© Nick Wall)
CAST LIST
Charlie Anson Larry Grey
Edward Baker-Duly Terence Margadale
Robert Bathurst Sir Anthony Strallan
Neil Bell Durrant
Samantha Bond Lady Rosamund Painswick
Hugh Bonneville Robert, Earl of Grantham
Jessica Brown Findlay Lady Sybil Crawley
Kenneth Bryans Nield
Myanna Buring Edna
Laura Carmichael Lady Edith Crawley
Jim Carter Mr Carson
Michael Cochrane Reverend Mr Travis
Ruairi Conaghan Kieran Branson
Paul Copley Mr Mason
Jonathan Coy George Murray
Brendan Coyle Mr Bates
Sarah Crowden Lady Manville
Michael Culkin Archbishop of York
Michelle Dockery Lady Mary Crawley
Ron Donachie McCree
Kevin Doyle Mr Molesley
Charles Edwards Michael Gregson
Peter Egan Marquess of Flintshire
Siobhan Finneran Miss O’Brien
Joanne Froggatt Anna Bates
Jason Furnival Craig
Bernard Gallagher Bill Molesley
Terence Harvey Jarvis
Karl Haynes Dent
Shaun Hennessy Judge
John Henshaw Jos Tufton
Claire Higgins Mrs Bartlett
Lily James Lady Rose MacClare
Rob James-Collier Thomas Barrow
Edmund Kente Mead
Simone Lahbib Wilkins
Allen Leech Tom Branson
Phyllis Logan Mrs Hughes
Christine Lohr Mrs Bird
Jordan Long Taxi driver
Christine Mackie Mrs Bryant
Shirley MacLaine Martha Levinson
Elizabeth McGovern Cora, Countess of Grantham
Kevin R. McNally Mr Bryant
Sophie McShera Dais
y Mason
Matt Milne Alfred Nugent
Phoebe Nicholls Marchioness of Flintshire
Lesley Nicol Mrs Patmore
Amy Nuttall Ethel Parks
Mark Penfold Mr Charkham
Tim Pigott-Smith Sir Philip Tapsell
Douglas Reith Lord Merton
David Robb Doctor Clarkson
Lucille Sharp Reed
Ged Simmons Turner
Maggie Smith Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham
Ed Speleers Jimmy Kent
Dan Stevens Matthew Crawley
Richard Teverson Doctor Ryder
Cara Theobold Ivy Stuart
William Travis Stall keeper
Tony Turner Inspector Stanford
John Voce Photographer
Stuart Ward First man
Penelope Wilton Isobel Crawley
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Writer & Creator Julian Fellowes
Executive Producers Gareth Neame
Julian Fellowes
Co-Executive Producer Nigel Marchant
Series Producer Liz Trubridge
Director (Episodes 1 & 2) Brian Percival
Director (Episodes 3, 4
& Christmas Special) Andy Goddard
Director (Episodes 5 & 6) Jeremy Webb
Director (Episodes 7 & 8) David Evans