Downton Abbey

by Julian Fellowes

  CARSON: We’ll have to be ready, won’t we, Thomas?

  THOMAS: We will, Mr Carson. And it’s Sergeant Barrow now.

  CARSON: ‘Acting’ Sergeant, I believe.*

  * Carson is immediately and deliberately challenged by Thomas when the latter chooses to demonstrate his new role by entering the house through the front door. This is because Thomas believes, in the words of my grandmother, that he means to start in the way he’ll go on. But by demoting him to ‘Acting Sergeant’, Carson also shows that he is not giving in without a struggle. So much of the narrative in this sort of show is about tension, and all the time you’re trying to create legitimate reasons for it in the house, because if there’s no tension and everyone’s having a lovely time, there’s really nothing to watch.

  20A INT. LIBRARY. DOWNTON. DAY.

  Robert looks around his library in dismay and sees a ping pong table and servants bringing in chairs and screening off one half of the room.

  21 INT/EXT. HALL/FRONT ENTRANCE. DOWNTON. DAY.

  Cora looks at the transformed scene around her. She is joined by Robert, Edith and Sybil and they walk to the front door to meet the arriving soldiers. An ambulance is there. Stretchers of men are being carried in. Other men, bandaged or on sticks, make their way inside.†

  † This was a marvellous shot, in the best traditions of A Touch of Evil or The Player, where the director, Andy Goddard, wants to make a dramatic moment as the walking wounded arrive, thereby transforming Downton Abbey into a different place with different uses. He starts it in the hall, following Robert out to the front and walking him round the busy ambulance, then he picks up whoever’s going back into the house, travelling inside again and back to the hall, with a little bit of dialogue on the way. A lovely piece of work, and brilliantly judged.

  22 INT. HALL. DOWNTON. DAY.

  Isobel is trying to impose order, with Clarkson, Sybil, Edith and Thomas, as well as several nurses and maids.

  THOMAS: Major Bryant, you’re in the Armada Bedroom. Do you mind the stairs?

  BRYANT: It depends what I find at the top.‡

  Lang is observing from the shadows. In a corner, O’Brien, Ethel and Anna stand watching.

  ETHEL: He’s handsome.

  O’BRIEN: Handsome and off limits.

  ETHEL: It’ll be nice to have the house full of men.

  ANNA: Full of officers. Officers aren’t men. Not where we’re concerned.

  ETHEL: Speak for yourself.

  ANNA: I speak for you, too, if you know what’s good for you.*

  ISOBEL: Now, don’t stand clogging up the doorways. There’s a lot to be done.

  CORA: Can we be sure that they’re all —

  ISOBEL: Please. I’m very busy here. Thomas! Take the kitchen helpers downstairs and introduce them to Mrs Patmore!

  O’BRIEN: Rather you than me.

  Matthew enters. He taps Isobel’s shoulder. She spins round.

  ISOBEL: I’m very sorry but I’m — Matthew! What in the world are you doing here?

  MATTHEW: Well, we start our tour of Yorkshire and Lancashire tomorrow, and General Strutt knew you lived up here, so he’s given me a few hours off.

  ISOBEL: But what a lovely, lovely surprise.

  MRS HUGHES: Mrs Crawley, how can we separate the hospital’s linen from our own?

  Isobel needs to deal with this, but…

  MATTHEW: You go. We’ll talk later.

  He opens a door for Mary with a tray of carafes.

  ‡ Most viewers who speak fluent television will understand at once that Bryant is going to have a role to play. One of the interesting things for me about war is the way it breaks down social barriers, as new and different alliances form. We’ve already seen this when Matthew had tea with Thomas in the trenches. I don’t believe this is a flight of fancy. When you’re rolling bandages with someone’s cook, you chat and you make friends, and this sort of thing would prove helpful after the war. The truth is, we have to an extent reverted to a relationship between employers and employees that is more medieval, when they would all – workers and employers alike – eat in the same hall, and there was a recognition that everyone had their own worthwhile part to play. I don’t mean that in those days they called each other by their Christian names, as we do now, but there was less of a barrier, less division, between the classes in 1450 than there was in 1850. To a great extent, we’ve gone back to that, and I think the two wars played a role in making that change. Hurrah.

  * The difference between them is that, essentially, Ethel doesn’t accept the rules and Anna does. Although Anna is a sympathetic and important character in the show, I rather agree with Ethel here. I know that if I were her, and I had been born with absolutely nothing going for me, I wouldn’t accept it. I would have been one of the ones who complained and pushed at the door. So anyone who tries to move out of their preordained sphere, as far as I’m concerned, has my vote. But, of course, there are dangers in this, as we shall see.

  23 INT. DRAWING ROOM. DOWNTON. DAY.

  Beds line the walls and men in uniform lie or sit on them. Sybil is in there, helping Edith to distribute rugs.

  EDITH: As soon as I’ve done this, I’ll take your orders for books.

  Mary puts out the carafes. Matthew starts to help her.

  MATTHEW: I hadn’t cast you as Florence Nightingale.

  MARY: We can’t leave all the moral high ground to Sybil. She might get lonely there… How are you? I know I mustn’t ask what you’re doing.

  MATTHEW: You can ask what I’m doing in Downton. We’ve finished in the Midlands and tomorrow we start on the camps in the northern counties.

  MARY: Pour encourager les autres.

  MATTHEW: Precisely.

  MARY: Will we see something of you?

  MATTHEW: I think my General ought to come here. It’s exactly the sort of thing people like to read about. Supporting our boys at the front.

  Before Mary can answer, Isobel sticks her head in.

  ISOBEL: Sybil, come. Edith can do that.

  Sybil obeys. Matthew raises his eyebrows at Mary.

  MATTHEW: Dear Mother. She does love a bit of authority. I suppose she’s driving Cousin Cora mad?

  MARY: No names, no pack drill.*

  * Matthew has an imperative to get things onto a friendly level with Mary. My own feeling is that, while they are both aware this isn’t quite happening yet, nevertheless they choose to play it as if it is, which I think is truthful. We also have Mary beginning to find herself a job to do, and Edith. In fact, we see all the sisters adjusting to the world at war. Before this point, Sybil was committed to the war effort, but now all of them are. Of course, Edith finds her new role very rewarding more or less from day one. For the first time in her life, she is useful. But Mary’s position is more neutral. These men have fought in the war, and she is happy to do what she can to make things easier for them, but when it’s over, she won’t miss it. For her, it’s just the task of the day.

  24 INT. HALL. DOWNTON. DAY.

  Mary and Matthew walk back through the chaotic gathering. They pass Lang in the shadows. He is trembling with terror.

  25 INT. MEDICAL OFFICER’S HEADQUARTERS. RICHMOND. DAY.

  An army doctor places a stethoscope on Branson’s naked chest.

  DOCTOR: Breathe in. And out. I’m surprised they didn’t get to you before now.

  BRANSON: Some people have all the luck, sir.

  DOCTOR: You can get dressed.

  BRANSON: Shall I report for duty in Richmond?

  DOCTOR: You’ll be told what to do.*

  * I felt it was useful to see Branson’s medical, partly as a reminder that the Army was being made up of these perfectly ordinary men who had all sorts of different roles in civilian life, but who were suddenly put through medicals and dressed in uniforms and sent off to the front. And also because it will play an important part in Branson’s story. I didn’t want it just to be reported.

  26 INT. SMALL LIBRARY. DOWNTON. DAY.

 
Cora is writing when Mrs Hughes enters.

  MRS HUGHES: I’m sorry to bother your ladyship.

  CORA: It’s no bother. Come in.

  MRS HUGHES: You managed to save this room, then.

  CORA: By fighting Mrs Crawley tooth and nail.

  MRS HUGHES: That’s just it, m’lady. Mrs Crawley is downstairs now, giving orders to the servants, and —

  CORA: She’s what?

  MRS HUGHES: She’s arranging work rosters, but I must be included in these decisions if they’re to make any sense.

  CORA: Of course you must.

  Cora has risen from her chair with a fighting face.

  CORA (CONT’D): And so, very definitely, must I.†

  † I was sorry about the loss of this scene, because it showed that Mrs Hughes was on Cora’s side, as opposed to Isobel’s, which I thought was quite important. But, again, one can’t keep everything.

  27 INT. SERVANTS’ HALL. DOWNTON. DAY.

  Isobel has most of the staff captive. Thomas is with them.

  THOMAS: But I must supervise the medical staff —

  ISOBEL: Overseen by me. And Carson, I’m relying on you to make sure that that is so —

  Carson cannot answer before Cora sweeps in. She is furious.

  CORA: What’s going on?

  ISOBEL: I was arranging the household duties. Where they overlap with the duties of the nursing staff.

  CORA: Shall we continue this upstairs?

  ISOBEL: Well, I’ve made some charts and —

  They stand. Who will blink first? The answer is Isobel.

  ISOBEL (CONT’D): Of course.*

  The two women leave. Ethel looks at Thomas.

  ETHEL: Did you say you were the manager? Or the referee?

  Thomas chuckles, as O’Brien whispers in his ear.

  O’BRIEN: You can see what we’re up against.

  THOMAS: Don’t worry. We’ll find a solution.

  O’BRIEN: As far as I’m concerned, it’s drowning, gas or the rope.

  * That Isobel is now fighting for her power against Thomas inevitably means that Thomas will make common cause with Cora and O’Brien. Gradually the battle against Isobel’s control is beginning to broaden and solidify. And now we finally have Cora breaking out and being furious. I think all of this was well laid by the actresses concerned. And it’s good for Cora to be tough. She’s so accepting most of the time, but now she’s reached her limit, and do we blame her?

  28 INT. SMALL LIBRARY. DOWNTON. DAY.

  Cora is there with Robert, Isobel and Clarkson.

  CORA: Of course I’m upset! You take over every room in the house, you bark at me like a sergeant major and you give orders to my servants!

  ROBERT: Cora, I’m sure Cousin —

  The door opens and Mary walks in with an envelope.

  MARY: Oh, I’m sorry. Are you in the middle of something?

  CLARKSON: We’re discussing the arrangements.

  MARY: Oh, good. Because we’ve had a letter from Evelyn Napier. He’s in a hospital in Middlesbrough, and he’s heard that we’re a convalescent home now, and wonders if he can come here once he’s released.*

  CORA: I hope he’s not badly wounded.

  MARY: He calls it a ‘nasty scratch’, but it could mean his arm’s been blown off. You know what they’re like.

  ROBERT: Don’t be so macabre.

  CORA: Of course he can come here.

  CLARKSON: Well, now. Just a minute.

  ISOBEL: There’s no question of him coming here.

  CORA: What?

  ISOBEL: The Middlesbrough General will have their own arrangements for where their patients convalesce.

  CLARKSON: I’m afraid Mrs Crawley is right. Downton must function as part of the official system or it cannot function at all.

  ROBERT: Now, I think perhaps I should make one thing clear. Downton is our house and our home, and we will welcome in it any friends or relations we choose. And if you do not care to accept that condition, then I suggest you give orders for the nurses and the patients and the beds and the rest of it to be packed up and shipped out, at once!

  The shock of this is enough to silence the room. Cora smiles at Isobel, who is glowering. Clarkson knows when he is beaten.

  CLARKSON: Thank you, Lord Grantham, for making your position so clear.

  ISOBEL: Oh, just one more thing. The dog. What should we do to stop Isis getting into the patients’ rooms?

  ROBERT: I can answer that. Absolutely nothing!*

  ISOBEL: Ah.

  * This reference to Evelyn Napier refers back to a character we’re familiar with from the first series. It always irritates me when characters leave a series and are never referred to again. It’s rather like Watership Down, when they will never talk about a rabbit who’s gone missing. Apart from anything else, I don’t think it’s believable. Because we all talk about people we know but don’t see, and we refer to them. Hopefully, when viewers hear Evelyn’s name, they will think, oh, yes, I remember him.

  * The dog that played Pharoah in the first series used to drive Hugh Bonneville absolutely mad, because it did nothing it was asked. We have all heard the instruction never to act with children or animals, and many people think this is because they are bound to steal the scene. But it isn’t that. It’s because when a child or an animal gets it right, then that will be the take they use. It doesn’t matter what sort of performance the adult actor has given. So, when you’re working with them, you have to be at the top of your game for every single take, because you don’t know when the dog is finally going to wag its tail, or the child is finally going to smile, or whatever it is they want. That can be very exhausting, knowing that they’ve got to use the one where the dog was good.

  29 INT. INNER HALL. DOWNTON. NIGHT.

  Anna is standing at a cupboard, rolling laundered bandages. Mary picks one up and starts to roll it.

  MARY: Peace at last.

  ANNA: We’ll settle in. Once we get used to it. Any news from Sir Richard?

  MARY: Not yet, but we won’t have long to wait.

  ANNA: I can leave this, m’lady, if you want to go to bed.

  MARY: There’s no hurry. Though I do think you should be downstairs. Reading or talking or something. You can’t work every hour God sends.

  ANNA: I want to. I want to be tired out. I don’t want time to myself.

  MARY: Do you miss him very much?

  ANNA: I can’t think of anything but him. It’s as if I were mad or ill… I suppose that’s what love is. A kind of illness. And when you’ve got it, there’s just nothing else.

  MARY: I know.

  Their eyes are full as they continue their work in silence.

  30 INT. SERVANTS’ HALL. DOWNTON. DAY.

  Daisy is clearing breakfast away. Carson distributes letters.

  CARSON: When anyone sees Mr Branson, can they tell him there’s a letter here? From the War Office.

  O’BRIEN: So he’s off to fight the Hun.

  DAISY: Don’t make light of it.

  ANNA: I agree.

  LANG: He doesn’t know what’s coming. He can’t know what’s coming.

  CARSON: I’m not sure how helpful that is as a line of enquiry, Mr Lang.

  Lang would protest, but the bells begin to ring.

  O’BRIEN: Saved by the bell.

  31 INT. CORA’S BEDROOM. DOWNTON. DAY.

  O’Brien removes Cora’s tray. Cora is reading a letter.

  CORA: Captain Crawley wants to bring his General to inspect us. He thinks we’re an example to our neighbours.

  O’BRIEN: That’s nice.

  CORA: It is nice. And flattering. We must put on our best bib and tucker. I just hope Mrs Crawley allows me a look-in with the arrangements.

  O’BRIEN: Oh, don’t worry about that, m’lady. Thomas has got matters in hand.

  END OF ACT TWO

  ACT THREE

  32 INT. MARY’S BEDROOM. DOWNTON. DAY.

  Anna and Ethel are making the bed when Mary comes in.
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br />   MARY: Anna, there you are. Ethel, could you leave us for a moment?

  Ethel goes out of the room and closes the door.

  MARY (CONT’D): That was Sir Richard on the telephone. It might have been Bates you saw in the village.

  ANNA: Really?

  MARY: He’s working up here at a pub. The Red Lion in Kirkbymoorside.

  ANNA: That’s odd. Mr Bates in a pub?

  MARY: The question’s what’ll you do with the information now you’ve got it?

  33 INT. PASSAGE/ARMADA ROOM. DOWNTON. DAY.

  Ethel is outside an open door. Inside, Thomas is with Bryant.

  THOMAS: We can narrow this sling, sir, for more arm movement. And I’ll ask Major Clarkson to reduce the pills.

  BRYANT: Killjoy.

  They are both distracted by a little laugh from Ethel.

  THOMAS: Ethel? What are you doing there?

  ETHEL: Lady Mary wanted a word with Anna. I’m waiting ’til they’ve finished.

  BRYANT: And in the meantime, she’s come to cheer me up, haven’t you?

  THOMAS: I hope not.

  ETHEL: ’Course not.

  But she giggles, and catches Bryant’s eye as she goes.

  33A INT. LIBRARY. DOWNTON. DAY.

  Robert sits reading a newspaper in the screened-off section of the library, but the sound of men playing ping pong on the other side of the screen distracts him. A ping pong ball eventually comes flying over the top of the screen.

  34 EXT. DOWNTON. DAY.

  Branson is by the car. Sybil helps a patient in a wheelchair.

  SYBIL: Are you waiting for Papa? Do you want me to go and find him?

  BRANSON: They’ve turned me down.

  She is taken aback by his tone. He explains his own anger.

  BRANSON (CONT’D): The Army. The sawbones failed me.

  SYBIL: Why?

  BRANSON: Apparently, I have a heart murmur. Or to be more precise…

  He pulls a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket.

  BRANSON (CONT’D): ‘A mitral valve prolapse is causing a pansystolic murmur.’*

  SYBIL: I don’t know what to say. Is it dangerous?

  BRANSON: Only if you’re planning to humiliate the British Army… I suppose you’re glad.

  SYBIL: You’re not going to be killed and you’re not going to prison. Of course I’m glad.