How many of us enjoy family reunions? With Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, we have all been invited to the Crawley family reunion – a grand farewell to the people that we have known now for fifteen years. Does the reunion live up to its grand title? Are the annoying family members still exasperating and the beloved characters still beloved? Writer Julian Fellows is eager to reacquaint us with this family that we know so well.
The year is 1930 and although we don’t see evidence of the great depression that is about to hit the world we do find out that the Crawleys are not quite as rich as they used to be. Lady Grantham’s brother has arrived from America. He, unfortunately, has lost a large sum of her fortune that she gave him to invest. He arrives with a friend who is trying to retrieve some of this money on brother Harold’s behalf. This, of course, would involve investing even more money. Anyone who has watched more than two movies in their lifetime can immediately see that this friend is a ‘bad guy’ and probably did the swindling himself. The rich Crawleys cannot see this, of course, and welcome him into their home. The newly divorced Mary even invites him to her bedroom (shades of season 1!) and is soon open to possible blackmail.
Michelle Dockery stars as Lady Mary in DOWNTON ABBEY: The Grand Finale, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Rory Mulvey / © 2025 FOCUS FEATURES LLC
Unfortunately, Mary has also disgraced the family by divorcing her husband and the Crawleys find themselves knocked down a rung in the social order of the day. The family does still possess Downton Abbey, however. But this valuable home is now getting to be too much for the old family members to manage and Mary is seen as the likely next Lady of the Manor. But what is to be done about the latest scandal?
The servants, too, are starting to retire. Daisy, who in the TV series, was young and inexperienced, is now running the kitchen with great aplomb. In one of the funniest scenes in the movie, Mrs. Patmore confesses how worried she is about her retirement. She will have to sleep with her new husband, whom she has only been with at a distance. The usually staid and stable Mrs. Hughes, also recently married to Mr. Carson, says that she has nothing to worry about. Sleeping together is the most fun you can ever imagine!
Laura Carmichael stars as Lady Edith and Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary in DOWNTON ABBEY: The Grand Finale, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Rory Mulvey / © 2025 FOCUS FEATURES LLC
So how does the scandal get resolved so that we can send off the Crawleys in style? Enter Tom Barrows, recently returned from America. He has two friends in tow. One of them is Noel Coward, delightfully portrayed by Arty Froushan. When you have Noel Coward staying at your home, and you plan a big party – suddenly you are the hottest ticket in town, and everyone forgets about scandalous behaviour. It’s a lovely device, played to the hilt when Mary complains about everyone knowing everything about her private life. Hmmm, Coward muses, ‘what a lovely idea for a play’ – the private lives of the rich.
Did the movie live up to its title? At first, I was skeptical. But the film won me over. All the favourites from the past were there. The costumes were scrumptious and the setting familiar and divine. All the actors are at the top of their game. If the movie was a bit sentimental, it was also wholly satisfying. My one question was: would a new viewer enjoy the movie. But I had that question answered as I walked out of the theatre. A fellow patron was seeing Downton Abbey for the first time, and although she had questions, she loved the movie and was able to follow the story quite easily.
Hugh Bonneville stars as Robert Grantham in DOWNTON ABBEY: The Grand Finale, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Rory Mulvey / © 2025 FOCUS FEATURES LLC
Another question was – what about the absence of Maggie Smith? The movie referenced ‘Violet’ many times, so she was never quite missing. At the end of the story, there was a beautiful compilation of past characters, so we got to say good once again. And the story ends with a giant portrait of Violet and a dedication of the movie to Maggie Smith.
Downton Abbey – it really was a Grand Finale.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is in theatres on Friday, September 12th, 2025.
