Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale – a ‘comfort’ watch for fans
The final film of the franchise gives viewers a chance to say goodbye

“Like a hot water bottle on a cold night”, “Downton Abbey” has “long been a great comfort to us Brits”, said Dulcie Pearce in The Sun.
In the first episode of the TV drama, in 2010, the aristocratic Crawley family learnt about the sinking of the “Titanic”; then, over six series and two feature films, we followed them and their servants through the First World War and the influenza pandemic. Now, it is time to say goodbye.
This final film opens in London in 1930, where Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) has scandalised polite society by divorcing her husband; then her American uncle (Paul Giamatti) arrives at Downton with a slimy friend (Alessandro Nivola) to confess that he has lost the family fortune in bad business deals. Of course, the Dowager Countess (played so memorably by the late Maggie Smith) is gone; but we are reminded of her via lingering shots of a huge portrait in the hall.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Other things, however, are reassuringly familiar, said Brian Viner in the Daily Mail. Elizabeth McGovern “still simpers her lines”, as Lady Grantham, instead of speaking them. “Mr Barrow’s personality transplant remains firmly in place.” And Mr Carson, though retired, is still fussing over the cutlery. As for the plot, well there isn’t a proper one; instead, we have multiple storylines: Mr Molesley has written a film; Noël Coward turns up, with a plan to use Lady Mary’s divorce as the basis for a play; Mrs Carson is running the village fair.
The plodding script is too reliant on characters walking into rooms to announce plot points, said India Block in London's The Standard; the film is almost hypnotically dull; and it grips ever tighter to its deeply conservative vision of a rosy past “that never was”. Still, fans will no doubt relish this chance for a final wallow in Julian Fellowes’s warm bath.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
October 19 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's editorial cartoons include Pete Hegseth and the press, an absence of government, and George Washington crossing the Delaware
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelago
The Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
AI: is the bubble about to burst?
In the Spotlight Stock market ever-more reliant on tech stocks whose value relies on assumptions of continued growth and easy financing
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelago
The Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
Diane Keaton: the Oscar-winning star of Annie Hall
In the Spotlight Something’s Gotta Give actor dies from pneumonia at the age of 79
-
Heirs and Graces: an ‘enthralling’ deep dive into the decline of nobility
The Week Recommends Eleanor Doughty explores the ‘bizarre fascination’ with the British aristocracy
-
6 sporty homes with tennis courts
Feature Featuring a clay tennis court in New York and a viewing deck in California
-
Critics’ choice: Seafood in the spotlight
Feature An experimental chef, a newspaper-worthy newcomer, and a dining titan’s fresh spin-off
-
Taylor Swift’s Showgirl: Much glitter, little gold
Feature Swift’s new album has broken records, but critics say she may have gotten herself creatively stuck
-
Theater review: Masquerade
218 W. 57th St., New York City 218 W. 57th St., New York City
-
Film reviews: Roofman and Kiss of the Spider Woman
Feature An escaped felon’s heart threatens to give him away and a prisoner escapes into daydreams of J.Lo.