As part of ITV's "Text Santa" charity drive, the cast of Downton Abbey has filmed a pair of short movies, riffing on It's a Wonderful Life with a story about what would happen if Lord Grantham had never been born. As it turns out, no less a star than George Clooney would have taken his place.
In part two, Clooney appears as "the most honorable George Oceans Gravity, the Marquis of Hollywood." Typecast, inevitably, as a handsome charming guy, Clooney even manages to win over the Dowager Countess. But for all the fun of watching Clooney mingle with the Downton Abbey gang, the sharpest gag comes in a self-deprecating appearance by series creator Julian Fellowes, in which he admits that he's more concerned about tiny historical accuracies than telling a coherent story.
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