What next? Curtains for Downton after six years of drama
Alastair Stewart
Former ITV News presenter
Save an invitation to mount the stage at Glastonbury and intone, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest rock and roll band in the world, the Rolling Stones!’ is was the gig to end all gigs.
For the second year running, I was asked to host the press conference for the next, but this time final, series of the classic ITV drama Downton Abbey.
If you know me, you know I have slightly more than a passing interest in the ups and down of the Abbey, its resident clan of aristocrats, its battalions of footmen, ladies maids and ancillary staff, and the fine folk who occupy the local village.
For six years it has dominated our screens, attracted fans in their millions, gathered up awards by the elegant armful, confirmed the greatness of stars like Dame Maggie Smith and made not a few new fixtures of the field.
It flows, with a crisp wit and penetrating social perception, from the sharp pen of Lord (Julian) Fellowes.
From the sinking of the Titanic, via the horrors of the First World War, the crash of 1922 to the first Labour Government, it has taken us through the good and the bad of early C20th history with warmth, humour and a little scandal.
This final series starts in 1925.
But, with it, it is done. Over. Fin.
Julian said he wanted to end on a high “Leave ‘em wanting more not wishing it would end. I can think of a few that made that mistake”.
Gareth Neame, the executive producer, talked of a movie. Were the cast all up for that? "Well it won’t happen if they’re not!".
Liz Trubridge, series producer, said the 6th series was a bonus – it was due to put on its pipe and slippers after 5.
There has always been humour: the Dowager Duchess’s magnificent one liners and put-downs, rightly celebrated.
"What is a weekend?" must surely be headed for the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.
And, in this final run, watch out for "Doesn’t it ever get cold on the moral high-ground?".
The dramas ability to nod, both nonchalantly and dramatically, to the big issues has always been at its heart. This last series won’t disappoint.
In just the first episode there is childcare and adoption; there is law, order and jurisprudence; there is women’s equality; the re-organisation of the health service; and there is even hunting.
When asked what it had made them think about, Hugh Bonneville (the Earl of Grantham) said the First World War.
And what next for them?
A piece for ITV from Julian based on Trollope’s 'Doctor Throne'; a Mounbatten piece for Hugh; several more TV dramas for Joanne… and, for the great lady herself: Violet, the Dowager Duchess, the peerless Dame Maggie Smith?
"Oh, a lie down, I think, my dear…".
Watch out for it in the autumn.