The fifth series of the British historical drama television series Downton Abbey broadcast from 21 September 2014 to 9 November 2014, comprising a total of eight episodes and one Christmas Special episode broadcast on 25 December 2014. The series was broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom and on PBS in the United States, which supported the production as part of its Masterpiece Classic anthology.
| Downton Abbey | |
|---|---|
| Series 5 | |
| No. of episodes | 8 + 1 Christmas special |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Original release | 21 September – 9 November 2014 |
| Series chronology | |
Series overview edit
In 1924, a Russian exile, Prince Kuragin, wishes to renew his past affections for the Dowager Countess. The Countess instead locates his wife in Hong Kong and reunites the prince and his estranged wife. Scotland Yard and the local police investigate Mr Green's death. Violet learns that Marigold is Edith's daughter. Meanwhile, Mrs Drewe, not knowing Marigold's true parentage, resents Edith's constant visits. To increase his chances with Mary, Charles Blake plots to reunite Gillingham with his ex-fiancée, Mabel. After Edith inherits Michael Gregson's publishing company, she removes Marigold from the Drewes. Simon Bricker, an art expert interested in one of Downton's paintings, shows his true intentions toward Cora and is thrown out by Robert, causing a temporary rift between the couple.
Mrs Patmore's decision to invest her inheritance in property inspires Carson to do the same. He suggests that head housekeeper Mrs Hughes invest with him; she confesses she has no money due to supporting a mentally incapacitated sister. The Crawleys' cousin, Lady Rose, daughter of Lord and Lady Flintshire, becomes engaged to Atticus Aldridge, son of Lord and Lady Sinderby. Lord Sinderby strongly objects to Atticus marrying outside the Jewish faith. Lord Merton proposes to Isobel Crawley (Matthew's mother). She accepts, but later ends the engagement due to Lord Merton's sons' disparaging comments over her status as a commoner. Lady Flintshire employs underhanded schemes to derail Rose and Atticus's engagement, including announcing to everyone at the wedding that she and her husband are divorcing, intending to cause a scandal to stop Rose's marriage to Atticus; they are married anyway.
When Anna is arrested on suspicion of Mr Green's murder, Bates writes a false confession before fleeing to Ireland. Baxter and footman Molesley are able to prove that Bates was in York at the time of the murder. This new information allows Anna to be released. Cora eventually learns the truth about Marigold and wants her raised at Downton; Marigold is presented as Edith's ward, but Robert and Tom eventually discern the truth: only Mary is still unaware. When a war memorial is unveiled in the village, Robert arranges for a separate plaque to honour the cook Mrs Patmore's late nephew, who was shot for cowardice and excluded from his own village's memorial.
The Crawleys are invited to Brancaster Castle, which Lord and Lady Sinderby have rented for a shooting party. While there, Lady Rose, with help from the Crawleys, defuses a personal near-disaster for Lord Sinderby, earning his gratitude and securing his approval of Rose. A second footman, Andy, is hired on Barrow's recommendation. During the Downton Abbey Christmas celebration, Tom Branson announces he is moving to the U.S. to work for his cousin, taking daughter Sybil with him. Carson proposes marriage to Mrs Hughes and she accepts.
Cast and characters edit
Main cast edit
- Hugh Bonneville as Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham
- Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith Crawley
- Tom Cullen as Anthony "Tony" Foyle, Viscount Gillingham
- Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley
- Lily James as Lady Rose MacClare; later Lady Rose Aldridge
- Allen Leech as Mr Tom Branson
- Elizabeth McGovern as Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham
- Julian Ovenden as The Honourable Charles Blake
- David Robb as Dr Richard Clarkson
- Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham
- Penelope Wilton as Mrs Isobel Crawley
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Downstairs
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Episodes edit
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) [1] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | 1 | "Episode One" | Catherine Morshead | Julian Fellowes | 21 September 2014 | 10.71 | ||||||
| February 1924: Both Robert and Carson are upset by the appointment of a Labour government. The villagers want to build a war memorial, and they ask Carson to head the organising committee. Lady Edith has had no word from Michael Gregson for almost two years (he left for Germany in April 1922), and is upset at being unable to participate in the life of her daughter, Marigold. Lady Mary agrees to have a secret affair with Lord Gillingham. Tom Branson grows closer to school teacher Sarah Bunting. Lord Merton pursues Isobel, who is not interested. Rather than give in to Thomas' blackmail, Baxter reveals her past to Cora: she was convicted of stealing jewellery from a previous employer. When Thomas tries to expose Baxter, Cora tells him she already knows Baxter’s story and that his position at Downton is now precarious. Miss Bunting is invited to Robert and Cora's 34th wedding anniversary, but stirs up conflict with her left-wing comments. Thomas rescues Lady Edith from a fire in her bedroom, restoring him to Cora's good graces. Because of the fire, Robert discovers footman Jimmy in bed with Lady Anstruther. She leaves before morning; Robert instructs Carson to dismiss Jimmy, but with a good reference. | ||||||||||||
| 36 | 2 | "Episode Two" | Catherine Morshead | Julian Fellowes | 28 September 2014 | 10.46 | ||||||
| April 1924: Thomas reveals Miss Baxter's crime to Molesley; Baxter confirms everything. Charles Blake brings suave art historian Simon Bricker (Richard E. Grant) to view a painting by Piero della Francesca in the Downton collection. Bricker flirts with Cora, and Robert correctly labels him a bounder. Charles concedes that Mary now prefers Tony Gillingham. Mary asks Anna to procure a birth-control device for her tryst with Gillingham. Tenant farmer Mr Drewe, Marigold’s foster father, suggests that Edith becomes Marigold's patroness and godmother, allowing her to see her daughter more often. Violet and Isobel visit Lord Merton's country estate. Robert opposes getting a wireless, but rents one when King George V broadcasts a speech from the British Empire Exhibition. The local police sergeant arrives and tells Carson and Mrs Hughes there was a witness to Green's death and that inquiries must be made. | ||||||||||||
| 37 | 3 | "Episode Three" | Catherine Morshead | Julian Fellowes | 5 October 2014 | 10.15 | ||||||
| May 1924: Sergeant Willis reveals that a witness overheard Green telling someone he had been badly treated at Downton and that he disliked Bates. Mary and Gillingham spend an idyllic week driving around Cheshire, unrecognized, but Spratt, Violet's butler, spots them leaving a hotel in Liverpool and, clearly relishing the task, informs Violet. Violet instantly invents a cover story for the lovers. Later, she is greatly relieved when Mary tells her obliquely that she used birth control, and that Gillingham proposed before they became lovers: he wants to set the date. Violet still disapproves of her behaviour but feels that this sheds a different light on it as long as the engagement is announced immediately. Cora is in London, visiting Rosamund. She spends a pleasant day with Mr. Bricker, exploring museums and galleries and having dinner out on the spur of the moment. Meanwhile, Robert decides to go up to London and surprise her. He is angry to learn how she spent the day and contemptuous of the idea that Bricker could find Cora’s comments on art useful or interesting. Edith's constant visits to see Marigold are upsetting Mrs Drewe, and Mr Drewe asks Edith to stay away for a while. | ||||||||||||
| 38 | 4 | "Episode Four" | Minkie Spiro | Julian Fellowes | 12 October 2014 | 10.25 | ||||||
| May 1924: Violet takes Isobel to visit the Russian aristocrats, now living in poverty. Tom and Mary push the housing development. Rose's father, Lord Flintshire (Shrimpie) announces that he and his wife are divorcing. Lord Merton proposes to Isobel. Miss Baxter witnesses Thomas self-medicating. Mary tells Lord Gillingham she will not marry him. Mr Bricker visits again, to Robert's disapproval. Miss Bunting goes too far in goading Robert with her left-wing views, and is ordered to leave the house. Sergeant Willis returns to Downton; whilst in London with Mary, Anna was observed by an undercover officer visiting Lord Gillingham's flat in Albany. This is explained as her delivering a letter to Gillingham from Mary. However, she then went to Piccadilly, where Green was killed, making the police suspicious. | ||||||||||||
| 39 | 5 | "Episode Five" | Minkie Spiro | Julian Fellowes | 19 October 2014 | 10.39 | ||||||
| 1924: Inspector Vyner of Scotland Yard interviews Mary and Anna about Mr Green. Mrs Patmore decides to buy a cottage with her inheritance money and rent it out. Mrs Drewe tells her husband to forbid further contact between Marigold and Edith. Violet gets the entire story from Rosamund; they advise Edith to take the child to France. Charles Blake invites Mary to lunch, along with Tony Gillingham's former fiancée, Mabel Lane Fox; Blake has a cunning plan to reunite Gillingham and Mabel, leaving him free to court Mary, but Mabel walks out. Thomas is looking increasingly ill. With Robert away, Mr Bricker visits again and sneaks uninvited to Cora's bedroom. Robert arrives back early and discovers them. Robert remains distant with Cora, believing she is also at fault. | ||||||||||||
| 40 | 6 | "Episode Six" | Philip John | Julian Fellowes | 26 October 2014 | 9.87 | ||||||
| 1924: Violet visits Prince Kuragin. Edith learns that Michael was killed by some of Hitler's associates during the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. She inherits his publishing company, removes Marigold from the Drewe's care, and goes to London. The police return and interview Miss Baxter. She admits to some suspicions about Bates and Green. Bates discovers Mary's contraceptive device hidden in Anna's drawer and accuses her of not wanting his child because she believes him a murderer. His unused train ticket would have proved he had never gone there, but Mary burned it, believing she was protecting him. Anna and Bates reconcile. Baxter takes Thomas to Dr Clarkson, and he admits he was attempting to "cure" his homosexuality. Cora and Robert reconcile. Carson asks Mrs Hughes if she would be interested in investing in a property with him. Robert's dog, Isis, appears to be unwell. | ||||||||||||
| 41 | 7 | "Episode Seven" | Philip John | Julian Fellowes | 2 November 2014 | 10.77 | ||||||
| 1924: Rose introduces her new friend Atticus Aldridge and his parents, Lord and Lady Sinderby, to the family. Isobel announces her engagement to Lord Merton. Mrs Drewe tells Cora Edith's secret, and Cora goes with Rosamund to see Edith in London. She suggests that Edith return home and pretend to adopt Marigold. Bates and Anna plan their future, and contemplate selling Bates's mother's house in London and buying a house or hotel nearby to let out. Tom has written to his cousin in Boston about moving to the United States. Lord Merton's two sons are rude and insolent to Isobel during dinner. Atticus proposes to Rose. Robert's beloved dog Isis is ill with cancer. He and Cora take her into their bed to comfort her in her final hours. | ||||||||||||
| 42 | 8 | "Episode Eight" | Michael Engler | Julian Fellowes | 9 November 2014 | 10.44 | ||||||
| 1924: Everyone is in London for Rose and Atticus's wedding. Inspector Vyner calls Anna to take part in an identity parade at Scotland Yard. Tom shares with his sisters-in-law that he plans to move to Boston and become a business partner with his cousin. Inspector Vyner turns up unexpectedly and arrests Anna on suspicion of Green's murder, as she was identified by the witness as having been on the pavement near Green just before his death. The war memorial is unveiled, and Robert unveils a separate stone he ordered which honours Mrs Patmore's late nephew. Robert comes to the realisation that Marigold is Edith's daughter by the late Michael Gregson. | ||||||||||||
| Special | ||||||||||||
| 43 | – | "A Moorland Holiday" | Minkie Spiro | Julian Fellowes | 25 December 2014 | 7.99 | ||||||
| September and December 1924. Lord and Lady Sinderby invite the Granthams to Brancaster Castle, which they have rented from Peter Hexham, 6th Marquess of Hexham, for grouse shooting. While there, Edith meets Brancaster's agent and Peter's distant cousin, Bertie Pelham (Harry Hadden-Paton). Mary meets Henry Talbot (Matthew Goode), Lady Shackleton's nephew, an amateur race car driver. The Dowager Countess reunites Prince Kuragin and his estranged wife. Carson and Mrs Hughes search for a house as an investment together, but Mrs Hughes reveals she has no money and cannot retire as she must support her mentally disabled younger sister. Carson buys a property in both their names, then proposes marriage to Mrs Hughes, to which she accepts. Isobel declines Lord Merton's earlier marriage proposal, not wanting to come between him and his sons. Robert learns he has a stomach ulcer. He tells Edith that he knows about Marigold and agrees to continue the pretence that she is Edith's ward. To absolve Anna, Bates writes a letter confessing he killed Mr Green, then disappears - apparently to Ireland. Molesley and Baxter are able to prove that Bates was not in London when Green was killed. Anna is released on bail. The Downton household has its annual Christmas party. Tom and Sybbie prepare to leave for America. Bates returns and reunites with Anna. Violet confesses to Isobel that she and Prince Kuragin once attempted to run away together. | ||||||||||||