Downton Abbey is like an early 1900s version of the Energizer Bunny. This updated take on the dichotomy between the aristocratic lords and ladies and the maids and butlers of a giant estate just keeps going and going. Until now: the third and final movie, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is out Sept 13, 2025, tying a silk bow on the whole saga.
Though supplanted in some viewer’s hearts by Bridgerton (Like Downton Abbey with a LOT more sex) or even Downton creator Julian Fellowes’ own The Gilded Age, this incredible hour-long soap opera / drama still has a special place in the hearts of fans of period-piece goings-on. To celebrate its third and final movie and the resolution of the 15-year franchise, we’re presenting our 10 favorite episodes of the series in chronological order, plus honorable mentions at the end. It’s a great time to catch up on the series and prior movies before going to see the big sendoff.
[Warning: Spoilers for Downton Abbey Follow]
Season 1, Episode 3 (The One Where Mr. Pamuk Dies)
This particular episode has repercussions that ring throughout the entire rest of the series. A wealthy Mr. Napier (Brendan Patricks) visits Downton as a love interest for Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery), but Mary is only interested in Napier’s friend, Kemal Pamuk (Theo James) of the Turkish embassy. The attraction is instantly mutual, and the two spend the night together, a scandalous act for the early 20th century. Unfortunately for Mary, Mr. Pamuk dies in her bed of a heart attack. The rest of the episode involves a small conspiracy between family and staff to cover up the death and the last night they spent together, a decision that will come back to haunt Mary numerous times.
Season 1, Episode 7 (The One Where Cora Has a Miscarriage)
Sometimes anger leads to horrible outcomes. Cora Crawley (Elizabeth McGovern), the lady of Grantham, is pregnant with her fourth child, and her older maid Miss O’Brien (Siobhan Finneran) is incensed at the possibility that she might be replaced as lady’s maid. She plants a bar of soap at the foot of Lady Grantham’s bath, and predictably, Lady Grantham takes a terrible fall. As a result, she has a miscarriage and loses what would have been a male heir. O’Brien feels incredibly guilty but keeps the act of sabotage to herself.
Season 2, Episode 6 (The One with the Lost Heir, Patrick)
A shocking standalone episode, this one sees a young man named Patrick (Trevor White) arriving at Downton Abbey from World War I, his face wrapped in bandages and unrecognizable. He claims to be the lost heir to the Crawley fortune, once thought lost aboard the Titanic.
According to Patrick, a stint in the war restored his lost memory and led him to seek out Downton. Lord Grantham investigates and leaves room for doubt, so rather than pressing the issue, Patrick departs quietly. Was he the actual heir? We’ll never know.
Season 2 Finale / Christmas Special (The One Where Mr. Bates Goes to Prison)
Two seasons before the authorities can threaten prison to Mr. Bates for possibly killing Mr. Green, he’s sent to prison for the first time and accused of killing his ex-wife, Vera (Maria Doyle Kennedy), an all-around horrible person and a constant thorn in the side of Mr. Bates, even after the divorce. Mr. Bates is nearly sent to the gallows, but a last-minute reprieve gets him life in prison instead, at least until he can determine what really happened: Vera poisoned herself and made it look like murder to ruin Mr. Bates’ life, and nearly succeeded.
Season 3, Episode 3 (The One Where Edith Is Left at the Altar)
Out of all the characters on the show, Edith Crawley is probably the unluckiest in love. (She also has an intense, bitter rivalry with her sister, Mary, that lasts throughout the show.) Early in season 3, she’s left at the altar by the much older Sir Anthony Strallan (Robert Bathurst), who believes that Edith will be throwing her life away by marrying him. Later in the series, another love of Edith’s, Michael Gregson (Charles Edwards), is killed by proto-Nazis in Germany after she becomes pregnant with his child and before they can be wed. Finally, Edith finds love with her editor Bertie at the women’s magazine where she works, he accepts that she has a child out of wedlock, and they all live happily ever after.
Season 3, Episode 5 (The One Where Sybil Dies after Childbirth)
Downton Abbey has a habit of introducing joy to the show and then immediately following that up with tragedy. Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay), the great love of Tom Branson’s (Allen Leech) life, is having a rough pregnancy indeed, and Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), Lady Grantham, and two doctors all disagree on what to do next. The family doctor, Dr. Clarkson (David Robb), advises that they rush Sybil to the hospital at once. The new specialist that Lord Grantham favors, Dr. Tapsel (Tim Pigott-Smith), advises them to wait it out. Dr. Tapsel’s advice appears to be wrong, as shortly after Sybil gives birth, she dies of eclampsia. This causes a rift between the lord and lady, and Tom is suddenly a single father.
Season 4, Episode 3 (The One Where Anna is Assaulted)
This is another pivotal moment of the entire show that drives much of the plot for the entire rest of the run of Downton Abbey. Though the show normally shies away from sexual assault and other adult themes, this is one exception. One of Mary’s many love interests, Lord Gillingham (Tom Cullen), visits Downton Abbey for a house party, and his valet, Mr. Green (Nigel Harman), sneaks away and finds the maid, Anna, and brutally rapes her. She tells almost no one and her true love, Mr. Bates, is enraged on Anna’s behalf. Later in the season, Mr. Green is found dead, having been pushed into the street and run over by a horse and carriage. Naturally, Mr. Bates is the first suspect, and Anna another suspect, so many episodes go into them both working to clear their names.
Season 5 Finale / Christmas Special (The One Where Mr. Carson Proposes)
In what is possibly the most unlikeliest but sweetest love story on the show, fellow servants Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) and Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan) have been in a hesitant but touching romance since season 4. First, Mr. Carson proposes that he and Mrs. Hughes go in on buying a house together, since they both need a place to live. Mrs. Hughes turns him down initially, then to seal the deal, Mr. Carson proposes to her, and to his surprise, Mrs. Hughes accepts. Their cohabitation in season 6 is rocky at first (mostly because of Mr. Carson’s very picky eating habits), but they soon settle in as a cute married couple.
Season 6, Episode 6 (The One Where Molesley Becomes a Teacher)
For nearly the entire show’s run, Joseph Molesley (Kevin Doyle) was a laughing stock: an older butler and footman with a drinking problem who leaves Downton Abbey for bigger and better things, fails, and has to return, demoted to a footman, which he feels is beneath him.
That all changes in season 6, when he begins to tutor assistant cook Daisy Mason (Sophie McShera) in mathematics, as Daisy is doing everything she can to gain knowledge and improve her standing. Molesley finds he’s a very good teacher indeed, and a lightbulb goes on over his head, so to speak: After a conversation with the local schoolmaster, he begins to help out at the school. Later, he passes his exams and becomes a teacher, finding happiness at last.
Season 6 Finale / Christmas Special (The One Where Edith Gets Married and Anna Gives Birth)
The finale for the entire Downton Abbey show and one of several Christmas specials (as is tradition among many British television shows), this episode wraps up a lot of long-running plotlines, chief among them the wedding of Edith Crawley (Laura Carmichael) and Bertie Pelham (Harry Hadden-Paton) and the birth of John Bates (Brendan Coyle) and Anna Bates’ (Joanne Froggatt) newborn son at long last, just as the New Year rings in.
Honorable Mentions: The Movies
Though they are feature films and therefore ineligible for a top 10 episodes list, these are worth mentioning because they continue the story admirably after the end of the series, and they offer some fun resolutions to characters who didn’t get a chance for closure during the very busy series finale.
Downton Abbey (2019)
Though the first movie somewhat confusingly omits a subtitle, the plot is pretty straightforward (and very funny): the royal family is visiting Downton Abbey! Mr. Carson, the former head butler of Downton (now retired), is persuaded to come back to help organize things ahead of the royal family’s arrival. Unfortunately, the royal family’s servants arrive and immediately take over proceedings, much to the usual workers’ consternation. What are they to do?
The answer is sabotage, of course. In amusing fashion, the servants fake a letter to Westminster Abbey that forces the entire servant corps to drive back to the palace, leaving our heroes in charge where they belong, and they pull it off nearly without a hitch.
The two other fun plotlines in this movie involve the two characters named Tom. Ne’er-do-well Thomas Barrow (Rob James-Collier), formerly the head butler before being temporarily displaced by Mr. Carson, befriends a member of the royal family’s staff, Mr. Ellis (Max Brown), who turns out to be gay just like our Mr. Barrow. Mr. Ellis invites him to a secret gay club, and Mr. Barrow has a wonderful time. Later, they depart with a kiss and Mr. Ellis asks him to write.
The other plotline involves our Irish leading man Tom Branson, who discovers and interrupts an assassination on the King with a dramatic tackle, one of a few fun action sequences in this normally sedate series.
We also learn that our favorite Dowager Countess, Violet Crowley (Maggie Smith), has a terminal illness, a plotline that carries over into the sequel movie.
Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)
Ignore Mr. Barrow’s happy ending in the last film, as it’s quickly undone: He receives a letter that Mr. Ellis has gotten married… to a woman. He’s despondent, but not all is lost, as the plot of this movie is twofold.
A British filmmaking company wishes to make a silent film on the grounds of Downton Abbey, and the Dowager Countess discovers she’s inherited a French villa from an old flame. So half the cast navigates the movie being made, and the other half visits the south of France and learns much more about Violet’s past than they intended.
This film is even better than the last one because nearly everyone finds love: Mr. Barrow and the leading man in the film (played by Dominic West) fall for each other; Tom Branson and the love interest (Tuppence Middleton) he met during the royal affair of the last film get married and have a child; and even Mr. Molesley and Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol) find their respective true loves. We also say goodbye to Violet, as she passes on at the very end (and the amazing actress Maggie Smith passed in real life soon after).
It’s easy to wonder what story could be left to tell in the final film, but we’ll all have to see when Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale entertains us all.
Didn’t see your favorite episode mentioned? Let us know in the comments!
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale opens in theaters on September 12, 2025.
Downton Abbey is available to stream on Prime Video.
Thumbnail image by ©Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
