Downton Abbey: Exec Producer Talks Final Season, Movie

The Downton finale went head to head with EastEnders, which pulled in 5.7 million viewers for the same 8.45pm slot.

The success marks the 1st time in 15 years of time of time in that ITV has crushed the BBC to say the very best rated Christmas Day show.

Teasing what will happen in the special Christmas Day episode during an interview with Good Morning Britain, Michelle Dockery, who plays the role of Lady Mary, said: “We’ve had some dramas”.

Downton Abbey will end its run on Christmas Day in the United Kingdom, but US fans will see the final season airing on PBS starting on January 3 with the finale set to air in March.

The final episode of the hit ITV drama was trending on Twitter worldwide.

That compares with the first Downton Abbey Christmas special in 2011, which drew a consolidated audience of 12.1 million.

But the Queen’s speech, broadcast on BBC and ITV, was the most watched programme, with a combined audience of 7.2 million. Carson has been more concerned about the pace of change in the Downton Abbey household than he has about his new wife.

However the vast majority of Twitterers were extremely pleased to see Lady Edith get the ending she deserved.

Other viewers continued: “So happy for Lady Edith, Spratt needs his own show #DowntonAbbey”, and: “Lady Edith finally got her happy ending, there’s hope for me yet!”

“I arrived here as a boy, I leave as a man”, he tells those assembled, as George begs him to stay. The sentiment seems to be that many cast members are ready to move on, and doing something like this without a few of the iconic cast members would at this point be too depressing. This year ITV also won the battle of the soaps, with Coronation Street attracting 5.9 million viewers, 200,000 more than EastEnders.