Downton takes on Walford in TV ratings battle

“We’ve made friends for life, you know Laura [Carmichael] and I are not anxious about not seeing each other because we live very close by one another, we see each other all the time”, the actress explained.

The actor, 52 – who plays benevolent Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in the hugely popular ITV series – told The Sun that the stars were frisked by production staff on the final day of filming…

The series penned by Julian Fellowes has been a success across the world.

EastEnders, which was up against Downton at 8:45pm, pulled in 5.7 million viewers.

One user wrote: “So glad Lady Edith got her happy ending… loved #DowntonAbbey a fantastic end to a great series”.

Michelle Dockery had a tear in her eye when she read the final page of the last ever “Downton Abbey” script.

Only the Queen’s Christmas message was watched by more people, with 7.2 million tuning in live to hear the 10-minute lunchtime address across both ITV1 and BBC1.

The final episode of the hit ITV drama was trending on Twitter worldwide on Christmas Day with the final scene, which saw the cast singing Auld Lang Syne as they celebrated New Year’s Eve, an emotional farewell to the show.

BBC sci-fi favorite Doctor Who, starring Peter Capaldi, in 2014 drew an overnight audience of 6.34 million on Christmas Day, beating out Downton Abbey. Not a single show broke the 7 million viewer mark this year, down from the most recent peak in 2010 when three shows – all on the BBC – each attracted more than 10 million.

Earlier on in the day, Christmas movie fearless had 5.5 million viewers on BBC One in the afternoon and animated short Stick Man was seen by 6.3 million.