Downton’s cast and crew say their final goodbye

The final episode of hit drama Downton Abbey in the United Kingdom drew an average audience of 6.9 million for broadcaster ITV on Sunday night, according to overnight ratings provided by ITV, giving it the biggest Christmas Day audience in Britain.

Viewing figures for the Christmas Day episodes of ITV’s drama has fallen with each successive year since the first special was broadcast in 2011.

The emotional farewell to one of the decades most popular television programme’s will be shown at 8.45pm on ITV1.

Since it was announced earlier this year that Downton Abbey would bow out on Christmas Day, the question on all our lips was how the Crawleys would bid us a final farewell.

Executive producer Gareth Neame said the ITV show didn’t return for another season because dame Dame Maggie Smith, who plays Dowager Countess Lady Violet Crawley, wouldn’t be starring in it. Carson has been more concerned about the pace of change in the Downton Abbey household than he has about his new wife.

Following the final episode on Friday, a special video from the cast and crew shows them filming the final moments on set, as they reflect on their time in the world of Downton.

Michelle Dockery also spoke of the difficulty of saying goodbye to her character during an interview with Standard UK.

It was Mary who brought Edith, played by Laura Carmichael, and Bertie Pelham (Harry Hadden-Paton), back together before they tied the knot. “We’ll know more next year”.

Over its six seasons, Downton Abbey has won a host of accolades, including numerous Emmy Awards.

It also grew into a pop-culture favourite with spoofs and parodies from Sesame Street and The Simpsons, to name a few, lighting up social media.