Note: This article may contain spoilers
Episode 5 of Downton Abbey will have seen viewers all over the country wiping their eyes.
The previous episode saw Matthew (Dan Stevens) safe, a brighter future for Anna (Joanne Froggatt) and Bates (Brendan Coyle) and a feeling of hope in the hearts of the audience. The latest episode changes everything.
As always, the programme was beautifully written and remains an example of fantastic cinematography, but this has to be the saddest episode yet.
Plans for Anna and Bates are still not on track. One scene sees the two of them praying at the alter of a church, the picture is so reminiscent of a wedding ceremony it is heartbreakingly painful to watch. Bates promises; “It won’t be long now.” However, the arrival of his wife, Vera (Maria Doyle Kennedy), brings the words; “It doesn’t end here. Not for John Bates.” It seems as though he will never be rid of her.
Meanwhile, Daisy (Sophie McShera) marries William (Thomas Howes) despite her previous, prolonged reluctance. Having been fatally injured in the war, William dies in the same bed in which he married her. Cue the crying and thousands of viewers emptying their tissue boxes.
Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) and Matthew keep jumping hurdles only to run into the next one. Matthew has also been wounded in the war and is most likely paralysed from the waist down. He ends his engagement with Lavinia (Zoe Doyle) after discovering he is unable to father children, telling her; “I won’t steal away your life.” He then tells Mary; “I couldn’t marry any woman.”
Combine all that with the murder of the Russian Tsar, a presumptuous chauffeur being a little too forward with Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay), Ethel (Amy Nuttall), a former maid at Downton, having a baby which the father refuses to see and this captivating episode becomes jam-packed.
A final word must go to the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith), a woman who sets her sights on any goal and achieves it, an inspiring and hilarious role model.
The next episode of this addictive series promises so much more and will undoubtedly deliver.