The End of Downton

On Friday it was announced that the sixth series of Downton Abbey will be the last. It'll wrap up with a final episode on Christmas Day, meaning that we've got nine episodes of the award-winning drama left.

I suspect I'm not the only person who's relieved by the news. I love Downton, don't get me wrong, but I think ending on a high is the way to go. If you start losing the core cast of Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery etc then the show will change beyond recognition. The departure of Dan Stevens left a gap that, really, hasn't been filled, and finding a suitable mate for Mary is one of those tricky things the final series will have to contend with.

There are numerous little story-lines that fans need resolved and numerous little things they'd like to see. We all have our favourite characters and the problem is that giving them all a suitable send-off is going to be difficult.

Whatever happens, Christmas Day 2015 is going to be memorable for Downton fans.