Tell me if I'm caught up on Downton Abbey!

[dbskyler]

PBS just finished airing Downton Abbey's "season 3" here, and I don't know if the last episode they showed is the latest episode shown in the UK or not. So, before I venture out into the internet to read reaction posts, can some kind soul tell me if I'm fully caught up?

Here's what just happened:



The Crawleys went to Scotland, Mary came back early and had her baby, Matthew saw the baby, and then they killed him off. Matthew, that is, not the baby. Although characters are dropping like flies, so who knows what's next? Well, perhaps you do, which is part of the point of my asking in the first place. *g* Anyway, am I caught up, or have further episodes been shown in the UK?



Thanks for any help!

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Yes, that was the "lovely" Christmas Special they gave us. Barstewards!

[thisbluespirit]

You're ahead of me! I didn't get to watch the Christmas Special, which is annoying. I'm sure ITV3'll show it again in the run up to S4.

(And re. Matthew I don't think it was specifically for the doom at Christmas thing the soaps inevitably go for - Dan Stevens wanted to leave, so it was either that or a break-up, which I can't see being anything other than OOC, so... *shrugs*)

You're safe, though. Go wild with the reaction posts - although my impression seems to be that nobody likes it much any more. I do, though. ;-)

[lolmac]

As others have said, you're caught up.

The backstage details: the cast had all signed 3-year contracts. Obviously, this was standard procedure and also pie in the sky, since a complex soap-opera-esque period drama with multiple snarly plotlines and not much sex would NEVER last more than one season, right? Two at the most?

So, yeah. Insanely successful runaway hit, major sponsor dived in to support production costs, and the formerly unknown actors are now international celebrities in high demand.

Both Sybil and Matthew were written out because the actors had gotten really, REALLY great offers requiring long-term commitments that didn't leave room for Downton filming. The initial contracts completed, and it was time to re-sign or leave, so . . . Dan Stevens' was an offer for a US TV series, and apparently it was so good that the DA producers literally told him to accept. Within the UK (I'm told), the TV and film and stage segments are able to work together and share actors, but this doesn't work too well overseas.

And, of course, the only way to write the character out was to kill him, because nothing else would be in character, gack.