The long Downton goodbye

"Who has an under-butler these days?"

Oh, I don't know. An earl who wants to win the annual cricket match? An earl with a butler near retirement who will need to be replaced? An earl with a houseful of secrets, whose under-butler is resentful enough to make trouble for someone simply for calling him a "stupid fool", let alone for sacking him? Most important of all, an earl whose daughter's life has actually been saved by said under-butler? I'm not sure even Alan Sugar would recommend firing in such circumstances.

Does it show that I've been thinking about angry comebacks to this line ever since I first heard about it (it was part of an early trailer shown to the press, apparently)? Now when the first episode of Downton Abbey series six has aired in Sweden and I see the line in its context, what strikes me most is the Earl's apparent insouciance. He airily considers if he should reduce staff, not because of some pressing financial need but because he's keen to show he's not "out of step" with the times (since when?). To cap it all, he rounds off his talk with Carson on the matter with a sweeping remark about not being able to "stop history in its tracks". He might easily have added that the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley. At least Burns felt sorry for the mouse.

Don't let this grumble mislead you: I was, on the whole, deeply satisfied with the first Downton episode. Because it's the last series, I feel I've caught the reticence bug and don't want to give too much away. However, I can say that the episode contains truly moving scenes, and that plenty of things happen but without the over-hectic pace of episode one of series five, where you had the feeling that every character had a bit of plot business crammed in so he or she could take a bow for the audience. I don't think I'd be entirely happy either if there was nothing to grumble about (another example: however refreshing it is with a series where bolshie rants aren't considered a good thing, whom Daisy chooses to insult in her spare time is surely her own affair?). I think this series is going to be a corker.

It only made me realise how much I will miss Downton when it ends. I think I've been reasonably sensible about the news that this is the final series, and yes, I still believe this may be the best time to stop. But when will I get this much satisfaction out of a TV series again? Poldark doesn't even begin to compare, in spite of the heartstoppingly lovely George. When all is said and done, the plot-line and characters in Poldark are fairly simple. It's up to sweet Demelza to be the drama's heart, whereas in Downton - with the risk of sounding like Dickens's Mrs Skewton - there's heart everywhere. Fellowes cares about his characters, and it shows.

I will, perhaps, not be able to refrain completely from bellyaching in a faintly spoilerish manner when things go agley later on. But I know that I will not have been the only one who was pleased to see Thomas being nice to the children (George and Marigold: this is important) because 1) see? he's not all bad 2) it makes a redemptive story-arc for him far more likely. When Downton is done, I will most likely never again savour the feeling that my villain-besottedness is shared by thousands. Oh, well, we're not there yet.