Downton Abbey, episode 8, series 6 finale, TV preview: Fast cars, scandal and massive surprises

*Minor spoilers within * A happy ending is in sight despite plenty of complications

Lady Edith and Mr Pelham (ITV)

There is just one episode left of Downton Abbey before the feature-length Christmas special and there are still so many threads to tie up not even Miss Baxter would know what to do with them. However will Julian Fellowes bring this sprawling family drama to a satisfactory close?

Well, we know from the Dowager Countess that being defeatist is very middle class, and luckily for her a glimpse of the season finale reveals that the battle is almost, although rather hastily, won.

Episode 8 of series 6 unspools the storylines into a heap on the floor and then knits them rapidly back together again. We see our beloved posh family witness a tragedy at a car race, take tea at a “house of ill repute” and we are issued with a series of revealing andf sometimes hilarious surprises about the servants.

Upstairs

Will Edith’s growing strength allow her to tell her new beau about Marigold and live happily ever after? Will Mary lower herself into the arms of a mere car mechanic after all? And, most importantly, will Lord Grantham’s puppy Tio make up for the Dowager’s hospital drama?

Luckily for us the hospital storyline is well and truly over. Barely a mention is made of the ridiculous chain of events that served, at best, only to give us a few huffily expressed witticisms by the Dowager who is unhappily absent for the majority of this episode’s drama. She does return, however, in time to prove her meddling credentials and save the day. Nothing more than we’d expect from Dame Maggie Smith who has consistently remained the highlight of this ITV drama.

The Granthams enjoy some motor racing in Downton Abbey finale (ITV)

The claws have it: Lady Mary in Downton Abbey (ITV)

Lord Grantham, meanwhile, appears to have forgotten all about his dramatic ulcer and is back on port-swilling form, even deciding to go off on a jolly with his family in tow. He and Cora are not major players in the series’ conclusion, stepping back and serving as a sort of grumpy chorus, commenting on events as their daughters attempt to find happiness.

Lady Mary is on her very spikiest form and puts in a brilliant performance when the facade finally cracks and she crumples into the little girl lost we’ve all suspected is beneath that China doll exterior. The soft, nicer Mary that Matthew’s influence brought out is hard to remember so sharp are her lacquered nails — with poor Mr Talbot and Lady Edith convenient victims.

The second of the Crawley girls continues to surprise her parents with the chain of events her life takes and at one point she seems at risk of giving her father another burst ulcer, but for a happy reason. The rollercoaster never stays still for long, however, and that half-bitten lip and thousand yard stare is soon back again.

The will-they-won’t-they between Mrs Crawley and Lord Merton continues with the help of his malicious soon-to-be-daughter-in-law Emilia and elsewhere Branson plays cupid and deliverer of some much-needed home truths.

Downstairs

Poor Mrs Patmore’s B&B hits an irredeemable stumble before it has even begun when it is embroiled in what Mr Carson describes so delicately as a “Tawdry, local broo-haha.” Seeing the apple-cheeked chef fall over in shock at the turn of events is quite funny and her predicament provides a welcome dose of humour in an otherwise tense episode.

Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes test out the upstairs sofa in Downton Abbey (ITV)

Daisy meanwhile turns her trademark frown upside-down at the opportunities life throws her way and Mr Molesley starts his teaching career by doing a Dangerous Minds on a bunch of unruly kids.

Miss Baxter helps a friend in need and Anna Bates’ pregnancy continues without mishap. But the bickering between Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes reaches fever pitch. “You’re such an old curmudgeon,” she tells him. “Don’t say you’re going off me?” he wonders.

Sprat, meanwhile, gives us the best laugh of the series so far with his new career.

The ratings might have been falling steadily and the format a bit too familiar but Fellowes still has some convincing shock moments for loyal Downton viewers. Whatever shall we do on Sunday nights when the lights of Downton Abbey are finally extinguished? Oh stop whining and find something else to do, as the Dowager would say.