The Best & Worst Parts of Downton Abbey Fans Can't Forget

downton abbey was a total emotional roller coaster from start to finish with most characters seeing the heights of personal happiness as well as the depths of failure and despair here's a look back at the best and worst moments of the popular series one thing that downton abbey did exceptionally well was romance the addictive love story between mary and matthew had us all on our toes ever since their first frosty encounter in the first episode it was a classic case of enemies who fall for each other and we loved every minute of it so when matthew finally proposed viewers were over the moon mary and matthew find themselves alone in the snow mary has decided to leave for america to avoid a brewing scandal when matthew asks her to stay mary is hesitant matthew you don't mean that finally she says you must say it properly i won't answer unless you kneel down on everything and with that we got one of the most romantic tv proposals of all time after going through the ups and downs of mary and matthew's relationship fans of the show finally thought everything was going to be all right the pair married and even had a baby on the way however at the very end of season 3 viewers were dealt a very harsh blow shortly after mary gives birth to their baby a jubilant matthew heads out on the road in his convertible everyone is thrilled suddenly another vehicle appears cut to an ominous clip of the dowager countess of grantham saying we don't always get our just desserts we then find out that matthew's car has crashed and he is lying dead beneath it it was one of the biggest shock deaths in television history needless to say downton abbey fans were furious most deaths on downton abbey were pretty heart-wrenching to watch however one death ended up being a pretty spectacular moment in the third episode of the show a turkish diplomat named kamal pamuk comes to the estate for a visit in a shocking twist he and mary end up sleeping together which would have been an unheard of scandal at the time and he dies while in bed with her i can't make his eyes stay shut what makes the moment so incredible is watching anna cora and mary trying to get rid of the evidence watching the three women scuttle down the hallway carrying the dead body made for a juicy plot point that viewers loved while kamal pamuk's death is pretty entertaining in its own way other deaths on downton abbey are completely devastating one of the worst death scenes is sybil's sybil is the independent young daughter of the crawley family who scandalously falls for the irish chauffeur the pair eventually marry but the birth of sybil's first child goes horribly wrong sybil dies after giving birth surrounded by her terrified family it's a horrible moment made even more devastating by the fact that the family doctor had originally recommended a caesarean section but sibyl's father refused in a paper in the british journal of general practice medical student adrian ho explained that based on the medical evidence in the show sybil really should have been hospitalized nevertheless according to ho there were some mistakes by the doctors too it's heartbreaking to know that had lord grantham sent sybil to the hospital she may have lived let's face it sybil was always a super cool character from the very beginning of the show she refused to follow the dated rules of society her independence made her a likable and exciting character one of her boldest moments came in the fourth episode of season one when she stunned her family by wearing pants instead of a dress it was a rebellious moment on downton abbey as town and country put it she was a fashion risk taker maybe my choice this time and it's true because wearing pants was a pretty big risk at the time the first season of downton abbey was set in 1912 and back then women donning pants was pretty much unheard of as bespoke tailoring business king and alan explained by the 1880s women in the west finally started wearing trousers for leisure activities yet despite their increasing popularity trousers weren't considered acceptable women's attire until the 1970s in fact in some places it was illegal for women to wear trousers sounds like sybil was at least 60 years ahead of her time in downton abbey mr bates was certainly one of the most hard done by characters in the second season bates is plagued by his estranged wife vera who was out for revenge when vera dies bates is accused of her murder the jury finds him guilty and he is sentenced to death it's an utterly heartbreaking moment especially for the helpless anna whom he'd quickly married before the trial as she thinks she is about to lose her new husband thankfully his sentence was changed to life in prison and later in the series the charges were reversed luckily after bates is found guilty of murder his clever wife anna finds the evidence needed to set him free in season three because i'd rather work to get you free than dine with the king at buckingham palace anna's joy at discovering that her husband is finally coming home is lovely to watch this touching moment was definitely one of the best of the whole series joanne froggatt who plays anna told the mirror anna has always had 100 faith in jon she's completely in love with him from the moment they first met anna has had the feeling that bates is a really decent guy that's why she fell for him even though viewers loved the sweet reunion for brendan coyle who plays mr bates it was also a welcome plot point so he could participate in more scenes with his co-stars again he told the mirror i did feel isolated and very removed from the main show most of my scenes were filmed in lincoln where there's a perfectly preserved victorian prison sounds like he was happy to rejoin the cast at the much more pleasant high clear castle where most of the show is filmed poor edith throughout downton abbey she was frequently portrayed as the family's ugly duckling without the beauty of older sister mary or the confidence of younger sister sybil lady edith often felt a little left out when she finally received a proposal from anthony stralin a man she actually kind of liked it seemed like things might end up okay for her and even mary wished her well however it was not to be in a shocking twist stralin left edith embarrassed and heartbroken at the altar whether you're an edith fan or not the moment was incredibly sad don't stop him doing the only sensible thing he's come up with in months in an opinion piece about the episode writers at slate all expressed their fury over the incident one writer explained this episode left me fuming mary's happiness seems to be the only thing that matters in this household this was one incredibly sad moment on downton abbey but we have to list it as one of our favorite moments because of daisy for most of this episode viewers are left staring at the screen as daisy resists tying the knot with the lovely william the young kitchen servant had promised to marry the footman but never intended to go through with it however when william is on his deathbed after getting injured in the war she refuses to wed him because she doesn't want to lie to a dying man finally she agrees to the marriage and the pair marry surrounded by family and servants with william's bed decked out in flowers it's a lovely moment though sad of course actor thomas house who plays william told the daily mail daisy probably does love him but doesn't realize it yet one of the most unforgettable moments of downton abbey was also one of the worst when anna one of the show's best loved characters was raped many fans were horrified let me buy please as time put it it felt as out of place in the normally placid series as mr pammuck's death by seduction in the first season as the mirror reported many fans were shocked by the scene despite the pushback against the episode julian fellowes the show's creator defended his choice to include the scene during an appearance on the radio show lbc he explained it's handled in the downton way if you like that what we're interested in is the emotional impact of these events and joanne froggett who plays anna explained to huffpost and if i decide a scene is a raw emotional scene it is nerve-wracking doing those for me i just sort of go for it on the take i try to prepare myself mentally and emotionally but i don't like to rehearse those scenes too much frogatt certainly did an amazing job and she even won a golden globe for her work in this season of all of downton abbey's love stories the romance between mr carson and mrs hughes is certainly one of the most touching unlike some of the younger couples on the show carson and mrs hughes go through a long slow almost imperceptible courtship and the tender super sweet proposal scene does not disappoint the adorable moment came in the christmas special after the fifth season in the scene carson asks mrs hughes to marry him after telling her he bought them a cottage i do want to be stuck with you he sweetly tells her one thing i do know i'm not marrying anyone else she adorably replies of course i'll marry you i thought you'd never ask while this scene might not be as exciting as others fans were still overjoyed back in season one of downton abbey cora's ladies maid o'brien was one of our favorite villains when o'brien fears she might be fired she leaves a slippery bar of soap on the floor by the bath in which the pregnant cora is bathing getting out of the bath cora falls and tragically loses her baby it's a sad and infuriating scene in fact the telegraph called it one of the show's most shocking scenes ever and joked to be fair to o'brien she was stricken with remorse for at least a couple of episodes not all downton abbey fans enjoyed the addition of lily james's rose to the show however it was hard not to enjoy her sweet romance with the adorable atticus the couple's meeting is definitely one of the show's greatest scenes especially as they meet in the middle of a rainstorm rose is carrying one too many wicker cake baskets when atticus appears to gallantly hold her umbrella for her their meeting is beyond cute and atticus's introduction to the show is a very welcome one as canadian magazine mcleans noted atticus aldridge is the character downton has been waiting for something about him reminds me of prince william at his peak dreaminess circa 2002 the jaunty slightly offset nose the sweet earnest manner and adorable shyness toward rose and the impeccable manners the writer even said the actor might be the colin firth of his generation which is high praise indeed no wonder fans were thrilled with his first appearance as most downton abbey fans will know the show is filled with its fair share of medical mishaps from miscarriages to war injuries the show can sometimes feel like a historical documentary on how far the healthcare system has come in the last century one of the most shocking health scares at downton came when lord grantham's stomach ulcer burst at the dinner table in a horrifyingly bloody scene that looked like something out of the alien movies vanity fair spoke to the show's producer liz trubridge about the infamous scene and she explained our medical consultant had done quite a bit of historical research and when we realized there was going to have to be a lot of blood we started planning meticulously so that we could cover it on camera and then decide in the edit room how much was enough apparently they really did want the scene to be as gruesome as possible while the scene definitely wasn't fun to watch at least it sounds like it was super fun to make check out one of our newest videos right here plus even more list videos about your favorite stuff are coming soon subscribe to our youtube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one

Channel: The List

Views: 66,260

Rating: 4.8835444 out of 5

Keywords: the list, downton abbey, downton abbey fans, best and worst downton abbey, abbey

Id: 7m6G-pcmUS0

Length: 11min 33sec (693 seconds)

Published: Wed May 05 2021