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Column: Jessica Fellowes on Episode 4

Jessica Fellowes offers behind-the-scenes access to the world of Downton Abbey, from the cast to the castle, like no one else. Now, Fellowes shares her insights into the most explosive and moving moments from Downton Abbey, Season 3. Find out what Fellowes had to say about the emotionally riveting Episode 4. (Note: The following contains plot spoilers for Downton Abbey, Season 3, Episode 4.)

“The sweetest spirit under this roof is gone. I’m weeping myself.” So spoke Mrs Hughes, but it’s true for must of us at this, the end of episode four. When even Thomas Barrow has been reduced to heaving sobs, you know something spectacularly sad has happened. I have to confess that I have just dried my eyes for the third time. 

I first heard the death scene of Lady Sybil in a draughty town hall in West London, when I was privileged enough to attend the read-through of season three. The actors were in their own clothes – no corsets, jeans and pullovers de rigueur – and everyone was sitting around a table with the producers, director and Julian Fellowes, drinking coffee out of plastic cups. And yet there wasn’t a dry eye in the house as Tom begged his wife to wake up. 

This episode was chiefly about birth and death and as such, set up other juxtaposing themes. The battle of the classes was reflected in the arguments between Sir Philip "physician to the aristocracy" Tapsell, and Dr. "middle-class" Clarkson. Old vs. new could be seen in the debate over whether or not to risk performing the tricky caesarean operation – at a time when most women were only given a rag to bite on during childbirth, the use of a general anesthetic was still a privileged, if not dangerous, medicine. And, of course, we saw Lord and Lady Grantham in opposition, as each chose their front line and fired shots from it. With this tragic conclusion, it looks unlikely that there will be a truce anytime soon. 

What I found particularly moving about this episode was the way in which we saw how the two great events affected the entire household. One sees the extent to which everyone – family and servants – are all living under the same roof and are completely interconnected, even interdependent. Carson, who has worked at Downton Abbey since he was a young man, knew Sybil for just as long as her parents did and feels her loss just as deeply. 

Sybil’s kind and gentle nature, as well as her force for change will leave a lasting legacy on the house, not least of all because her husband, Tom (who has become rather a heartthrob in the public eye during this season) must remain in the house as one of the Crawleys. How he and they manage this in the future will be interesting to watch. 

Sybil was also concerned that Tom should have his wish that his baby be christened a Catholic. To Lord Grantham, this is almost on a par with selling his grandchild into slavery. There was a real social stigma against Catholics for most of the English aristocracy of that time – indeed my own grandfather, [writer and creator] Julian [Fellowes]’s father, converted at the age of 12, in 1925, at the behest of his zealous stepfather, leaving the rest of the family aghast. 

This was not an easy subject for Julian to address, but it reflects well a situation that was far from uncommon at the time and I think we have to commend the show for unflinchingly facing the hardships of the era as much as we enjoy its indulgences in the more glorious aspects.

Editor's Note: Between 5-8% of pregnant women - 300,000 women each year in the U.S. -  are affected by hypertensive disorders of pregnancy such as preeclampsia (formerly known as toxemia), eclampsia and HELLP syndrome. For more information, please contact the Preeclampsia Foundation (http://www.preeclampsia.org).

Jessica Fellowes is the bestselling author of The Chronicles of Downton Abbey, The World of Downton Abbey and Mud and the City: Dos and Dont’s for Townies in the Country. Buy books by Jessica Fellowes at ShopPBS.org.

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