Downton Abbey (2019), directed by Michael Engler

It is 1927 and the King and Queen are to visit Downton Abbey as part of their Yorkshire tour. The household is naturally all of a tizzy, but the servants are most miffed to find the Royal household staff will supplant them. This is the last golden age of the great house and the film perfectly captures that sense of an end of an era and the dawn of change. The period details are sumptuous, from the ball gowns to the trolley cars and almost all the old familiar faces from the TV series are present. The rather lightweight plot is inconsequential as the important thing is to check in with favourite characters and be sure all is well. Everyone gets a happy ending, even footman turned-butler Thomas, to the point where it is laid on a little too thick. Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess gets all the best lines and her barbed exchanges with Penelope Wilton’s Lady Merton create laugh-out-loud moments. Everyone looks like they’re having a lot of fun putting the Downton saga to bed in a most suitable fashion.