This page is for tropes that have appeared in Downton Abbey.
For the rest:
- Aborted Arc: In the Season 2 Christmas special, Lady Mary calls off her engagement to newspaper magnate Sir Richard Carlisle, despite his threats to publish her secret regarding the late Kemal Pamuk. This is a secret that Bates left Downton (and Anna) to keep, one which it is insinuated will ruin the family by scandal, one which Richard literally bought the rights to. Yet in the end, everyone who could be hurt by the scandal takes a "Publish and be damned" attitude, and when the next season rolls around, it's conveniently forgotten, never to be brought up again. It may be assumed that Richard never actually made good on his threat, but nothing in the show indicates either that the scandal broke and blew over or that the secret was kept; it's merely dropped.
- Action Girl: Great-aunt Roberta Crawley, a Famous Ancestor who fought in the Sepoy mutiny — she "loaded the guns at Lucknow."
- Actor Allusion: In Episode 2, Lady Mary tells the story of Perseus and Andromeda at dinner, with the Dowager Countess trying to shush her. Maggie Smith previously starred in Clash of the Titans, which adapted the story. What's more is that the Dowager Countess reacts with shock that Andromeda was chained naked to a rock; in the movie, to placate the censors, she is wearing clothes.
- Adoption Conflict: Lady Edith Crawley becomes pregnant, but her lover is killed in the Beer Hall Putsch, so she has the baby, Marigold, in secret. To keep her closeby, Edith has her adopted by the Drewes, her family's tenant farmers, without telling them the identity of the child's parents. Mr Drewe figures it out and allows Lady Edith to regularly visit the baby, but Mrs Drewe is suspicious of Edith's unexplained attachment to the child, when, as a noblewoman, she could easily adopt any baby she wanted. Edith is forced to finally reveal the truth, and, while distraught, Mrs Drewe allows Marigold to go with her real mother. Sometime later, she regrets this and tries to kidnap the child, but has neither her husband's support nor any legal recourse, so, after returning her to Edith, she and her husband leave Downton.
- Affair Letters: Thomas and the Duke of Crowborough were lovers once, and Thomas—who's a big fan of blackmail—and threatens the Duke, saying he'll show their letters. The Duke burns them before Thomas gets a chance, though.
- Age-Gap Romance:
- Lady Edith Crawley (in her 20s) and Sir Anthony Strallan (in his 50s, and widowed). Within her family, this was actually considered a fairly decent match for Edith before the War, in large part because her family thought Edith, being "less pretty" than her sisters and a bit tomboyish and abrasive, couldn't do any better than a middle-aged widower. After the War, though, Sir Anthony came back with a crippled arm, and the family decided—and Sir Anthony recognised—that the match was no longer any good, as Edith would have to be a nursemaid to him rather than a wife. Edith refused to believe this until Sir Anthony jilted her at the altar.
- Anna Smith, a head maid, falls in love with and later marries John Bates, the valet to the Earl. He is about two decades older than her. He is troubled by his past, but they are both very happy together.
- Sybil and Branson are about 10 years apart, though the real tension is over him being of a lower class, socialist politics, and Irish heritage.
- Almost Kiss: Sybil and Branson, many times through Season 2, possibly in the last episode of Season 1, too. Anna and Bates, also. Edith and Michael Gregson in the first episode of Season 4.
- Altar the Speed: Deconstructed, somewhat; Daisy feels pressured into going through with the wedding due to William's impending death, and subsequently feels that the whole thing was a lie — she later thinks differently after actually meeting with her father-in-law and takes his advice to advance up the career ladder for the beginning of season 3.
- Always Someone Better:
- Mary (and to a lesser extent, Sybil) for Edith.
- It's never directly stated, but Bates is more or less this for Molesley, since Molesley not only lost his chance at being employed at Downton when Bates returned but also has a crush on Anna, who is in love with Mr Bates.
- Anachronism Stew:
- The dialogue sometimes has a flavor that is not very period accurate. See article here
, see also Badass Boast below. - The portrait of life in a noble house — in particular, the intertwining of the lives of upstairs and downstairs residents — is not terribly accurate. Real-life estates the size of Downton Abbey in that time frame had much more separation between the lives of the masters and servants.
- It strains belief that Thomas could not only keep his job but get promoted after being outed (see Politically Correct History below).
- Although "If You Were the Only Girl in the World" was published in 1916 (and thus its performance in an episode set in 1918 is not anachronistic), it was not normally performed as a waltz until decades later in real life.
- In episode 4x3 the staff plays Racing Demon, or Nertz, which has only been traced back to the 1940s.
- Mary asks Gillingham if they'll just "make love" during their hotel getaway, at a time when that phrase actually just meant flirting.
- The name "Kemal Pamuk" is anachronistic, for most Turks didn't have official surnames before 1934. An Ottoman bureaucrat would likely be referred to by a combination of his first name, his father's name/his nickname and his title, and not by any family name. See also Famous-Named Foreigner below.
- Violet's stern reminder to Edith that "You are not Toad of Toad Hall"; the A.A. Milne play of that title wasn't published until 1929. This one is problematic in that theoretically, Violet could be referring to The Wind in the Willows, which was already well known when that scene takes place (although it strains credulity that Violet would know anything about a children's book published decades after her own childhood). But her choice of words—not to mention the fact that in real life, Julian Fellowes produced a musical version of Toad of Toad Hall—suggests she is probably alluding to the play rather than the book.
- The dialogue sometimes has a flavor that is not very period accurate. See article here
- And Here He Comes Now: In the first episode of Season 3, Cora tells O'Brien that she'll ask Robert about hiring O'Brien's nephew Alfred as a footman when Robert knocks at the door.
- Anyone Can Die: Though one or two minor characters (such as Kemal Pamuk) die in the first season, Season 2 includes the deaths of some more regular cast members, such as William and Lavinia. Season 3, however, marks the point at which no character is safe—including Sybil and Matthew, two leading characters and members of the Crawley family. It should be noted that this is not driven by artistic decisions but rather by actors leaving the show. Maggie Smith quipped that her repeated Emmy nominations are the only thing keeping Violet alive.
- Appeal to Inherent Nature: Mary argues that she's inherently contrary and that it would be against her character to want to marry anyone who anyone else wanted her to marry. She proves it when, after falling utterly in love with Matthew, she still turns his marriage proposal down, balking solely because marrying him would fix everything and be what everyone wanted to happen anyway.
- Arc Words: 'The world is changing' pops up in some way or another throughout the series, but it is especially prevalent in Season 2, during the war.
- Arranged Marriage Patrick and Mary, in the series' back-story. It was solely because a male heir was required for the Crawley family, and though Mary did not outright despise Patrick, she was very apathetic to the whole thing. She loathes the idea of having to mourn him after his death on the Titanic.
- Artifact Title: In-Universe: Downton Abbey was actually a monastery when it was built in the Middle Ages; after the Dissolution of the Monasteries it was seized and became home to various peers.
- Artistic License – History:
- A 1914 Ripon by-election, and the riot that erupts at the count, are fairly major plot points in season one, and provides important character and relationship development moments for Sybil and Tom, as well as for Matthew and Mary. In reality, however, there was no by-election in Ripon in 1914. The constituency was contested at the 1910 general election and again at the 1918 general election (the last election prior to World War I and the first after it, respectively), but no by-election was held in the constituency until 1973.
- The World War I arc in the second season has several...
- Robert is 48 when the war breaks out and would certainly be called up immediately to serve in a commander role.
- It's not until 1916 when the Crawleys finally get behind the war effort, and 1917 when Downton is finally turned into a convalescent home. Most of the aristocracy actually opened their homes and contributed as soon as war broke out.
- It's implied that the Order of the White Feather was started by the wives of common soldiers, but actually it was by a British Admiral (Charles Pembrose Fitzgerald to be specific). It also appears to be a collection of random women, but it was specifically part of the suffragette movement; the women white-feathering William and Matthew are obviously not suffragettes, as they don't wear the tricolour ribbons.
- Well, more etiquette than history. Violet is scandalized when Mary has a weekend with her lover with the thought of remarriage, but she is not a "young lady" anymore. She's a widow, with considerably more freedom than an unmarried young lady. Widows had, at that point, had such status for over 150 years in the eyes of society, as long as they were discreet. Of course, Violet may just be that old-fashioned.
- Asshole Victim: Vera Bates has absolutely no love for her husband, but refuses to let him divorce her so that she can get some of the inheritance from his late mother's passing. She forces him to stay with her by threatening to spill Mary's secret night with Mr. Pamuk, and cheats on him while demanding he stay away from his new flame Anna. She swears that she will ruin her husband's life, and makes good on it in her last act: poisoning herself and framing Bates for her murder. Needless to say, not one character on the show mourns her.
- As You Know:
- The first episode when the ominous "entail" is finally explained to those not familiar with archaic inheritance laws (or didn't read Pride and Prejudice in high school). Robert's lawyer almost uses the exact language, "as you well know..." Yes, Lord Grantham would know about how his money, his real estate, his title, and his life's work will descend upon his death and need not have this basic information conveyed back to him.
- Matthew is a lawyer who specialises in corporate law. Yet he has to ask his mother whether there's any legal mechanism for him to refuse to inherit the earldom.
- In episodes following Kemal Pamuk's death, various characters will go into minor but unnecessary detail about the manner of his death, along the lines of "do you remember the sudden death of that Turkish gentleman?" The ridiculousness of the question even gets lampshaded:
Robert: I think I can be relied upon to remember any guest who is found dead in his bed the next morning.- In the Season 2 Christmas Special, Matthew has Robert explaining the practicalities of the Servants' Ball to him, even though Matthew has been the heir of Downton for quite a few years by now and one would expect him to have been at the ball at least once before. It is possible, however, that this was Matthew's first Servants' Ball. In August of 1914, Matthew left the Village and soon thereafter went to war. Matthew's opportunities to attend the ball were limited for various reasons between the onset of the Great War and early 1920.
- Author Appeal:
- Three journalists have courted the Crawley girls. Richard Carlisle is a newspaper magnate, Tom Branson the ex-chaffeur became a reporter and Michael Gregson the editor fancied Edith.
- The show was originally imagined as a spin-off of Gosford Park, but became its own project (albeit with a Suspiciously Similar Substitute here and there and Maggie Smith migrating over smoothly from the Dowager Trentham to the Dowager Grantham). If you look at his writing credits, most of them are historical dramas almost exclusively focusing on the upper class. For some reason Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford DL is a big fan of the aristocracy.
- Author Tract: As the series progressed Julian Fellowes (a known conservative and Tory peer) became more blatant about glorifying the British class system. All the Crawleys are portrayed as caring and benevolent masters, and their reduced power is seen as a loss for the community. Newcomer Matthew is initially disdainful of their life but realises what an "ass" he was and dedicates himself to keeping the estate surviving. Servants who complain about their working conditions or want to leave (Thomas, O'Brien and Ethel) are the bad guys, while the undying loyalists (e.g. Anna and Bates) are the heroes. The two openly socialist and left-wing characters (Tom and Miss Bunting) are portrayed as obnoxious and misguided—Tom's Character Development has him shedding his political beliefs, joining the upper class and turning to capitalism, while Miss Bunting is an obvious Hate Sink. The few exceptions are written off early on: Gwen, who left service in season 1 (and even then credited her success to Lady Sybil), and Sybil who was killed off in season 3.
- Babies Ever After: The series finale features the birth of Anna and Bates's son, Mary finding out she is pregnant, and Rose visiting and showing off pictures of her baby girl.
- Badass Boast:
- Cora's explanation for why she is not that upset over the prospect of having to sell Downton Abbey and move into a smaller house: "I'm an American: Have gun, will travel". Of course, this is something of an anachronism, as, while the phrase "Have X, will travel" was common in newspaper classified ads from the early 20th century onwards, the specific phrase "Have gun, will travel" did not become popularised until the 1957 television series of that name.
- When Violet suggests Tom Branson as a replacement estate manager, Robert says that she'll admit that she was wrong if things turn out badly. Violet replies that this is an easy caveat because she's never wrong.
- Band of Brothers: Robert and Bates served together in The Second Boer War, which is why they always stick up for each other to the bitter end.
- Baseball Episode: That is, a cricket episode (3x08). The actual cricket part is only in the last ten minutes, while the rest of the episode is devoted to hyping up said match and wrapping up subplots.
- Be Careful What You Wish For:
- Sybil, trying to get her horse Dragon to drag the cart out of the mud, threatens to boil him for glue. That gets him going... and leaving Sybil and Gwen stuck in the mud.
- Bates says he wishes his wife Vera were the former or the late Mrs. Bates. Then Vera kills herself and frames Bates for her death.
- Robert is delighted to see bagpipes at Duneagle, meaning the old traditions are being kept up. He's significantly less enthusiastic when said bagpipes wake him up the next morning.
- Daisy bugs Mrs Patmore for months to hire a kitchen maid. Just when she's finally about to tell Alfred that she fancies him, she's introduced to new kitchen maid Ivy, with whom he immediately starts flirting.
- Beach Episode: The Season 4 Christmas special, which features the servants going to the beach while the family deals with problems in London.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Between Mary and Matthew at the beginning of their relationship, as the two are clearly attracted to each other, but Mary detests the idea of being forced to marry and Matthew dislikes the new world of Downton. Their relationship mellows out over time.
- Benevolent Boss: Robert genuinely cares for the staff of Downton. He treats them all fairly and tries his best to keep them on. This is demonstrated when Mrs. Patmore's eyesight starts to go—rather than firing her, he personally arranges a doctor's appointment for her. Furthermore; all the Crawleys are rather even-handed with the staff to the point where even Lady Violet goes out of her way to pull strings for characters like William, the footman. Mary and Anna also build a strong friendship throughout the series.
- Berserk Button:
- Robert is the most even-tempered man imaginable until his youngest daughter gets herself involved in political riots. Or if his family decides to eat lunch made by an ex-prostitute.
- For Cora: Neglecting Sybil's daughter because she's a "halfbreed chauffeur's daughter" and not noble like Matthew and Mary's son because both are her grandchildren.
- Beta Couple: Mary's relationship with Matthew and, later, Henry is the main romance focus of the show, but there's also Anna with Bates and Sybil with Branson, both couples starting their relationships in the second season.
- Big Fancy House: The real Highclere Castle has a starring role as Downton Abbey. There are many loving shots of the exterior.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: By Lady Violet's standards, certainly. For example, Rosamund — a noble lady by birth — married someone of no nobility, and Violet finds no end of chances to pick on her deceased son-in-law; Rosamund's brother, even worse, married an American (albeit one with the money necessary to save/secure the estate and more than willing to adjust to the English ways). With Robert having no sons the family's best chance to keep the estate in the family name is to leave it to a third-cousin who is a middle-class solicitor from Manchester of all places and a perfect stranger at the start of the series. Then there's Violet's niece who is constantly at odds with her husband as well as coming down hard on her rebellious teenage daughter, Rose, who is caught having an affair with a married man. Even Cora agrees with Violet on how badly Susan is treating Rose; this begs the question... are Susan's ways the reasons why "James left" and "Annabelle got married"? Could it have been to flee their mother?
- Birds of a Feather:
- Lady Sybil and Tom Branson, who share a mutual interest in progressive politics and women's rights.
- Isobel Crawley and Dr Richard Clarkson, both healers who have dedicated their lives to helping others.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Every time a new baby is born into the family, one of the baby's parents die. Sybil dies of eclampsia the same day Sybbie is born, Matthew is killed in a car wreck on the day George is born, and Marigold's father is killed by Nazis around the time of her birth (though Edith doesn't know for sure that this is what's happening for quite some time after).
- There is one exception to this rule, at the very end of the show: Bates and Anna's son is born with both parents alive and well. Even then, this trope is sort of in effect as a kind of Book End to the series, as the first series has a man dying in Lady Mary's bed, and the series finale has a baby born in Lady Mary's bed.
- Bittersweet Ending:
- Season 1: World War I begins, Cora has a miscarriage, Mary and Edith's marriage prospects fail. Gwen gets hired as a secretary and a romance seems to be blooming between Sybil and Branson.
- Season 2: Mary and Matthew get engaged, and Sybil is pregnant but Richard threatens to expose the Pamuk scandal and Bates is given life imprisonment.
- Season 3: Unto Us A Child Is Born — and, even more importantly, a member of the Heir Club for Men, finally securing Downton Abbey's entail for the Crawley family. The son is George. As mentioned above in "Birth-Death Juxtaposition," the Wham Shot is of his father Matthew being slain in an automobile accident, thus marking the end of what is, arguably, the primary Myth Arc of the first three seasons.
- Blackmail:
- Thomas threatens to blackmail the Duke of Crowborough after he is rejected.
- Mr Carson is blackmailed by an old friend threatening to reveal his embarrassing past... as a pier-side entertainer.
- Kemal Pamuk enlists Thomas's help for sneaking into Mary's bedchamber in exchange for keeping silent about his homosexuality.
- Bates is forced to come back to his wife when she finds out about the Kemal Pamuk scandal. Yes, he's blackmailed with someone else's dirty secret.
- Sir Richard Carlisle also threatens Mary with revealing and publishing the Pamuk scandal, should she not toe the line and obey him (and marry him).
- When O'Brien is scheming to get Thomas fired without a reference, Bates is asked to relate a simple message: "Her Ladyship's soap". That shuts her up.
- When Thomas Barrow blackmails Baxter with her secret. Averted when she tells Cora before he does to save herself.
- A Liverpool chambermaid from the hotel where Mary and Gillingham had their liaison tries to blackmail Mary... until Lord Grantham intervenes.
- When Denker is about to be fired for speaking rudely to Dr. Clarkson, she uses her knowledge of Spratt housing his nephew, an escaped inmate, to force Spratt to stand up for her to Violet.
- "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word. When the Countess Dowager asks Doctor Clarkson to make some "amenagement" with the truth to help Cora reconcile with Robert.Dr Clarkson: So you want me to lie to them and say there was no chance at all?Countess Dowager: "Lie" is such an unmusical word.
- Blond, Brunette, Redhead:
- During Series 4 and 5, Cousin Rose comes to live at Downton, creating a complete set: Rose (Blonde), Mary (Brunette), Edith (Redhead). Especially since Edith's hair seems to have become increasingly ginger over time.
- During Series 3 and 4, the three male servants under Carson qualify (Bates as valet doesn't count): Jimmy is blond, Thomas is Brunette and Alfred is redheaded.
- Blood from the Mouth: John Drake, one of Lord Grantham's tenant farmers, when he was suffering from dropsy of the heart.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Episode 5 of Series 6 has been dubbed the Series' most shocking episode yet; having suffered with a mystery stomach complaint throughout the first half of the series, in episode 5 Robert literally vomits blood all over the dinner table, and many of the guests assembled when his stomach ulcer bursts. It was a moment of pure visceral gore that audiences are more used to seeing on something like Game of Thrones than a cosy, chocolate box episode of everyone's favourite period drama. Even the World War I arc in Series 2 wasn't quite as bloody onscreen.
- Book Ends:
- Robert always seems completely unsuspecting when Telegrams of Doom drop into his hands. Granted, the first was a freak disaster, but the second comes amidst weeks if not months of building unease in the global news.
- Matthew drives his Roadster in Season 3. The first time as he and Mary return from a trip, and the last he gets into a fatal car collision.
- As noted in a different context above, the first series has someone die in Lady Mary's bed and the last episode has someone born in Lady Mary's bed.
- Break the Cutie:
- Daisy. Only she doesn't seem to notice.
- Matthew in Season 2.
- Anna during any part of her romance. And especially as of 4x03
- Break the Haughty:
- Mary. In her early twenties, a haughty sort of aristocratic woman, self-assured in the way that only the young can be; ten years later, a widow, broken by the death of her long-sought-after husband, and only slowly growing out of the shell she had created for herself.
- Ethel. She begins as a cheeky housemaid with ambitions of entering show business and a strange sense of entitlement. Then she proves too friendly with an officer convalescing at Downton, which leads to prostitution and ruin.
- Blue Blood: The series portrays characters that represent the British Peerage (and lesser ranks) at almost every grade, as the following examples show (in order of rank):
- King / Queen — George V and Queen Mary
- Prince — Edward, Prince of Wales
- Duke / Duchess — The Duke of Crowborough, The Duchess of Yeovil
- Marquess / Marchioness — Shrimpie and Susan MacClare (Marquess and Marchioness of Flintshire), Bertie Pelham and Lady Edith (Marquess and Marchioness of Hexham)
- Earl / Countess — Robert and Cora Crawley (Earl and Countess of Grantham...if it wasn't obvious from the rest of this page)
- Viscount — Anthony Foyle (Viscount Gillingham, so usually called "Tony Gillingham")
- Baron — Jinx Hepworth, Billy Allsopp (Lord Aysgarth), Dickie Grey (Lord Merton) and Isobel (Lady Merton)
- Baronet — Sir Anthony Strallan, Sir John Bullock
- Knight / Dame (titles accorded and held for life only) — Sir Richard Carlisle, Dame Nellie Melba
- Esquire (pure social courtesies, no formal rules governing use) — Matthew Crawley, Charles Blake. Note that Mr Crawley's style as Esquire has nothing to do with him being a lawyer (unlike the United States,note in Britain the courtesy has no connection to the legal profession).
- Breakfast in Bed: Downton Abbey observes the country-house tradition of married women eating their breakfast in bed, while single women join the men in the dining room. Cora eats her breakfast this way from the beginning of the series, except on rare instances when she's getting an early start on the day. Mary begins taking her breakfast in bed immediately after marrying Matthew. On the other hand, after being jilted at the altar by Sir Anthony, Edith rather defensively asserts that she prefers having her breakfast downstairs.
- British Brevity: Never more than eight episodes in a season, with concluding Christmas specials.
- British Royal Guards: The regiment to which Lord Grantham and Bates belonged was the Grenadier Guards, i.e. the premier infantry regiment of the British Army and one of the Guards regiments assigned to public duties for the royal sites. The trope is averted, however, as (obviously) neither Lord Grantham nor Bates are in their "stand in front of St James's Palace" days anymore (which would've been in the 1880s if ever). But fittingly, both Hugh Bonneville and Brendan Coyle would fit the physical requirements of joining the Guards (both being powerfully-built men over 6 feet tall).
- The Bus Came Back:
- Gwen, the housemaid who left the Abbey to work as a secretary in Season 1, pops back up in Season 6. She's married a politician and moved up in the world. None of the Crawleys recognize her.
- At the end of season 5, Tom moves to Boston with Sybbie, and Rose moves to New York with her new husband, Atticus. In season 6, Tom becomes homesick and he and Sybbie return in episode 3, and Rose and Atticus visit in the series finale for Edith's wedding.
- But I Would Really Enjoy It: Robert and Jane.Robert: I want you with every fibre of my being, but it isn't fair to you; it isn't fair to anyone.
- Butt-Monkey:
- In Season 1, Daisy is the lowest-ranking servant and is not supposed to be seen by any of the family.
- Edith seems to have this role within the Crawley family. Even her parents expect her to be the one "taking care of [them] in [their] old age", and are none too pleased at the prospect.
- Molesley. Poor chap keeps trying to advance his position within the Earl's household. He's valet to the heir, which means he'll almost certainly be valet to the Earl when the current Earl dies, but he keeps trying to move up now, and every time he gets slapped back down, whether by the surprising return of Bates early in Season 2, or by his own nervous drunkenness at the end. That's not to mention his unrequited crush on Anna (see Always Someone Better), his utter lack of cricket skills after he'd been talking a big game the entire episode, and his hilarious drunken dancing at the Ghillies ball after drinking the spiked drink that was meant for O'Brien. After Matthew's death his career as a valet ends and he refuses to go back to being a footman, and he ends up having to do manual labor. Eventually he is welcomed back but still notes that he is a trained valet and butler performing the work of a footman.
- Call-Forward:
- After the Crawleys save Prince Edward's bacon by retrieving an embarrassing letter in the Season 4 Christmas special, Mary makes a snarky comment about how Edward, given his character, will probably get himself in a mess again. Edward did just that with the Wallis Simpson affair.
- After George V's first radio address, Isobel approves of the royal family letting themselves be seen as more human by such tactics, while Violet fears that too much of it could have nasty consequences. In the short term Isobel was right, as George VI became very popular through his radio addresses and his daughter Elizabeth II retained that popularity, but her own children (Charles, Andrew, Edward and Anne) became tabloid fodder. However, as seen with the "William and Kate effect", George VI's great-grandchildren very much take after him, and the royal family's star is back on the rise.
- A hilariously hamfisted one in the last season. When Minister of Health Neville Chamberlain makes a visit to the Abbey, Mrs. Patmore remarks "They say he might be Prime Minister one day."
- Edith's boyfriend Michael Gregson is killed while traveling in Germany in 1922 by men who "wear brown shirts and go around preaching the most horrible things."
- Calming Tea: The ladies spend a lot of time having tea, and their go-to solution to something bad happening is to offer tea.
- Your estranged wife suddenly appears to ruin any sliver of happiness you might have had. Have some tea.
- Sorry, you'll never walk again. Tea?
- Mary points this out when she first discovers Sybil and Branson's relationship and says, "What do you think would happen, you'd marry the chauffeur and you'd invite us over for tea?"
- Cannot Keep a Secret: Every time a character confesses a secret to another, chances are the person would pass it on to somebody else, or there would be a third person eavesdropping anyway. You'd think after a while nobody would bother to ask people to keep secrets any more.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Dr Clarkson would like to marry Isobel, it seems, but he can't quite form the words in the Season 3 finale.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin':
- Mary has sex with a charming visitor and in minutes is left with the problem of how to dispose of his body.
- Edith has one sexual encounter with her editor, and she becomes pregnant out of wedlock.
- Card-Carrying Villain / Token Evil Teammate: Thomas and O'Brien. It's unclear why they do any of the things they do beyond petty jealousy and the fact that they simply like hurting other people.
- During a conversation with a blind soldier during Season 2, the writers all but outright have Thomas state that his evil is a mixture of Freudian Excuse and He Who Fights Monsters; in his case, him being a homosexual and a servant, which puts him in the position of having to work for assholes who treat him like shit rather than being in control over his own destiny.
- Card Sharp: There's one in Season 4, who cleans out all the rich folks (including, naturally, Lord Grantham) until Edith's new boyfriend figures him out and wins everyone's money back.
- Cast Herd: Happens often with the upstairs and downstairs characters.
- Casting Gag: A variant, related not to talent but to class: in the first series, Rose Leslie plays the working-class housemaid Gwen Dawson in the giant titular great house. Leslie herself comes from an old Scottish noble family; her father is chief of his branch of Clan Leslie and related to the Earl of Rothes. She was literally raised in a castle, and her parents own another castle. This wouldn't be terribly remarkable if it weren't for the fact that the British class system is practically a character on its own on Downton—and because she is the only true Blue Blood aristocratnote ever to have been part of the main cast (in a show filled with fictional and not-so-fictional nobs, up to and including the Royal Family). (One wonders whether this influenced the addition of the namesake character of Lady Rose—herself an in-universe Scottish noblewoman.)
- The Cast Showoff: Lady Mary's singing in Season 2, Episode 4 is Michelle Dockery's real voice; Dockery is an amateur jazz singer in her spare time. (She incidentally occasionally sings with Elizabeth McGovern, who plays Lady Grantham and has the same hobby, but so far the Countess has never sung onscreen.)
- The Chains of Commanding: Lord Grantham and Mr Carson struggle to be fair with the people under their charge and neither of them take their responsibilities lightly. Mr Carson even quotes Henry IV on the subject: "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown."
- Character Check: Mary and Edith discuss their apparently ongoing Sibling Rivalry in the wake of Sybil's death, after spending most of the third season interacting with perfect civility, even being friendly and supportive at times.
- Character Shilling: Henry Talbot is nice enough, but in season 6 several characters (particularly Tom) go on and on about how perfect he is for Mary, despite only a few unremarkable scenes of them flirting being shown on screen. Granted, they do seem Happily Married in the series finale, but the buildup could have been done better.
- Chekhov's Skill: Partway through Season 4 we find out that Bates picked up forging while in prison when he uses it to help out Molesley by writing a fake loan contract that said Bates owed him thirty pounds. This comes back in the Christmas Special, when Bates forges a note as part of Lord Grantham's plan to get the letter back.
- Christmas Episode: Each season after the first ends with a Christmas special, though seasons 2 and 5 are the only ones actually set at Christmas.
- Clear My Name: Don't worry, Bates, Anna will save you from your own undying sense of gentlemanly decency and honour.
- Comic-Book Time: At times there's an odd disconnect between the amount of time passing in the show (particularly in Season 2, with at least a year passing between almost every episode) and the way the characters act like it's happening in real time. It gets weirder when you consider some characters' ages; Daisy's actress has even joked that she must have been ten years old at the start of the series.
- Conflict Ball:
- During the latter half of Season 2, Lord Grantham is a jerk to Cora seemingly out of nowhere.
- In the Season 3 opener, Robert loses his (that is, Cora's) fortune at the same time as Matthew comes into one. Does that all seem too tidy? Don't worry, Mary immediately as good as demands Matthew's money for the good of the family, and objects so strenuously when he explains that he feels unworthy to take it in the first place that it's uncertain whether they will marry after all.
- Conspicuous Gloves: Thomas intentionally gets his hand shot through with a sniper's bullet, earning him a deferment. He returns to the Abbey wearing a black glove to hide the scarring.
- Continuity Nod: A few, for example regarding changing fashions.
- Robert's first purchase of a tuxedo is seen (by Violet at least) as a silly dress-up game; a few years later it's a recognised fashion, though not one regarded as suitable dress for a white tie dinner.
- In Season 3, Anna can be seen wearing Mary's plain nursing dress from Season 2 — probably a hand-me-down gift.
- Contraception Deception: Averted. Bates and his wife Anna agree to try to have children, but after some time passes, Anna is still not pregnant. Then Bates finds contraception pills in Anna's stuff. This leads him to believe that she is sabotaging their attempts to have children. It turns out that she is not. The contraception pills are for her employer Lady Mary who is sleeping with Anthony Gillingham, but doesn't want any extra-marital children.
- Contrived Clumsiness: Early in Series 4, Rose asks Anna to chaperone her on a trip into York. Anna "accidentally" spills Mary's perfume, giving her an excuse to accompany Rose into York under pretense of finding a refill.
- Contrived Coincidence: In Series 3, Matthew sees a doctor in London about his possible fertility problems. As he's walking down the staircase, who should he see but Mary, who's come for her own appointment to check up on an operation she recently had.
- Convenient Miscarriage: This trope befalls Cora in the Season 1 finale, presumably to avert the actual wrench that everyone has been anticipating will be thrown into the resolution of the Succession Crisis. It's still very sad though, and most of the characters wouldn't consider it convenient at all.
- Cool Car: Wealthy Edwardians had some quite imposing brass-era limousines and tourers. Not all the cars should be there, though; any number of steel-radiator Ford Model Ts can be seen in Season 1, a style that was first offered in 1917 (and likely not seen in great numbers in the UK until after WW1).
- Cool Crown: Upper-crust Edwardian ladies wore small, elegant tiaras, and the fashion was also common for other rich ladies in the 1920s. Lady Grantham often wears a light tiara when entertaining.
- Cool Old Lady: Violet. "Put that in your pipe and smoke it!". Cora's mother, Martha Levinson also, with her twinkling forward manner and modern attitude
- Costume Drama
- Cousin Oliver: Lady Rose is a literal cousin who functions as a replacement for Sybil.
- Curse Cut Short: Lord Grantham, talking to his wife and daughters upon receiving the news that Matthew has been seriously injured at Amiens (Season 2, Episode 5):Robert: No, it's the usual balls—mess-up, I'm afraid.
- Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: Mrs Patmore can be quite creative when it comes to threats:Mrs Patmore: Take those kidneys up to the servery before I knock you down and serve your brains as fritters!
