Badger

We also know Thomas's sister was a friend of Baxter's. Regarding Bertie, I don't think he has a brother. Lord Hexham is a distant cousin. The way he described Peter Hexham, it made him sound like Sebastian Venable in "Suddenly Last Summer."

Regarding Thomas, he wasn't mad because Alfred was going to be a valet over him. Thomas was Robert's valet (even if only temporarily) which meant he was senior valet. What he was mad about was Alfred becoming a valet without having to work for it.

I think Daisy's problem is she hasn't found her voice yet. Right now, she's just parroting Miss Bunting. It's kind of like back in Season 1 when she had the crush on Thomas, and she was kind of snarky and nasty like he was for a bit. My guess is that next week we'll find out Mrs. Hughes can't cook, so that will be their return to presiding over the meals in the servants' hall.

I think Robert is going to need major surgery that can't be done at Dr. Clarkson's hospital and there'll be some plot contrivance involving whether or not they get to London in time. That will convince Violet to change her mind because she'll almost lose her son or she will lose him.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/great-british-menu-chef-michael-6598640 News about Michael O'Hare. Nothing bad, but he's got a new look now.

FWIW, Thomas doesn't want to leave because the job is too hard. He wants to leave because he's gotten it into his head that he's going to be fired anyway, and he wants to have something lined up when that happens. But ITA the interview showed just how good a set up he has at Downton.

FWIW, Cate Blanchett is Australian.

The Green storyline ended pretty much the way I thought it would. I figured it would be one of his former victims, but I thought it would be that he fell in the street because he was agitated after his encounter with her rather than that she pushed him. Mabel and Tony had broken up long before the "week of sin" so she had no real claims on him. I knew a woman who had 7 miscarriages before she was able to carry a baby to full term. It happens.

Maybe Marigold recognizes them?

I kept seeing Nigel Tufnel every time Michael was shown. Seriously, how does he work in a kitchen with that hair?

I never thought he disliked her. I just think he wasn't into her as a potential girlfriend.

They did show him being nicer in the Christmas episode. Remember the scene where he put on an apron and helped chop up fruit for the punch? Before, he would have said it was beneath his dignity.

And adultery for a mother made her automatically unfit for custody.

http://www.thirteen.org/program-content/interview-with-writer-and-creator-sarah-phelps/

The reason they didn't go into the Spanish flu is because it was 1914. The writer had planned out a different series for each year of the war, so I'm sure she would have done the Spanish flu had the show lasted that long. Getting back to Rik Rankin, no, he is not in "Outlander", but he was in a couple episodes of "American Odyssey" earlier this year.

The nurse who was executed was named Edith Cavell. I remember I had one of those "Great Women" books when I was about 8 years old, and she was in it. Sorry if I was wrong about Rik Rankin being in "Outlander", but most fan references seem to be that he is in the show. I think the ratings were good, but not spectacular and the critical response was lukewarm. The problem many fans had is that shows with similar ratings and even lower were renewed.

Richard Rankin was in the 3rd season of "The Syndicate" which is available on Youtube. It aired just a few weeks ago. He's also in "Outlander." Kitty and Thomas were supposed to meet in the woods in Episode 4, but then she had to go into town to meet her soon to be ex.

I think the rules were a man could divorce his wife for being unfaithful. However, a woman would need not only adultery but some other reason such as domestic abuse to divorce her husband. I remember Anna being a little perturbed when Mr. Bates told her that.

It was not renewed in the UK.

I think the turning away is about letting the family grieve in private in those first minutes after death. I think Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes wanted Molesley to realize that the status of First Footman comes with extra added duties and responsibilities especially when you're the only footman. That's fine when you're young and spry, but maybe not so much when you've got some age on you.

I don't believe anyone killed Mr. Green. I think he got into an altercation with one of his former victims and got so agitated he didn't look where he was going and ended up falling into the street.

Actually, Lord Grantham did want to fight, but he wasn't allowed to. Also, there were actually more officers killed than enlisted men. It is true though that many of the officers operating in safety behind the front lines really had no idea what was going on and insisted on an optimism that wasn't shared by the men doing the actual fighting. I watched this when it aired in the UK and really enjoyed it. I was disappointed it didn't get a second series as the ratings were good.

Christopher Lee was the uncle of British actress Harriet Walter. She's probably best known to American audiences for her recurring role as "Lady Shackleton" in "Downton Abbey."

Yes, she did. The ironic thing is, I don't think the other nurses necessarily believed she had a problem. I think they saw her drinking as kind of one of her quirks I think when Sister Mary Cynthia found her calling a suicide hotline that she knew Trixie had a problem..

I think Florence Henderson's characterization as Carol Brady's great grandmother might have been a shout out to her rural Indiana roots where she was the daughter of a sharecropper.