Picturehouse Central is one of my favourite London cinemas for multiple reasons. It holds a certain sense of nostalgia for me as it becomes the “press home” for the London Film Festival most years and I’ve seen some truly wonderful films there. This weekend was a bit different, I took my Mum to Picturehouse for the first time and we attended the Downton Abbey/Afternoon Tea event that was taking place. We were greeted and seated in the restaurant that was reserved specifically for this event and were presented with a deliciously simple afternoon tea. Served traditionally on a three tier cake stand, we were given finger sandwiches, cakes, macaroons and scones and a pot of tea each.

The staff were highly attentive and the food was delicious.

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3 o’clock saw the start of the afternoon tea and I was pleasantly surprised when I saw how busy it was, we had received an email during the week leading up to the event saying they had changed the screen we were to watch the film in to one of their much smaller ones. On receiving this email I was concerned the event hadn’t been a success, but I was wrong! The restaurant was full, granted I was probably the youngest person there, but it was lively with a buzz of excitement to see the latest instalment of the story of our beloved Abbey. Fittingly, they had the Downton Abbey soundtrack playing in the background which just added to the enjoyable atmosphere.

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After stuffing our faces with carrot cake we made our way up to screen 7 and the screen was packed to the brim!

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The film was everything I wanted it to be, being an avid Downton fan from the start I was obviously a bit concerned about the film and whether or not it might just feel completely pointless. I was mistaken. It felt like a warm hug from a kind, loving family member.

The plot had multiple strands which were needed in order to keep all the beloved characters within in the story, most of these storylines were tied up nicely, a few were left a little more open to interpretation. From a personal perspective, I loved how much screen time they gave to Robert James Collier’s character, Thomas Barrow the new butler of Downton Abbey. He was always my favourite character throughout the tv series and was given a fantastic character arc to play with, from an actors perspective it must have been a dream come true.

At times it came across as a bit too obvious how many comedic lines they gave to Maggie Smith, yes I do understand that the audience loves the dryness of The Dowager Countess but it felt a bit forced at times. That’s not in any way faulting Smith’s performance, she was, as she always is, absolutely brilliant. Her final scene was momentous and probably my favourite scene in the entire film.  The audience were clearly all die hard fans as they were very enthusiastic in their reactions.

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Overall it was a really lovely film, there’s not much more to say about it. The returning characters were as charming as ever and the new characters created an essential shake up for what could have been a bland, predictable film. (Really though, no one was expecting that from Downton Abbey!).

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I loved it, I’m glad they did it, and I hope they do more. (Allen Leech was heard saying that a Thomas Barrow spin off story might be in the pipe lines, one where we would see him opening up his very own Edwardian gay bar! One can only dream!)