Lady Edith’s plan of seduction starts by tempting Matthew with an architectural tour of local churches.
Laura Carmichael[Lady Edith]: “Edith doesn’t really have any interest in these churches. She’s just interested in spending time with cousin Matthew.”
Dan Stevens[Matthew Crawley]: “[Edith] just gazing lovingly at the back of Matthew’s head, and Matthew completely unaware.” [laughs]

And the primary focus for viewers of Julian Fellowes’s period romp, at least for women, is Matthew Crawley, heir to Downton. He features very large in the Christmas special, as he has in the past two series. And the man who plays him, Dan Stevens, is now, quite possibly, the nation’s premier blue-eyed intellectual heart-throb.

We were a show that flopped.