Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale

image for Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale

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Not suitable under 12; parental guidance to 12 (adult themes, lack of interest for younger viewers)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
  • a review of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 15 September 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 12 Not suitable due to adult themes and lack of interest.
Children aged 12 Parental guidance recommended due to adult themes.
Children aged 13 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild sexual references
Length: 123 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

It is the 1930’s, a time of great social change in Britain, and nowhere more so than at Downton Abbey where the new guard is replacing the old. Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) is trying to wrest control of the Crawley family’s finances from her father Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), whilst managing the scandal of her divorce. Mary initiated the divorce from her husband due to his infidelities, but it has made her a social pariah.

To make matters worse, Lady Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern) has an unexpected visit from her brother, Harold (Paul Giamatti) and his friend, the very charming Gus Sambrook (Alessandro Nivola). Harold has come with the news that he has managed to lose mostly all of the family’s fortune in the Depression. Intrigue follows, when Mary falls for Gus, who turns out to be not what he seems.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Period drama; Divorce; 1930’s; Social prejudice.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is very little violence in this movie, including:

  • Lord Grantham gets very angry at the thought of losing Grantham House and yells at everyone.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

  • Nothing further noted for this age group.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

  • Nothing further noted for this age group.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • Talk of divorce and affairs.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Fortnum and Mason.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Talk of Henry (Mary’s former husband) having affairs.
  • Mary and Gus kiss passionately. They are shown in bed together the next morning. Mary says she doesn’t normally, “jump into bed with strangers at the drop of a hat”.
  • Gus threatens to let slip that he and Mary are lovers.
  • Mrs Patmore (the cook) confides in Mrs Carson (head of staff) that she is afraid to move in with her new husband as he might require a full relationship. Mrs Carson tells her not to be afraid and that it is in fact “terrific fun”.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Mary and Gus are seen in bed together, kissing and cuddling but nothing more.
  • Mary’s maid Anna sees Gus leaving Mary’s room, half naked, with a towel wrapped around his waist.
  • Lady Edith strips down to her underwear.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Drinking on many occasions, at home, at parties etc.
  • Several characters smoke.
  • Gus plies Mary with alcohol in order to seduce her.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • My God
  • For God’s sake
  • Bloody
  • Screwed up
  • Damn.

In a nutshell

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is a period drama containing all of the well-known characters from the television show, apart from the late Dame Maggie Smith. The film presents a time of social upheaval in Britain, heralding a new era of acceptance, and rejection of old prejudices. It is likely to delight all fans of the show but, due to the adult themes, it is best suited for over 12’s.

The main messages from this movie are to embrace change and to move forward without forgetting the past, and to allow the younger generation to take up the mantle.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Acceptance
  • Tolerance
  • Letting go of control and giving over to a new generation.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • The differences in social behaviour between then and now, including the intolerance of divorced women and homosexuality at the time.
  • The consequences of drinking too much alcohol, which can lower your inhibitions and cause you to act uncharacteristically.