MOVIE MUSIC UK

Original Review by Jonathan Broxton

After 15 years, 52 TV episodes, and two theatrical movies, the Downton Abbey saga comes to a close with this third and final film, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. For those who don’t know, Downton Abbey is a sprawling British period drama set in the early 20th century, following the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their household staff at the grand Yorkshire estate of Downton Abbey. The series begins in 1912 with the sinking of the Titanic, which disrupts the line of inheritance for the Crawley estate. From there, it traces the interplay between the family’s upstairs world of privilege and the downstairs world of the servants, showing how their lives are deeply intertwined. Across its six seasons the story spans major historical events – the First World War, the Spanish flu pandemic, the decline of the British aristocracy, women’s suffrage – and looks at how everyone at Downton adjusts to these social changes. The Grand Finale is set in 1930, is directed by Simon Curtis from a screenplay by the ubiquitous Julian Fellowes, and sees Hugh Bonneville, Jim Carter, and Michelle Dockery all returning to their famous roles.

Also returning for one final trip to Downton is Scottish composer John Lunn, who scored every episode of the show (winning two Emmys in the process), and both previous films. Lunn is one of the busiest and most acclaimed composers in British TV – his recent credits include popular shows such as The White Queen, Shetland, Grantchester, and The Last Kingdom – but Downton is the only one of these that offers him the opportunity to write music for the big screen, and he invariably grasps that opportunity with both hands.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is another musical triumph. It contains all the familiar musical elements from the show – the grand and sweeping main theme, the rich and classical orchestrations, the strong emotional content – but adds a new dimension this time around by introducing some elements of cabaret and music hall jazz, representing the popular music of the time in the UK. Part of the plot of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale sees members of the Crawley family interacting with actors and musicians from the London music hall scene, including the real-life actor and composer Noël Coward and the fictional actor Guy Dexter, and Lunn’s score cleverly interpolates references to several of Coward’s real songs, as well as to the general ‘vibe’ of the era.

The score will be a delight for fans of the show’s music. Cues like “Home at Last,” “The County Show,” the final moments of “A Question of Property,” and the emotionally poignant “The Crown is Passed” all reprise different parts of the famous main theme, each with a satisfying symphonic sweep, or in the case of “A Question of Property,” a more introspective piano line. The sense of regal splendor in “The Crown is Passed” is especially outstanding, and the way the cue builds to a slow, dignified, elegant, richly orchestrated statement of the theme in its conclusion is excellent.

Thankfully, however, the score is much more than simple re-statements of existing music, and numerous other cues also stand out. “A Night in Piccadilly” drips with period glamor and opulence, a note-perfect musical pastiche of the British theatrical sound of the period. “The London Season” and the opening moments of “A Question of Property” are wonderfully jaunty and upbeat, a festival of dancing pianos and lively orchestral textures that sometimes gently veer off into saxophone jazz.

“Mary, Alone Again” has a sense of melancholic beauty to strings, playing off the chord structure of the recurring theme for Michelle Dockery’s character Lady Mary. There is a hint of George Gershwin playfulness in the New York-adjacent theme for Alessandro Nivola’s Gus Sambrook in the eponymous “Mr. Sambrook,” whose arrival and subsequent dalliance with Lady Mary causes tongues to wag. Both “Private Lives” and “Prodigal Daughter” cleverly veer between further references to Lady Mary’s theme and authentic period jazz sounds, including playful pizzicato textures, muted trumpets, and more.

I love the spiky, syncopated pianos in “Goodbye and Welcome,” the effortlessly elegant string writing in “A Happy Return,” and the glorious sense of regal grandeur for the society gathering at “Ascot Races 1930” and the subsequent excitement of “The Gold Cup”. There is a sumptuous solo violin line in the gorgeous “Mary Restored” that stands out as something really quite exquisite, and then everything concludes with one final glorious flourish in the “End Titles,” which blends the main theme with more references to the 1930s cabaret jazz.

Also included on the album are four performances of classic Noël Coward songs; the nostalgic “I’ll See You Again” performed beautifully by Marilyn Cutts in character as stage performer Lady Shayne, “The Stately Homes of England” and “Dance, Little Lady” performed by as instrumentals by pianist Alex Parker, and the amusingly cynical song “Poor Little Rich Girl” performed in character by Arty Froushan and Dominic West as Coward and Dexter.

All in all, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is a terrific diversion for both fans of the franchise as whole, and for film music aficionados who still appreciate highly classical and richly arranged orchestral scores, and who may also find themselves being drawn to British period jazz and to the sardonic musical wit of Noël Coward, as both are interpolated expertly. If this is indeed the final musical journey to the world of Downton Abbey, it’s a fitting send off, and one which adds a perfect coda to John Lunn’s already acclaimed contribution to it.

Buy the Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale soundtrack from the Movie Music UK Store

Track Listing:

• A Night in Piccadilly/I’ll See You Again (written by Noël Coward, performed by Marilyn Cutts) (3:41)
• The London Season (0:58)
• Mary, Alone Again (1:20)
• Home at Last (1:31)
• Mr. Sambrook (2:52)
• Goodbye and Welcome (0:53)
• A Happy Return (1:33)
• The County Show (1:09)
• Ascot Races 1930 (2:17)
• The Gold Cup (1:21)
• A Question of Property (1:22)
• Wives Can Have Secrets (0:51)
• Private Lives (2:09)
• The Stately Homes of England (written by Noël Coward, performed by Alex Parker) (0:38)
• Dance, Little Lady (written by Noël Coward, performed by Alex Parker) (1:03)
• Prodigal Daughter (2:00)
• Poor Little Rich Girl (written by Noël Coward, performed by Arty Froushan and Dominic West) (2:10)
• Mary Restored (1:47)
• The Crown Is Passed (4:20)
• Amen to That (2:06)
• End Titles (3:49)

Decca Records (2025)

Running Time: 39 minutes 51 seconds

Music composed by John Lunn . Conducted by Alastair King. Orchestrations by Alastair King and Martin Higgins. Recorded and mixed by XXXX. Edited by XXXX. Album produced by John Lunn.