5. A Christmas Special That Is Actually Remotely Christmassy
Which leads us conveniently onto our next point- last year's Christmas special was too long and took place in the middle of Summer. We're not suggesting that the Downton Abbey Christmas special should be a tirade of festive clichés (Lady Mary and Lady Edith chucking snowballs at each other, Dame Maggie Smith reading out the joke from inside her Christmas cracker and then rolling her eyes the way she does best...), but when you're cracking open the tin of Celebrations you got as a Christmas present and the snow is billowing outside your window, the last thing you want to look at is the cast of Downton Abbey planning their Summer festival, sunning themselves and running around in shorts. Even if this year's Christmas special doesn't take place over Christmas, it'd still be nice if it was at least set in the winter time so we could feel a little bit festive. If the issue is trying not to isolate viewers who don't celebrate Christmas, then we propose they scrap the idea of a Christmas special altogether and instead have a special episode on New Year's Day instead. Because frankly by the time the Downton Abbey special kicks off at 9pm on Christmas Day, is anybody actually still alert enough to give it the full two hours' worth of attention it deserves anyway?