TEXT: [OPENING CREDITS] [A hand taps out Morse code. A train whistle blows. Mr Bates sits in one of the cars. A woman takes down the telegram message.] Woman: Oh, my God. Man: That's impossible. I'll take it up there now. Woman: Don't be stupid. None of them will be up for hours and what difference will it make? [She hands him the telegram.] Woman: Jimmy'll do it when he comes in. [SCENE_BREAK] April 1912 [SCENE_BREAK] [DOWNTON ABBEY, SERVANTS' CORRIDOR - MORNING] [SCENE_BREAK] [Daisy knocks on the housemaids' bedroom door.] Daisy: Six o'clock! [HOUSEMAIDS' BEDROOM - MORNING] [Gwen sits up in bed.] Gwen: Thank you, Daisy. Anna. [Anna stirs in her bed.] Anna: For once in my life I'd like to sleep until I woke up natural. [SCENE_BREAK] [KITCHENS - MORNING] Mrs Patmore: Is your fire still in? Daisy: Yes, Mrs Patmore. Mrs Patmore: Oh, my, my, will wonders never cease? Have you laid the servants' hall breakfast? Daisy: Yes, Mrs Patmore. Mrs Patmore: And finished blacking that stove? Daisy: Yes, Mrs Patmore. Mrs Patmore: What about the bedroom fires? Daisy: All lit, Mrs Patmore. Mrs Patmore: Right, well, take your things and get started on the fires on the ground floor. [Daisy carries a bucket of firewood through the servants' hall and up through the main rooms into the library.] Housemaid 2 (to Daisy): Now hurry up. [Daisy hurries through the library. A footman, Thomas, enters with a silver tray with two drinks. He collects two more in another room.] Thomas: Any sign of William? Housemaid 2: No. [Thomas enters the breakfast room where William is laying the tablecloth
SUMMARY:
April 1912. News arrives that threatens the future of Downton Abbey. Lord Grantham's cousin James Crawley, heir presumptive to the earldom , and his son Patrick have died in the RMS Titanic disaster. Meanwhile, Lord Grantham hires his former batman , John Bates as his valet. In September the family receives the visit of the young Duke of Crowborough. The family thought he was interested in marrying Mary. It is revealed that the Duke once had a romantic relationship with Thomas, the footman. Matthew Crawley, a distant third cousin, learns of his good fortune as the new heir.