Downton Abbey

Series four, episode six
If Anna’s rape was intended to give a jolt to a soporific show, it has done exactly that. Quite apart from the subsequent media brouhaha, ‘Downton Abbey’ has since rediscovered the sort of nimble plotting and smart pacing that made it such a treat at its outset, making silliness a peripheral pleasure rather than the central point.

In spite of Anna and Bates’s reconciliation last week, the repercussions of the attack rumble on (surely even Thomas wouldn’t stoop to using this for his own ends?), while some good news for Alfred presents a further opportunity to comical sad sack Molesley. Above stairs, we’re clearly being primed for the arrival of Paul Giamatti as Cora’s loose cannon brother Harold.

For now, though, we have to make do with Rose’s surprise birthday party for Robert in which the Jazz Age arrives at Downton, along with a touch of racially-tinged comedy that is by no means as clumsily handled as you might fear. Mary also finds a new adversary in an agricultural surveyor – although we all know about the thin line between love and hate – and Edith’s romantic misery looks destined to run and run. Those who deserted the show in disgust after episode three don’t know what they’re missing.