Matthew dies in Downton – 2012

We waited for years as Lady Mary and Cousin Matthew’s will-they, won’t-they, love affair wrung every emotion out of us.

And it seemed they finally got their happy ending with the birth of their baby son – despite two hours of dire hints Mary, played by Michelle Dockery, would not survive childbirth.

But, the Downton Abbey Christmas Day special wouldn’t be complete without a tragedy. So Matthew, played by Dan Stevens, jumped into his open-topped car just after greeting his new son, swerved to avoid a lorry and, in a flash, was dead on the road, blood running from his ear.

And so the nation was left to weep into their Christmas sherry.