It’s like Alien! Viewers reel at Downton bloodbath
WITH the aristocrats seated at the table in their finery, this Downton Abbey dinner scene started in the usual genteel style.
But viewers were left reeling after Sunday’s episode of the ITV drama took a grisly turn. The Earl of Grantham suffered a burst ulcer which caused him to vomit blood all over the crisp white tablecloth – and his family.
The scene was so graphic that many of the 7.5million viewers said it was more like a horror movie, with some citing the scene in Alien where the creature bursts out of John Hurt’s chest.
Lord Grantham (played by Hugh Bonneville), who has complained about stomach pains in previous episodes, took to his feet to declare he felt unwell.
Then he suddenly jolted forward and sprayed blood across the table, to the shock of his mother Violet (Dame Maggie Smith). His wife Cora, played by Elizabeth McGovern, was splattered – twice.
ITV had warned viewers beforehand to expect ‘shocking scenes’, but many were still caught unawares. TV host Lorraine Kelly wrote on Twitter: ‘Crikey – wasn’t expecting that – like John Hurt in Alien.’
One viewer tweeted: ‘I feel traumatised by the bloodbath in Downton Abbey last night... I’m not sure that was needed!’ Another posted: ‘Wow. Watched the horrendous blood scene and had nightmares!’
And a third complained: ‘I shouldn’t have been eating anything before watching the latest episode of Downton Abbey. Now I feel sick.’ The Daily Mail’s Dr Martin Scurr said the dramatic scenes were perfectly plausible and that a bleed from an ulcer in the stomach or duodenum is ‘not uncommon’.
He said they were less likely to happen now because those who have ulcers ‘have got pain and they are given fancy drugs and made better.
‘People can easily vomit two pints of blood. It can be very projectile. It could go all the way along a long table like that.’
He added that those who suffer a similar fate should get to hospital ‘instantly’.
Fans wondering whether Lord Grantham would survive his ordeal were put out of their misery when a teaser for next Sunday’s episode showed him sitting up in his hospital bed.