Could Gladman kill Downton Abbey?

AudlemOnline is, as we can see from emails received from around the country, being read in many villages suffering the curse of Gladman.

Interestingly, one such village is Bampton, in Oxfordshire, the village used for filming Downton Abbey. Could Gladman soon be responsible for killing off such a popular TV show as they turn that rural idyll into a giant building plot? It also happens to be in David Cameron's own constituency!

As soon as we heard this news, the editor could not resist developing a plot line for a future Downton Abbey episode – possibly for broadcast on 1st April 2014.

Cast:

• Hugh Bonneville as Earl of Grantham
• Allen Leach as Tom Branson
• Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary
• Jim Carter as Carson, the Butler
• Brendan Coyle, as Mr Bates, valet
• Joanne Froggatt as Anna, lady's maid and wife of Mr Bates
• Maggie Smith as Dowager Countess of Grantham
• David Gladman, as himself

When Tom Branson, son-in-law of the Earl of Grantham, and now Estate Manager at Downton Abbey, discovers a large hole in the estate's finances, he persuades Lady Mary to support him in selling off the front lawns of the Abbey for development.

The two invite David Gladman to submit planning permission for 120 dwellings, including 30% affordable homes. When the Earl of Grantham discovers what is afoot, he is appalled, particularly by the affordable homes right on his doorstep, and demands David Gladman visit the Abbey to explain himself.

Unfortunately, he forgets to tell Carson, his butler about the impending visit. Despite the Rolls-Royce in which David Gladman arrives, Carson immediately decides he is not a gentleman and as such is not to be admitted by the front door, and directs Gladman to the Tradesmen's entrance.

It is by now pouring with rain and kind-hearted lady's maid Anna takes pity on the soaked Gladman and invites him in for a cup of tea. As they enjoy their tea and one of cook Mrs Patmore's scrumptious cakes together, Anna's husband sees them laughing and enjoying each other's company.

Still recovering from the news his wife had been raped in an earlier episode, Bates wrongly suspects Gladman, who may be guilty of the rape of much of England's green and pleasant land, but has never had any designs, not even an outline planning application, in mind for Anna.

After a difficult meeting upstairs and hearing that the Earl pretty well controls local government in those parts, Gladman soon decides his best bet is to go straight to appeal to the cabinet minister responsible for planning, the large and imposing Lord Pickle of Bradford.

Some weeks later, the planning inspector appointed by Pickle arrives at Downton and is very soon embroiled in a secret but intense affair with Lady Mary. No-one suspects except the eagle-eyed Dowager Countess who arranges tea with the inspector and suggests that Lord Pickle, a strict and moral non-conformist, might be less than amused if he was informed of this illicit liaison.

Perhaps the way to keep it secret, she hints, is that the appeal should, and this is broached with great subtlety, be dismissed and Gladman's development plan for Downton be thrown out. This then happens, of course, after a tense planning inspector's meeting in the nearby city.

The tension over dinner in the Abbey that night is obvious, as Earl Grantham wonders if the age of the aristocracy may be near over if his own family can connive to build houses, and affordable ones at that, so near to such an important home, threatening both agriculture and, no less, the future of a hit TV series that is keeping them all in gainful employment.

In the closing scene, a furtive Bates, who has already escaped the noose after one accusation of murder, is seen climbing back on a train – the scene is lovingly filmed with dozens of extras from a railway preservation society – his face half-covered. As the train pulls out, we see the name Congleton on the platform signs. What could he have been doing there? Surely, he has not exacted the ultimate revenge on David Gladman – and for a crime the victim did not commit.

We shall see in the next episode......

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