‘Downton Abbey’ season 5, episode 3 ratings: Maggie Smith reveals fail to help numbers

Another week, and more surprising headlines to write about the state of “Downton Abbey” in the United Kingdom.

Reportedly, the third episode of the series drew 7.8 million viewers, which is a slight drop from week two of season 5, and also a drop of more than a million viewers from at this point last year. This is even in spite of what was a pretty eventful episode, given that you had Violet (Maggie Smith) making some big admissions about her past and Bates (Brendan Coyle) having to get out of some sticky situations. Content-wise, season 5 has far and away surpassed the fourth edition in the series so far.

The thing you do have to remember here is perspective. The series still drew more than a 33% audience share at the time in which it aired on ITV, and if we were talking here about U.S. ratings, this big of an audience share is something that the majority of people would be completely in awe by. These sort of shares just don’t happen on American television anymore.

Thanks to the ratings in America and other territories, there is still no indication that the series will be ending anytime soon. Our gut feeling is still that season 6 will be the last, and mark an opportunity for the show to really go out in style, and with the majority of the core cast still around. You may lose Lily James after this year, but she is likely to be the most prominent exit unless Maggie Smith wants out.

What do you think about the latest state of the “Downton Abbey” ratings? Let us know some of your thoughts right now in the comments, and head over here for some further news pertaining to the show. Also, be sure to sign up to get more updates on everything we cover at CarterMatt right now via our official newsletter.

Photo: ITV