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Warning: SPOILERS for Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale are ahead!
While both of the previous Downton Abbey movies felt like they could have been effective conclusions to this period drama saga, the critically well-received Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale has finally brought things to an official close! So I was pleased to see so many familiar faces back for this 2025 movie release, including Paul Giamatti reprising Harold Levinson for the first time since his debut in the Season 4 Christmas special. However, after watching The Grand Finale, I was disappointed to realize that there was one notable cast member from the TV series who was absent from this last chapter.
Why Didn’t Dr. Clarkson Appear In Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale?
David Robb played Dr. Richard Clarkson for the entirety of Downton Abbey’s TV run, first in a recurring capacity, and then as a series regular. As the Crawley family doctor and general practitioner running the hospital run by the family, he was frequently in contact with both them and members of their staff. Some of his notable storylines on the series included running Downton as a military commander when it was turned into a convalescent home during World War I, as well as when his medical advice on how to treat Lady Sybil when she went into labor went unheeded, resulting in her dying after giving birth.
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After being absent from the first Downton Abbey movie, Robb reprised Clarkson in Downton Abbey: A New Era, where he both diagnosed Cora with pernicious anaemia and was present when Violet Crawley passed away. However, Clarkson was nowhere to be seen in The Grand Finale, which struck me as odd. After all he went through with the Crawleys, and this being the last time we’ll see these characters, why wasn’t he included in the movie?
How Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale Could Have Used Dr. Clarkson
It may have to do with how there weren’t any plot threads that required Dr. Clarkson’s medical expertise in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, but that would be a flimsy excuse. There were a handful of times when Clarkson was used in non-medical capacities, like when he briefly had romantic feelings for Isobel Crawley. I have an idea on how this could have been accomplished in The Grand Finale.
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One of the movie’s subplots sees Isobel inviting Mr. Carson and Daisy onto the planning committee for the annual county fair to provide fresh perspectives, much to the ire of the traditionalist Sir Hector Moreland. I think Dr. Clarkson would have been a great fit for this committee, especially considering his connection to Isobel, both for the aforementioned romantic reasons and being the chairwoman for the Downton Cottage Hospital. If that wouldn’t have worked, then at the very least, David Robb could have cameoed as Clarkson when the fair was happening. It would have been easy enough to show him speaking to one of the Crawleys at the event, perhaps during the Fair Man Award ceremony.
Dr. Richard Clarkson may not have been one of the more important Downton Abbey characters, but he certainly deserved better than being left out of The Grand Finale and not being acknowledged at all. He was an invaluable and upstanding member of this community, so I can only hope he’ll continue to be so as these characters enter the 1930s. Revisit his past appearances by streaming the Downton Abbey TV show and A New Era with a Peacock subscription.
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