ITV star branded ‘cruel’ by vicar over a decade after brutal scene aired

It's been over ten years!

ITV star branded ‘cruel’ by vicar over a decade after brutal scene aired
It’s difficult to forget such a wild moment in Downton Abbey history – for better or for worse (Picture: ITV/ PBS)

Downton Abbey star Robert Bathurst revealed that he was even told off by a vicar thanks to his most notorious moment on the hit show.

The ITV period drama, created by Julian Fellowes, amassed a huge fanbase across six seasons and multiple movies (with the third set to come out later this year).

The 20th-century-based series was filled with scandal, intrigue and gossip as the Crawley family navigated high-society England and their servants grappled with their own troubles in the basement below their sprawling titular estate.

Throughout the six seasons, we also followed the highs and lows of the three sisters – Mary (Michelle Dockery), Edith (Laura Carmichael) and Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) – romances and none seemed to be more out-of-luck than Edith.

In the early seasons she meets Sir Anthony Strallan, an older gentleman who she falls head over heels for despite his insistence that they probably aren’t quite right for each other.

Nonetheless, they manage to make it down the aisle before – in a horrifying and publicly humiliating twist – Sir Anthony’s reservations win out and he jilts a devastated Edith at the altar.