Christmas Day Downton' the best yet'

Tomorrow's episode of Downton Abbey has been called "the best yet" by members of the cast.

The Christmas special of the smash hit period drama covers the whole festive period.

It will focus on the Matthew, Mary and Sir Richard love triangle, and on whether John Bates will be found guilty of murder.

Dan Stevens, who plays heart-throb Matthew Crawley, says he is thrilled to be part of the Christmas day evening-drama highlight, the main event of the night at 9pm on UTV. It will be repeated at the same time on St Stephen's Day on TV3.

"It's brilliant to be part of it…Hopefully we'll make people's Christmas with this. I think it's our best episode yet," he said.