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Patricia Hodge will appear in Downton Abbey's Christmas Day finale.

She’s best-known for having “such fun” with on-screen daughter Miranda , in her hit BBC1 sitcom.

But Hodge has signed up to guest star as a rather more frosty matriarch in the last ever outing of Downton Abbey, to air on Christmas Day.

The actress will play the stern mother of Bertie Pelham, last seen running for the hills after Lady Edith admitted that her “ward” Marigold was actually her daughter

(Image: Nick Briggs)

The casting suggests that the Earl of Grantham’s unlucky-in-love middle daughter will get her happy ending and finally make it down the aisle with Bertie in the show’s festive swansong.

But marrying Edith may not be what his mother was planning for her son – especially now he has unexpectedly become the Marquess of Hexham.

The two-hour special will end with all the family celebrating New Year’s Eve, as they welcome in 1926.

(Image: Channel 4)

Also returning are Lily James and Matt Barber as Lady Rose and Atticus Aldridge, and they are rumoured to be expecting their first child. Her father Shrimpie, played by Peter Egan, also puts in an appearance.

In the plot, Mary endeavours to build bridges with Edith, having ruined her chances of marrying Bertie by revealing that she is already a mother.

(Image: BBC)

But things are tricky for Mary too, as new husband Henry discovers that finding his place at Downton is more difficult than he thought.

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The final ever episode promises to provide “love and loss, happiness and heartbreak” for the show's 11million loyal fans.

It will feature all the returning stars from upstairs and downstairs, including Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery and Joanne Froggatt.