THE countdown is on to the last ever outing for the Yorkshire-inspired costume drama which has dominated Sunday night television for years.

Downton Abbey, set on a fictional North Yorkshire estate, first aired on ITV more than half a decade ago, and has gone on to win Emmys, BAFTAs and Golden Globes, as well as legions of fans.

But this Christmas Day will see the last ever episode of the drama broadcast, bringing the story of the aristocratic Yorkshire family to an end in 1925, more than a decade after the opening episode in 1912.

Throughout the series, Downton Abbey has been peppered with references to North Yorkshire towns like Ripon, Thirsk, Easingwold and Malton, and York has cropped up time and time again as characters visit the city or stop off on the way to London.

Fans have attempted to piece together the references to pin point the exact fictional location and an address for the Crawley family, and writer Julian Fellowes has spoken of his affection for Yorkshire after spending his school days at Ampleforth, near Helmsley, left him with a passion for the county and the local accent, which had played a part in setting the programme in the area.

In 2012, as the third series was about to air, he said the towns of North Yorkshire had inspired him.

He said: “Once it had been decided, I put it in that particular area because I was at school at Ampleforth, so the towns of Ripon and Helmsley and Thirsk and Malton, and places like Easingwold and Kirkbymoorside all figured in my childhood and teenage years. 

“I love Ripon, I love all those towns, although I dare say they are rather different now from the places I knew when I was growing up.”

In the earliest episodes, the Abbey's servants went to church in Easingwold; while the young solicitor and Downton heir Matthew Crawley cycled to work in Ripon.

As the story moved on, audiences saw York take a crucial role in the plots - most notably when valet Mr Bates was freed from a murder charge because he was recognised drinking in a York pub.

Bettys also made an appearance, when the young Lady Rose visited to buy cakes for Russian refugees, and at the same time met her future husband Atticus Aldridge; while in the final series Lady Mary's pig triumphed at a fat stock show in Malton.

Although the drama is famously filmed at Highclere Castle in Berkshire, several Yorkshire mansions have been suggested has the "real" home of Downton - and Newby Hall near Ripon has a strong claim.

The hall was home to a real Lord Grantham, from 1792, who passed the hall to his daughter, Lady Mary, and later became beset by complicated inheritances.

But the Oscar-winning Lord Fellowes maintains that any similarities to Newby Hall were coincidental.

He said: “I chose [the name] Grantham because when I was 11 I ran away from school and jumped on a train. Grantham was where the police picked me up.”