John Rudling Brabinger is absent from the series until episode The Honours List (1980) due to a heart attack while working on the series.
The entire "To the Manor Born" series was broadcast on Swedish TV in 1981-1982, except for this episode. In fact, it has never been shown on Swedish TV, and it's not included on the Swedish DVD of the show, even though it claims to be "the complete series" on the cover and even includes the 25th anniversary special.
As this episode was officially part of series 1, it is usually included in re-runs, regardless of the time of year. Many other series that had a one-off special episode for Christmas, usually skipped the Christmas episode, as it doesn't directly relate to the main story, however this episode is a key part of the overall story arc.