Carson’s missus is a cut above in Downton movie
DoWnTon Abbey star Jim Carter and his award-winning wife Imelda Staunton will both appear in the Downtown Abbey film — but class will keep them apart.
Carter will be seen in the film as retired Crawley family butler Carson, now wed to housekeeper Mrs. Hughes (played by Phyllis Logan): characters from ‘below stairs’.
Ms Staunton, however, will be ‘ upstairs’ — playing the Earl of Grantham’s cousin.
Details of the plot, written by Downton creator Julian Fellowes, are being closely guarded, though I did hear a whisper of a possible visit to the abbey by King George V and Queen Mary, for tea.
That was from an early script, however. Whether the royal visit will find its way into the full- length feature film, which director Brian Percival will commence shooting on September 10, is anybody’s guess.
The production has been evicted from its regular studio home at Ealing because another show is being filmed there. Instead, the Downton cast and crew will take over sound- stages at Shepperton Studios.
Downton regulars Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Penelope Wilton and Joanne Froggatt will be returning. Geraldine James will also be in the film.