Downton may go to the picture house

DOWNTON Abbey could be hitting the big screen after Julian Fellowes admitted he had been writing a film version of the hit TV series.

The creator of the British drama, which finished in 2015 after six series, said he had done some work on the project in case producers suddenly gave the idea the go-ahead.

For the past 12 months there has been fervent speculation about the possibility of a Downton film, which was fuelled after Jim Carter, who played the butler, Carson, said cast members had been told to keep themselves free for filming.

At the opening of his musical, The Wind in the Willows, Fellowes, 67, told the Evening Standard: “I’ve done some work on it because I don’t want to be caught out if [the producers] suddenly say ‘yes’ and then it’s all go.”

But he admitted there were a lot of uncertainties, such as whether the cast could be reassembled. No hints about a plot or the film’s setting were given.

The final episode of Downton Abbey was watched by nearly seven million people.