Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
Downton goes to Holly wood ...and the French Riviera
As the Carsons get a taste of glamour in the new Downton film, Jim Carter and Phyllis Logan tell Lisa Sewards how they took to the high life
Carson can’t cope with electricity or a fridge, never mind the French, so going there is tricky for him JIM CARTER
says Phyllis. ‘They come to an understanding because Myrna starts off being a bit up herself and dismissive of the staff, even though she comes from scum, the same as the rest of us.’
But what of the Carsons, who had possibly the slowest-moving romance ever seen on screen? Their feelings for each other first became apparent in series three in 2012 after Mrs Hughes’s cancer scare – having been told that the lump she’d found was benign, she’d heard Carson singing happily for her good health. Carson finally proposed to Mrs Hughes in the 2014 Christmas special.
Writer and creator Julian Fellowes hadn’t initially intended for the couple to tie the knot, but Phyllis, who’s married to actor Kevin Mcnally, says fans had been aware of her romance with Carson before she was. ‘Jim kept saying to me that people in the street would say to him, “When are you and Mrs Hughes going to get together?” I didn’t think it would work but when I read Julian’s scripts about the lead-up to it, I thought, “It’s beautiful, so yes this has to happen.”’
Jim, who’s now working on a new film about the young Willy Wonka, agrees. ‘Carson and Mrs Hughes would enjoy a sherry together at the end of the day, and we both relished those moments. Phyllis and I work well together and we’re fond of each other. So that helped inform the chemistry of the longest-burning romance in TV history.’
His real-life wife Imelda Staunton appeared in the first Downton Abbey movie, as Lady Maud Bagshaw. ‘Imelda had heard me wittering on about Downton for years so for her to be part of it was good. She said to me one day, “I’ve got this script and I’m playing an aristocrat.” And I said, “Oh yes, lovely.” Then she said, “In Downton Abbey!” As she was upstairs I knew our relationship would be limited in the film but it was nice to travel into work together, even if Carson refused to refill Maud’s wine glass.’
So are Mr and Mrs Carson still living happily ever after in A New Era? ‘We’re very happy we got together, but now there’s a bit more carping and sniping between the characters, which is a classic marriage,’ laughs Phyllis. ‘Mrs Hughes loves Carson because he has great attributes, but she also has to accept he’s a bit of an old curmudgeon.’
Both actors say they’re a world away from their characters. ‘Carson is a slave to routine and lives his life by dressing for dinner but that would drive me insane. I hate routine,’ says Jim, while Phyllis says she ‘very much disassociates’ herself from Mrs Hughes. ‘I’m not often recognised like Jim as he’s tall with big eyebrows, but I do get recognised by my Scottish voice – even when I’m ordering a coffee with a mask on,’ laughs Phyllis, who’s now working on a plane crash thriller called No Way Up with Kelsey Grammer. ‘But I just love being Mrs Hughes – the character has been such a gift so I don’t mind if it ends up being my defining role.’ Downton Abbey: A New Era is in cinemas now.