I’m finally ready to settle down, reveals Downton heart-throb
IT IS the news Downton Abbey’s female fans have been hoping to hear since he first appeared as brooding valet John Bates.
Brendan Coyle says he is finally ready to settle down and is looking for a ‘meaningful relationship’.
The 48-year-old, who has won a legion of fans since appearing in the ITV costume drama, said: ‘I’m going to be 50 soon. Heartthrob status and fame doesn’t seem to be that important any more.
‘I’m single, I’m looking for something meaningful. By the time you’ve been single
‘Looking for something meaningful’
for a long time, you can get quite specific about what you can and can’t put up with.
‘If this TV success had come in my 20s, if I was young and I’d become a heart-throb, I would have been very stupid.
‘I would have got into a lot of situations that I really wished I hadn’t. But in my 40s, that’s not going to happen.’
The actor has spoken of how he spent his 30s and early 40s moving from one longterm relationship to another. However, he told the Radio Times he has deliberately spent the last few years ‘taking stock’.
And he admitted there was a downside to fame – and the rise of camera phones meant fans often took photos without asking.
‘One thing I’m really keen not to do is complain about the fact that I got a job that’s made me very successful,’ he said.
‘But what I will say is that everyone on the planet has a camera. I posed for about 40 photographs yesterday.
‘I don’t mind stopping for a photograph, yes, sure, what I really mind is [people taking photos surreptitiously].’
Sunday’s episode of Downton Abbey saw Mr Bates finally find evidence that could clear him of the murder of his first wife. He was sentenced to life in prison for the crime at the end of the second series.
The third series – which has attracted nine million viewers – has seen his second wife and head housemaid Anna, played by Joanne Froggatt, battle to clear his name.
Sunday’s episode also saw the shock death of Lady Sybil, the youngest of the Crawley daughters, played by Jessica Brown Findlay.