DOWNTON WHY ABBEY EVERAFTER
Period drama star says she’ll never turn down chance to come back to her most famous role as it returns to big screen
MICHELLE Dockery reckons a new Downton Abbey film is perfect timing after the restrictions and worry during the Covid pandemic. “It’s escapism for audiences,” she said. The second film, A New Era, is in cinemas on Friday and follows the first film in 2019.
Downton Abbey began life as a TV series, airing on ITV from 2010 to 2015 and following the fortunes of the aristocratic Crawley family and their downstairs servants at a Yorkshire country estate.
Michelle, 40, who has a distinctive Essex accent rather than the cut glass tones of Lady Mary, believes she knows why the period drama detailing the upstairs and downstairs lives of a stately home is such a worldwide success.
She said: “I think people find it really comforting. It’s escapism. I think it’s like seeing old friends again.”
While she appeared in Guy Ritchie’s successful gangster comedy The Gentlemen in 2019 and just this month starred in Netflix’s equally successful Anatomy of a Scandal, Michelle will always be Lady Mary.
And she’s quite happy with that – claiming she is “in it for the long haul” and will be at hand whenever screenwriter Julian Fellowes writes more.
She said: “The first film was such a success and we had such a huge box office it felt like there was such an appetite for a second one. The audience seems to just keep wanting to see more of Downton.
“We’ve all loved getting back together. We are like a big family. And I love playing Mary. I’m in it for the long haul.”
However, despite being in one of the biggest TV shows on the planet the actress claims she doesn’t get recognised when she’s out and about. “Not very much, no,” she revealed.
“I’m always surprised when someone does recognise me and when they do it’s usually as Lady Mary, despite the fact I’m usually in my jeans and T-shirt.”
Michelle has been doing rounds of interviews for the new film and dazzled at the film’s premiere in London wearing a silver beaded gown. Once again the film brings back Hugh Bonneville as Mary’s father the Earl of Grantham and Elizabeth McGovern as his wife the Countess, Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith, Dame
Maggie Smith as the Dowager
I love playing Lady Mary. I’m in it for the long haul MICHELLE DOCKERY HER DOWNTON ROLE
Countess, Jim Carter as Mr Carson and Phyllis Logan as Mrs Hughes.
Michelle admitted it is difficult to get so many cast members back together.
She laughed: “It’s always like herding cats because there are so many actors. It takes a while to get everybody in one place, at the right time. But we did it.”
The new Downton film, once again written by Julian Fellowes, is set nine months after the first film and brings the family, as well as the staff keeping things running below stairs, into 1928.
Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess, played by the formidable Dame Maggie Smith, learns she has been left a villa in the south of France in the will of a man she knew many years ago, so half the family decamp to the Riviera in investigate.
With the roof leaking, Lady Mary covers the bills by allowing a film crew including a director, played by Hugh Dancy, and two silent film megastars, played by Dominic West and Laura Haddock, to use Downton to shoot a silent picture – but calamity strikes when the first “talkie” is released.
Michelle said: “It’s a really fun story with all the characters very much out of their comfort zone.” She has played Lady Mary since 2010 and sometimes can’t believe how changed her character has become.
The actress said: “I sometimes look back at that first season of Downton and think about the rather spoilt and rebellious person Mary was back then.
“Now she has become everything that she didn’t want to be back then.”
Of course it’s not just the dramatic plots that the fans like – it’s the sets and the costumes. Essex girl Michelle, while able to buy designer clothes, admitted her fashion sense doesn’t compare.
Recently seen in double denim, she said: “Mary is much more up on fashion trends than I am. I think I used to be trendy when I was in my 20s but not so much now.
“Lady Mary is a real style icon of her time. I have to say, I do love the fashions we get to wear on Downton in this period.
“At the beginning, the costumes were all rather restricted because we were in the Edwardian period. As time has gone on, what we wear has become much looser, and, crucially, more comfortable. I would happily take a lot of Mary’s wardrobe home with me if I were allowed.”
Is it true that some of the vintage costumes used for Downton are rather smelly?
Michelle laughed: “Yes, I’m afraid that is true. I think it’s actually quite common for period dramas where costumes are often worn again and again and worn by several people. They can become a bit whiffy!”
Recently Michelle has found success with a different drama, Anatomy of a Scandal, playing a steely criminal barrister in the political thriller.
Michelle said: “I’m so grateful because you really never know how something is going to play out. It’s a great show and a timely subject matter that really seems to have struck a chord with audiences.”
Again she is hopeful for a second series. She said: “I think I’d be ready to get my gown and my wig on for a second one.”
Downton Abbey: A New Era is released in UK cinemas on Friday.