The Downton rape scene was ‘ brave and beautiful’ says actress who played victim
THE actress at the centre of Downton Abbey’s controversial rape scene yesterday said she was proud of the programme for tackling such a hard-hitting subject.
Joanne Froggatt insisted the storyline was ‘brave’ and praised the show’s creator Julian Fellowes for ‘a beautiful job’ in writing the shocking scene, which has prompted more than 200 complaints to ITV and regulator Ofcom.
Viewers saw housemaid Anna Bates being attacked by Lord Gillingham’s valet Green in Sunday night’s episode. Green, played by Nigel Harman, pushed the maid against the wall and tried to kiss her. When his advances were spurned, he beat and then raped her.
Although the attack was implied through sounds behind a door, ITV faced a backlash from fans and domestic violence charities who accused programme-makers of using rape to liven up the drama’s script.
Miss Froggatt, 33, told BBC1’s Breakfast that Fellowes had been adamant that he didn’t want any graphic violence in the rape scene. She said: ‘I was really proud of the show for tackling a subject like this.
‘It’s a really brave thing to do and I really do believe that Julian’s written that in a way that is not gratuitous at all. He’s done a beautiful job of hitting the right note with it.’
Fellowes also defended the storyline yesterday, pointing out the plot was not done for sensational purposes, but to explore the ‘emotional damage’.
He said: ‘The whole point of the way we do things on Downton is we don’t do them gratuitously. We are interested in exploring the resultant emotions and the effect these things have on people.
‘If we’d wanted a sensational rape we could have stayed down in the kitchen with the camera during the whole thing and wrung it out.’