Stars told: Clear your diaries for Downton, the movie
Mrs Hughes actress Phyllis Logan gives biggest hint yet of the Abbey news every fan is longing to hear
IT’S BEEN a long-running drama all of its own: will there, or won’t there be a big screen version of Downton Abbey?
Now one of the show’s most popular stars, Phyllis Logan, has put speculation to bed – with the same dependable efficiency as her character, the housekeeper Mrs Hughes.
The Scottish actress revealed to The Mail on Sunday that a new script has been completed and filming dates arranged for 2018.
‘There’s a potential script coming our way, slightly rewritten,’ said Ms Logan. And she revealed the cast have been consulted about when they are available.
‘Everyone’s been asked what’s going on between this date and that date,’ she continued. ‘So we just hope that all the elements – because there are so many – come together. To have a last hurrah with all the characters, going back to the castle and seeing all the old muckers will be fantastic. I’m certainly up for it.’
It is understood Highclere Castle, near Newbury in Berkshire, where the original series was filmed, will be closed to visitors from May 30 to July 7, thought to be for exterior and interior filming.
‘It was a great show to do and a great character to play and I will forever think fondly of Mrs Hughes,’ said 61-year-old Ms Logan, who was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire.
‘In fact, it was one of the best gigs of my life and opened up so many other avenues and put a different spin on my career.’
Downton Abbey shut its doors for the last time on Christmas Day 2015, but millions of fans have been hoping for a movie version of the drama. NBC Universal International Studios had hoped to start filming in 2017 with 20 of the original cast members, including Hugh Bonneville, who played Lord Grantham, and Michelle Dockery, who played Lady Mary Crawley.
All were asked to keep their diaries open but the project never got under way. There was further disappointment when it emerged that Dame Maggie Smith, 83, who played the Dowager Countess of Grantham, had ruled out taking part, saying she was too old.
Such is the popularity of Downton that Mrs Hughes has fans around the world, including a woman from Boston, Massachusetts, who had the household keys to Downton Abbey tattooed on one hip.
‘I kid you not,’ said Ms Logan. ‘Though, unfortunately, she has them on the wrong hip. She also had the wig and the full outfit.’
For now, Ms Logan is appearing in a new comedy drama about ‘women of a certain age’.
Girlfriends, from Bafta-winning writer Kay Mellor, starts on Wednesday and also stars Miranda Richardson and Zoe Wanamaker. ‘We are like the musketeers – three post-middle age women taking on everyone and everything,’ said Ms Logan.
Girlfriends is on ITV on Wednesday, January 3, at 9pm.