The old-fashioned charm, the splendour, the scandal and the drama… the world can’t get enough of Downton Abbey! With the third and final spin-off movie, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, now in cinemas, we’ve found some curious facts about the hit period drama and its stars.
Double tragedy
Season three put fans through the wringer, with the death of Lady Sybil in episode four and Matthew Crawley’s fatal car crash in the finale.
“Some of the letters I got made your hair stand on end,” recalls creator Julian Fellowes.
While Sybil’s death was planned, actor Dan Stevens’ resignation from the show took Julian by surprise. If he’d known Dan, 42, was intending to leave, he says he would have staged Sybil’s exit differently.
“I probably would have killed them together in the crash.”
The American connection
While Downton seems like a British invention through-and-through, Julian, 76, says when he was writing it, he was inspired by popular US shows.
“I was constantly thinking in terms of those America story structures. I had liked ER. There was something called Chicago Hope that I liked very much. And Thirtysomething, with all those stories going at once.”
Cheap at twice the price
Each episode of the wildly popular drama – that’s 52 episodes across six seasons – cost almost $2 million a pop. While that number seems extraordinary, industry experts say it’s on the tamer side for big-budget TV. Mad Men cost $5 million per episode and in its last season, Game of Thrones reached an eye-watering $25 million per show.
Ghostly housekeeper
Highclere Castle in Hampshire is the location for Downton Abbey and given that it was built in 1679 – then renovated during the 1840s – perhaps it’s not surprising it has the odd lurking spirit. A former inhabitant of the Grade 1- listed country house says it’s home to the ghost of a former housekeeper, who still jangles her keys at the end of her chain.
The costumes smelled awful
The wardrobe department was always on the lookout for real items of clothing from the 1910s and ’20s. The vintage pieces needed to be restored before they could be worn and were so fragile, they couldn’t be washed, which posed something of a problem for the actors.
“We do stink as they don’t wash our costumes,” Sophie McShera, 40, who played cook’s assistant Daisy, once shared.
“They have these weird patches, which are sewn into the armpits and they wash separately.”
In addition to the whiffy costumes, many of the female cast members also had to wear corsets.
“They were very uncomfortable and so tight, they couldn’t even eat in them,” says costume designer Susannah Buxton.
What a feast
“If you have fake food, it’s going to look like fake food,” says series cuisine stylist Lisa Heathcote.
For that reason, all those meals Mrs Patmore and Daisy whipped up in Downton’s cavernous kitchen were real – although not necessarily edible. Lisa prepared and dressed the food before every scene, and sometimes dishes were frozen to last longer, which didn’t always yield the best results.
“We had a lobster and it caused what we called Lobstergate,” says Lesley Nicol, 72, who played Mrs Patmore.
“It was beautiful and looked terrific on camera, and was very expensive. They froze it, then brought it out another day and by the time it had thawed, it was bad.”
A real love story
Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith) has Downton to thank not just for launching her career but also her love life. Laura, 39, met Michael C. Fox, 36, when he joined the cast in season five as footman Andrew Parker. In 2021, the couple welcomed son Luca.
“It was great to go to work with your best pal,” says Laura.
“I think we’re lucky, to have someone who’s got your back. It can be really beautiful when you’re working together and chatting about stuff that’s hard – and they get it.”
There was only one bedroom set
Lady Mary, Lady Edith and Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, all had their own sumptuous bedrooms in the show, but in reality, it was the same bedroom set. The room was constantly redecorated depending on whose boudoir it needed to be.
“By the end, it was quite thick with paint and wallpaper,” says production designer Donal Woods.
“If you’re very smart, you’ll look out the window and it’s always the same view.”
