Charles and Camilla pose with Oscar winners including Judi Dench and Colin Firth as they host a star-studded reception in honour of British filmmaking

DAILY MAIL
By PHOEBE JACKSON-EDWARDS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 16:54 EST, 4 May 2016 | UPDATED: 18:13 EST, 4 May 2016

Prince Charles and Camilla held a recption celebrating British filmmaking, from second left, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall, with Colin Firth and Michael Caine, centre



Dame Judi Dench and Colin Firth, who earned their Oscars playing members of the monarchy, are being celebrated at a royal reception for British Academy Awards winners.



The Prince of Wales, 67, and Duchess of Cornwall, 68, hosted the event at St James's Palace tonight to celebrate British filmmaking, which also saw Sir Michael Caine, Emma Thompson and singer Sam Smith among the Oscar-winning guests from both in front of and behind the camera.

Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Academy CEO Dawn Hudson and members of the Academy's Board of Governors were also in attendance.




Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3573897/Charles-Camilla-pose-Oscar-winners-including-Judi-Dench-Colin-Firth-host-star-studded-reception-honour-British-filmmaking.html#ixzz47jtJPMmF
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Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes hints cast are holding up film being made

MIRROR
BY NICOLA AGIUS
14 April, 2016



Downton Abbey creator Jullian Fellowes has seriously hinted that the cast are the reason a film is not yet in production.

Speaking on Loose Women today, the award-winning writer admitted he would love to turn his small screen masterpiece into a blockbuster, but the decision is not in his hands.

Are the likes of Hugh Bonneville, Dame Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery and Elizabeth McGovern to blame?

"Let's just say it's not me slowing things up," he teased. "The difficulty is rounding up the actors. One is in America making a new series, another is in a play.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/downton-abbey-creator-julian-fellowes-7755060

SPOILER ALERT! Laura Carmichael films scenes for the wedding of ********** in the final season of Downton Abbey

DAILY MAIL
By FRANCESCA MENATO FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 06:00 EST, 25 April 2015 | UPDATED: 08:41 EST, 25 April 2015



She's been unlucky in love herself but that doesn't seem to be stopping Edith Crawley, played by Laura Carmichael, from supporting the nuptials of Downton Abbey stalwarts Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes.

Members of the cast were spotted filming scenes for the next Julian Fellowes wedding in Burghclere, Hampshire.

Joining Laura was Mr Carson himself, played by Jim Carter, while Phyllis Logan was unseen - likely in the church keeping her wedding dress concealed.

The wedding is a celebration by upstairs and downstairs of the North England estate with Cora Crawley (Elizabeth McGovern) in a wide brimmed hat in attendance.

Also on the guest list is fellow servant Daisy, played by Sophie McShera, who is seen outside of her kitchen smock, in a pretty pleated orange dress for the occasion.

There were a whole host of cast members playing characters from both sets of classes and there also appeared to be a few new faces.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3055104/SPOILER-ALERT-Laura-Carmichael-spotted-film-scenes-wedding-Carson-Mrs-Hughes-new-season-Downton-Abbey.html#ixzz3YcLi4MfT 
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Downton Abbey to end after six series

BBC NEWS
March 26, 2015



The next season of ITV's period drama Downton Abbey will be its last, its makers have announced.
"Inevitably there comes a time when all shows should end and Downton is no exception," said the programme's executive producer Gareth Neame.

Created by Julian Fellowes, the show follows an aristocratic family's fortunes from 1912 to the mid-1920s.

Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern have played the Earl and Countess of Grantham since the show began in 2010.

The drama has won a string of awards since its inception, including two Baftas, three Golden Globes and 11 Primetime Emmys.

Its success both at home and abroad was recently demonstrated when the Duchess of Cambridge went to see it being filmed at Ealing Studios in west London

"The Downton journey has been amazing for everyone aboard," said Lord Fellowes, whose next project will be The Gilded Age, a period drama set in New York.

"People ask if we knew what was going to happen when we started to make the first series and the answer is that, of course we had no idea.

"Exactly why the series had such an impact and reached so many people around the world, all nationalities, all ages, all types, I cannot begin to explain."

"But I do know how grateful we are to have been allowed this unique experience."


READ MORE HERE: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-32074921

You'll Never Guess Princess Kate's Favorite Room on the Downton Abbey Set

PEOPLE MAGAZINE
BY SIMON PERRY @SPerryPeoplemag UPDATED 03/12/2015 AT 12:10 PM EDT •ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 03/12/2015 AT 10:50 AM EDT


Princess Kate (far right) with Penelope Wilton, Hugh Bonneville and Laura Carmichael of Downton Abbey
CHRIS JACKSON/WPA POOL/GETTY

Princess Kate meeting the cast of Downton Abbey is the most English thing to happen since tea met crumpets.

After touring the set of the smash Masterpiece drama on Thursday, the expectant royal, 33, sat down for a photo with the ensemble.

Anglophiles, you're going to want to pour yourself a cuppa and spend a long moment with this glorious picture.


Princess Kate (front row, center) with the cast of Downton Abbey
CHRIS JACKSON / WPA POOL / GETTY

Most of the cast is assembled, with an amusing mix of contemporary and period clothes – a distinction highlighted in the front row, with Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary) in her '20s garb and Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith) in a current look.

"It was a surreal and exciting experience to be at work and be visited by a member of the royal family," Carmichael told PEOPLE. "She has watched the show and loves it and that's really lovely."

Princess Kate with Brendan Coyle (right) of Downton Abbey
CHRIS JACKSON / WPA POOL / GETTY

"She spent the longest time in the kitchen, so me and Lesley [Nicol, who plays head cook Mrs. Patmore] are taking that as a compliment," says Sophie McShera, who plays assistant cook Daisy.

"We told her that two of the hobs work – because we like having steaming pans," Nicol shared.

And though Kate appeared to observers to be a little starstruck, McShera says, "Everyone around her was more starstruck."

Of course, the visit wouldn't be complete without some playful upstairs-downstairs rivalry – in this case, between Brendan Coyle (valet John Bates) and Hugh Bonneville (Lord Grantham).

Princess Kate (right) with Rob James-Collier of Downton Abbey CHRIS JACKSON / WPA POOL / GETTY

Kate ended up spending an hour longer than she had planned. Now, the cast hopes the eight-months pregnant royal is resting.

"I think she should go and have a sit down and take her shoes off," says Nicol. "It's quite hard work on those heels."

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE:  http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20395222_20907433,00.html

Julian Fellowes says he has no say in how show HE created will end... but admits it can't go on forever

DAILY MAIL
By JOANNA CRAWLEY FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 12:03 EST, 4 March 2015 | UPDATED: 16:03 EST, 4 March 2015



He's the creator of the show, so if anyone knows when Downton Abbey will end it's Julian Fellowes.

But the 65-year-old screenwriter has insisted that how and when the period drama will finish isn't ultimately down to him.

Explaining that he doesn't 'own' Downton, Julian has told The New York Times that any decisions regarding the finale of the hit series will be made by the show's owners, NBC Universal.

Amid mounting rumours that the ITV production will end after the sixth series, which will air in the UK later this year, Julian told the newspaper: 'It's not really my decision. I don't own Downton Abbey now.

'NBC Universal [which owns Carnival Films] owns Downton Abbey. So I could walk away. But I wouldn't walk away. It's too much my baby.'

The writer added that he 'can't immediately' say exactly when the show will end, but went on to admit that he wouldn't want to continue the storylines of the Crawley family past World War Two.

'Maybe people would say, "Oh my God, that's baby George, grown up!" But I don't think it would be continuous, with Michelle Dockery with her hair covered with talcum powder.'

Rumours that Downton will come to an end this year first started circulating In January, but ITV were quick to shoot down the reports as 'speculative'.

Julian though is moving to New York to work on a new period drama, meaning the rumours of his British-set period drama's imminent end are looking more and more likely.

The show's star Dame Maggie Smith, who plays Violet Crawley, also appeared to signal the end was nigh as she said she was ready to leave the show last week.

The 80-year-old has since clarified her remarks with a representative telling The Wrap: 'Maggie has always been on the record as saying she'll be with the show for as long as the show runs.'



This comes after Smith, said that she she can't see how programme can continue after the upcoming sixth season.

'They say this is the last one, and I can't see how it could go on,' the legendary actress told the Sunday Times.

Continuing she quipped: 'I mean, I certainly can't keep going. To my knowledge, I must be 110 by now. We're into the late 1920s.'


READ MORE HERE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2979509/Julian-Fellowes-says-no-say-created-end-admits-t-forever.html

Julian Fellowes: The cast of Downton Abbey could star in The Gilded Age

RADIO TIMES
By Ellie Walker-Arnott
Thursday 22 January 2015 at 12:28PM



Julian Fellowes' forthcoming American drama, The Gilded Age, may look very familiar.

It seems the man at the helm of Downton Abbey is keen for cast members to take a trip across the pond.

"They can't be the same people because Gilded Age is much earlier. It's in the 1870s, so none of them would be born," Fellowes told RadioTimes.com at the National Television Awards last night. "But I'd love to work with them again. What a good idea. One or two familiar faces just to make [American viewers] feel at home!"



Fellowes reiterated that The Gilded Age will coincide with the Crawleys demise - "I won't do Gilded Age until Downton is done" - but was quick to dispel recent rumours that he is poised to start working on the NBC drama.

"Everyone always keeps announcing that it's about to happen, but I've had that for about four years now."

Even so, Fellowes is excited about his latest project for US network NBC: "I am interested to do another series, because Downton was the first series I'd ever written.

(So glad Julian wants to keep some familiar faces on Gilded Age just for us kooky Yanks, cause you know we will get all hissy if we don't see Mrs. Hughes ever again. - K. Wasylowski)

READ MORE HERE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-01-22/julian-fellowes-the-cast-of-downton-abbey-could-star-in-the-gilded-age

‘Downton Abbey’ Set For Season 6 Only, Says PBS Chief Paula Kerger – TCA

DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD
by Lisa de Moraes
January 19, 2015 11:21am

Bad news, Downton Abbey fans. PBS declined to discuss the future of the period drama

 beyond next January’s Season 6, at Winter TV Press Tour 2015. On Friday, NBC Chairman Bob Greenblatt announced Julian Fellowes’ long-awaited NBC period drama The Gilded Age had been put on the front burner – disturbing news for Downton fans, given that Fellowes writes every episode of the PBS hit.

“I think he’s at a point now where he’s able to start developing and writing our new show,” Greenblatt said during NBC’s portion of the tour.  “Hopefully this show will be coming to life sometime in the next season.”

Greenblatt first had announced Gilded Age more than two years ago, lining up Downton’s creator to create and EP a fictional saga about New York millionaires in the late 19th century. (Downton is produced by Carnival Films, which NBCU subsequently bought.)  Gilded Age was put on hold with Downton’s success.

READ MORE HERE: http://deadline.com/2015/01/downton-abbey-ending-season-6-julian-fellowes-pbs-nbc-tca-1201353070/

Downton Abbey series 5: Will the Grantham's dog last, even if she's called Isis? (spoiler alert kind of )

INDEPENDENT
MATTHEW BELL , ELLEN E JONES
Sunday 26 October 2014

The question of how to deal with an embarrassing Labrador has hounded English families for decades.

But even by the wacky standards of Downton Abbey, killing it off seems a little extreme. Tonight’s episode of ITV’s period soap opera appears to tackle a problem that has been getting harder to ignore. Lord Grantham’s dog is called Isis. This is awkward because it shares a name with the terrorist movement sweeping the Middle East. With the jihadists showing little sign of giving up, one of them had to go, so – spoiler alert – Julian Fellowes and his script-writers have given the dog the heave-ho.

Or so it would seem. About 20 minutes into tonight’s episode, Lord and Lady Grantham interrupt discussions on some building work to observe that Isis is looking “terribly listless”. The golden Labrador does, indeed, look a little peaky, splayed out on the ground like a spatchcock chicken. “I wonder if she’s picked up a germ,” observes Lady Mary, in doubtful 1920s speak. “Maybe she’s eaten a squirrel.” Other Moriarty-style observations include her looking “quite fat”, and “perhaps she’s pregnant?”.

Seasoned viewers of Downton – we are now in series five – will know that even the most trifling of conversations are loaded with meaning. So this dialogue – of a banality that is quite normal for The Archers, less so for Downton – must point to some terrible undoing of the dog later in the series. Which would conveniently tackle the PR problem that has plagued this series. When viewers first noticed the connection last month, they took to Twitter, pointing it out as #awkward.

The dog’s possible demise should not come as a complete surprise. The fact that Isis made her debut in the first Downton episode set in 1912 as an adult, and is still with the family in 1924, puts her at the upper end of Labrador life expectancy, canine experts say.

A spokesman for ITV insists it is pure coincidence, and that they got there first. “Isis has been the Crawleys’ family pet since series two (2011) and was named after the Egyptian goddess,” she says. “At the time the dog was named, and up to and including the majority of filming of series five, no one was using that acronym to describe a terror group. It is an unfortunate coincidence.”

Who knew?

READ MORE HERE: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/downton-abbey-can-a-lords-best-friend-last-for-evereven-if-shes-called-isis-9818682.html

Spoilers: Downton Abbey actor Brendan Coyle says his 'jaw dropped' when he learned of his character’s fate

DAILY MIRROR
Sep 28, 2014 22:00 By Mark Jefferies

Downton Abbey actor Brendan Coyle says the scripts for the new series “dropped his jaw” as he learned of his character’s fate.

Brendan plays Mr Bates, who is suspected of killing the man who raped his wife Anna – fellow valet Mr Green.

It seemed Bates had got away with it, but at the end of the latest episode on ITV viewers learned a new witness to the death had come forward.

The rape has also put a strain in the relationship between Bates and Anna, played by Joanne Froggatt.

Brendan called the upcoming storyline, penned by show creator Julian Fellowes, “a surprise”.

He added: “Julian never fails to drop your jaw.



“We couldn’t begin the series with that storyline. We had to have some abatement from that.

"And there’s a sense of them trying to heal. But it’s very difficult.

Brendan Coyle and Siobhan Finneran try to force-feed Sophie McShera

Brendan insisted Downton’s downstairs cast are more wild than those who play the posh roles upstairs.

“It’s a great bunch,” he said.

“We’re a bunch of old hams sitting around gossiping and talking food.

“Downstairs we can be quite rowdy. There’s a lot of comedians. We laugh a lot doing those scenes when we’re all sitting around talking about picnics or whatever.

"I believe we are more raucous than upstairs.


READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/downton-abbey-actor-brendan-coyle-4341775#ixzz3Eeasr5YU 
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Downton Abbey's Lady Edith Will Face Even More Devastation Next Season

VANITY FAIR
Julie Miller
July 29, 2014



Last week we learned that Downton Abbey will finally give Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess the air time she deserves with an especially juicy plot. (Our Downton mole tells us that the story arc involves a character suddenly resurfacing from her past.) And now, we learn that the makers of Downton, somehow believing that Laura Carmichael’s Lady Edith has not been through enough personal tragedy, will heap even more pain and heartbreak her way during the show’s upcoming fifth season.

We, somewhat naively, thought that after Edith was left at the altar by her handicapped love interest, knocked up by a married man, and consequently abandoned to deliver her bastard child alone, the Downton Abbey writers would—I don’t know—cut the middle Crawley sister a break. But no, in a new panel interview, the cast revealed that Edith will be abused even more than usual.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywood/downton-abbey-season-five-edith

'Downton Abbey' Creator Slams PBS

THE HUFFINGTON POST
By Jessica Toomer
Posted: 05/28/2014 4:05 pm EDT Updated: 05/28/2014 9:59 pm EDT



Big changes might be in store for the Crawley family when "Downton Abbey" returns for a fifth season next year.

The PBS show has collected hordes of fans all over the world, but if you're not British -- more specifically, if you aren't living in the U.K. -- you're probably aware of its wonky TV schedule. The Brits have the special privilege of viewing the period drama months before its American audience tunes in, and we Yanks don't mind complaining about the network playing geographic favorites whenever we get the chance.

But now it seems Americans aren't the only ones criticizing the scheduling conflict. The show's creator Julian Fellowes told The Telegraph he'd be more than happy to have the show simulcast. “I want to have simultaneous transmission in America and Britain,” Fellowes said. “The difficulty that we have is that people are discussing the series as it happens online before America’s seen it and on the Internet we’re all in the same company. It’s madness.”

Spoilers are a huge problem for American fans. While the Christmas special of the show trended on Twitter last year, American audiences were only able to view the episode as recently as two months ago. After fellow British export "Doctor Who" saw big success in simulcasting its 50th-anniversary special in the U.S. and the U.K., Fellowes insisted there's no reason why "Downton Abbey" wouldn't also benefit from airing at the same time in both countries. Or at the very least, on the same day.

“I don’t mean exactly the same time so people have to stay up all night," Fellowes explained. "But instead the same day in order for everyone to have a chance to watch it. The BBC have shown it can be done so all this talk that it’s impossible is wrong,””




READ MORE HERE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/28/downton-abbey-simulcast-schedule_n_5405729.html

Downton Abbey stars play 'Edwardian Ant and Dec' in event hosted by Allen Leech and Rob James-Collier

GET BUCKS
May 21, 2014 16:10 By Lorcan Lovett

Members of the Downton Abbey Cast with Chilterns MS Centre Trustee Linda Oatley, chief executive Robert Breakwell and fundraiser Hannah Asquith

Seven members of the award-winning Downton Abbey cast joined 115 guests at Hedsor House for a fundraising dinner last Friday (May 16).

The evening in Taplow was in aid of Chilterns MS Centre which provides treatment to people with Multiple Sclerosis across South Bucks.

Rob James-Collier who plays under butler ‘Thomas Barrow’ and Allen Leech ‘Branson’ once the chauffeur and now part of the ‘Grantham’ family, hosted the event and described themselves as the Edwardian Ant and Dec.

The guests had plenty of opportunity to talk to Michelle Dockery ‘Lady Mary’ from ‘upstairs’ and Jim Carter ‘Carson’, Phyllis Logan ‘Mrs Hughes’, Lesley Nichol ‘Mrs Patmore’ and Sophie McShera ‘Daisy’ all in the ‘downstairs cast’.

Robert Breakwell, chief executive of Chilterns MS Centre, said: "It is not often that a small, local charity like the Chilterns MS Centre is supported by the cast of a global TV phenomenon.  I would like to sincerely thank Rob James-Collier and his fellow cast members for making this Downton Dinner possible."

READ MORE HERE; http://www.getbucks.co.uk/news/local-news/downton-abbey-stars-play-edwardian-7152814

The popular UK series Downton Abbey is to end 'within five years'

SUNDAY EXPRESS
By: James Desborough
Published: Sun, May 11, 2014




The shock news will be a blow for almost one billion fans worldwide who are hooked on the life and loves of the Crawley family.

Executive producer Gareth Neame confirmed the Emmy winning drama is likely to bow out by 2018 at an event in America.

He said: “The question as to where it ends is something we will think very carefully about. It will not be 10 years and we are filming series five now.”

The show’s creator Julian Fellowes added that he had no plans to kill off the cast in a finale, mirroring the infamous wedding massacre in US drama Game Of Thrones.

He chuckled: “Someone with a machine gun? I can’t see it.”

READ MORE HERE; http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbiz/475192/The-popular-UK-series-Downton-Abbey-is-to-end-within-five-years?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+daily-express-news-showbiz+(Daily+Express+%3A%3A+News+%2F+Showbiz+Feed)