Downton Abbey Christmas special recap – it worked as retro festive wallpaper (SPOILERS)

THE GUARDIAN
Viv Groskop
Thursday 25 December 2014 18.00 EST



The labrador’s backside is back for Christmas. And let’s hope it’s not just for Christmas, eh? Actually, my Christmas wish would be that it is just for Christmas. Because if this convoluted outing proved anything, it’s that this series has outstayed its welcome. Unlike Isis the dog, whose absence in this Christmas special finally disproved the conspiracy theory that she was just absent from the last episode to tease us. Sorry, people, but Isis really is dead.

As always this was a beautifully made and wonderfully acted confection showcasing all the shortcomings of the Downton Abbey brand. In the opening sequences, it felt as if the actors had been directed to speak the dialogue slowly and carefully in order to help viewers a) worse for the cooking sherry and b) unfamiliar with Downton (as probably many Christmas-only viewers were – lucky them). There was a lot of signposting of characters and history, which only served to flag up that there are often far too many people involved and far too many things going on.

As a standalone piece for anyone not following the series, I suspect this outing worked rather well as retro festive wallpaper. And there can surely be no finer features on screen than those of Matthew Goode (Wickham in last year’s Death Comes to Pemberley and also a series regular in The Good Wife), seen fleetingly here flirting with Lady Mary and making a Dukes of Hazzard-style getaway in a fast motorcar. If he is coming in as the dark-haired replacement for Dan Stevens, that will be a happy event indeed.

For those of us who have been suffering the joys and pains of the past five series, it tied up a paltry number of loose ends (Dame Maggie’s Russian tryst, Rose’s uncomfortable relationship with her new inlaws, Edith not knowing that her father knows about the Impostor Child). And Uncle Julian did at least give us the payoff we’ve been anticipating since last year’s Christmas episode: the marriage of Mrs Hughes and Mr Carson. Hooray!



But unbelievably (or totally believably if you are used to the snail’s pace of Downton) he left the “Who killed rapist valet Green?” plot open. We don’t even really know if it definitely isn’t Anna or definitely isn’t Bates. My money, despite the pub landlord’s evidence, is still on Bates. But surely by now we deserve resolution on this? We found out Green was dead on 10 November 2013. Seriously, Uncle Julian, how long are you going to leave this hanging? Do you even know who killed him? I suspect no one cares any more.

There were some pleasing details. The Russian Silver Fox! Midnight skating to the strains of the balaika! Setting sail in the prince’s yacht! The manic depressive Russian princess (Jane Lapotaire) was superb and, as every guest is forced to on this show, really made the most of her three sentences. Alun Armstrong as The Evil Butler, Stowell (yes, I know, I heard it as “Stole” and “Stowe” the whole way through, too), was wonderful: “I am not a novice anywhere.” And there was plenty of Molesley, which is always a delight. But what a missed opportunity! When Molesley was rifling in Anna’s drawers, I was convinced he would find the Ill-Defined Contraceptive Device. So disappointing.



But let’s draw a veil over that and concentrate on the best marriage proposal ever from a man resembling a cautious and lovable badger: “Well, that’s the point. I do want to be stuck with you ...” Who wouldn’t drink to Mr Carson’s happiness on Christmas Day?



READ MORE HERE: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2014/dec/25/downton-abbey-christmas-special-recap-it-worked-as-retro-festive-wallpaper

Great Dames: As Judi Dench and Maggie Smith turn 80 we look at how they became movie royalty

MIRROR
Dec 06, 2014 16:13 By Lewis Panther



When Judi Dench and Maggie Smith were a couple of unknowns sharing a dressing room nearly 60 years ago they didn’t have a game plan, much less a Dame plan.

They weren’t banking on stardom and honours. They were just grateful to be working.

And when Dame Judi turns 80 on Tuesday, 19 days before Dame Maggie, they’ll be looking back not just on glittering careers, but on a friendship that has spanned their whole working lives.

So we pay tribute to the great Dames – and an incredible joint body of work that’s seen them notch up more than 350 award ­nominations between them, winning an amazing 108.

In the tale of the tape, Dame Judi is slightly ahead, with 55 awards from 203 nominations against Dame Maggie’s 53 prizes from 147 nominations.

But given that both their mantelpieces must be groaning under the weight of Oscars, Baftas and Golden Globes, who’s counting?



Britain’s greatest living actresses have an easy-going bond that is clear to see when they do interviews together.

Dame Maggie will playfully point out her pal is a fiery Sagittarius while she was born under Capricorn, making her the junior half of their friendship.

And it’s a double act that shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

They may be entering their ninth decade but both stage and screen legends are ­determined the show must go on.

Dame Judi has problems with her eyesight which means it is hard for her to watch movies and she struggles to indulge in her favourite hobbies.

Painting and reading are difficult and to learn her roles she has to have scripts read to her.

But she is still busy making films and was nominated for her seventh Oscar last year for Philomena before joining Dame Maggie, who she affectionately calls Mags, in India to film a sequel to their hit movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/great-dames-judi-dench-maggie-4759348

George Clooney to star in Downton Abbey

THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY
AEST 10:29, TUE DEC 2 2014



George Clooney is trying to enter British aristocracy after marrying his well-to-do wife Amal Alamuddin – well in the fictional sense at least.

George is due to make a cameo on British television series Downton Abbey alongside his Monuments Men co-star, Hugh Bonneville.

Recent pictures have emerged of 53-year-old Clooney with Bonneville's Robert Crawley on the set of the period drama looking every bit the 1930’s English gent with smoothed-back hair, a grey wide-lapelled suit and dapper tie.

The Gravity actor is rumoured to be appearing in a one-off sketch appearance for a Downton Abbey special in support of British charity Text Santa – a fundraiser for UK charities during the festive season.

The Clooney cameo is scheduled to air on December 19 and will reportedly see the Hollywood-heartthrob play a wedding guest appearing in scenes with Hugh as well as Michelle Dockery's Lady Mary Crawley, Elizabeth McGovern's Countess of Grantham and Laura Carmichael's Lady Edith.

Bonneville told Radio Times earlier this year that it was good to have his pal on set.

"He was incredibly generous with his time and his talent," Bonneville said.

Adding: "He was great – he was a good laugh and sprinkled some sort of magic dust over our experience."

READ MORE HERE; http://www.aww.com.au/living/arts-entertainment/2014/12/george-clooney-stars-in-downton-abbey-with-michelle-dockery-and-hugh-bonneville/george-clooney-stars-on-set-of-downton-abbey-with-hugh-bonneville

‘Downton Abbey’ Renewed for Sixth Season

VARIETY
Alex Stedman
News Editor, Variety.com
@a_sted



“Downton Abbey” has been renewed for a season six, ITV and producer Carnival Films announced on Thursday.

The official “Downton Abbey” Twitter account also tweeted the news.

Friends, #TeamServants have such wonderful news to share with you all! #Downton pic.twitter.com/obIk3aFrz4

— Downton Abbey (@DowntonAbbey) November 6, 2014

The British drama will go into production in 2015 with Julian Fellowes writing.

The news comes months before season five debuts in the U.S. on PBS on Jan. 4. Season five will complete its run in the U.K. on Sunday.

“We have had an amazing reaction to the story lines, acting and production values of Downton Abbey this year and the whole team is thrilled to be moving ahead with a new season of the show,” said executive producer and Carnival’s managing editor Gareth Neame in a statement. “This will provide audiences with a fresh opportunity to see what will befall our much loved characters.”

READ MORE HERE: http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/downton-abbey-renewed-sixth-season-1201349590/

Dame Maggie Smith's transformation from Dowager to Homeless Woman

BESTDAILY.CO.UK
Friday, Oct 24 2014 WRITTEN BY Olivia-Anne Cleary



Based on a real life story, the film adaptation of the West End play depicts the troubled life of Miss Shepherd, a homeless pensioner who lived in a van outside playwright Alan Bennett's house.

In the 15 years she lived outside his home, Bennett formed an unlikely bond with the eccentric woman and allowed her to park in his driveway. When she tragically passed away in 1989, he decided to write a play honouring her life.

When opening up about their odd living arrangements, he said: "In giving her sanctuary in my garden and landing myself with a tenancy that went on eventually for 15 years, I was never under any illusion that the impulse was purely charitable. But I wanted a quiet life as much as, and possibly more than, she did. In the garden she was at least out of harm's way."

Tragically, upon her death, Bennett discovered his unusual outside neighbour was in fact a talented pianist who lost her home and job after suffering from a mental breakdown.

The Lady In The Van is expected to be released in 2015.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.bestdaily.co.uk/showbiz/news/a605579/revealed-dame-maggie-smiths-shock-transformation.html

TV royalty meets the real thing! Downton Abbey's Dame Maggie Smith honoured by the Queen in Windsor Castle ceremony

DAILY MAIL
By RUTH STYLES FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 12:19 EST, 17 October 2014 | UPDATED: 16:37 EST, 17 October 2014

She's famous for her role as Downton Abbey's frosty matriarch but Dame Maggie Smith certainly met her match today when she was honoured by the Queen at Windsor Castle.

The 79-year-old, famed for her roles in Downton Abbey and the Harry Potter films, was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour and joins an illustrious group of recipients who include Professor Stephen Hawking and painter David Hockney.

She was presented with the award during an investiture at the Queen's Berkshire home but declined to speak to the press after the ceremony.



One of the most popular of Britain's actresses, Dame Maggie is synonymous with her roles as the Countess of Grantham in period drama Downton Abbey and Harry Potter's equally sharp-tongued Professor Minerva McGonagall.

But she has had an extensive career that stretches back to the 1950s, which began professionally at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952 and includes stints on Broadway.

Her stage performances have drawn critical acclaim and she has collected numerous awards for roles in plays such as Hedda Gabler, Three Sisters and Private Lives.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2797557/downton-abbey-s-dame-maggie-smith-honoured-queen-windsor-castle-ceremony.html#ixzz3GRmGyQ8e 
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Daggers at Downton as Maggie Smith raps sleepy co-star

MAIL ON LINE
By CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
PUBLISHED: 17:50 EST, 11 October 2014 | UPDATED: 03:56 EST, 12 October 2014

The withering put-downs she delivers portraying the Dowager Countess of Grantham have become the stuff of Downton Abbey legend. 

And in real life, it seems, Dame Maggie Smith can be just as formidable as her on-screen persona.

According to a cast member on the ITV drama, 79-year-old Maggie took a dislike to Richard E. Grant, who plays art expert Simon Bricker, when he was filming the current series – and gave him a cutting nickname, which has re-ignited a secret 20-year feud between the two great stars.

An source tells me: ‘Maggie called him “Richard E. Can’t” on set. It’s a nickname she originally gave him years ago when they acted together in The Importance of Being Earnest, but she resurrected it when she caught him nodding off during a scene.

‘She told him sternly: “If I can stay awake, you should be able to too.” To be fair to Richard, it was a dinner scene being filmed on a hot day and the lights were boiling.’

Richard and Maggie first worked together in 1993 on a BBC adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play Suddenly Last Summer with Rob Lowe and Natasha Richardson, which was considered a flop.

Later that year they went on to work together again on a theatrical production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Earnest at the Aldwych Theatre, and it was there that Richard claims their bitter feud first began. As the 57-year-old actor explains on his website: ‘I was tortured by Maggie Smith the entire time.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2789564/girl-town-s-daggers-downton-maggie-raps-sleepy-star.html#ixzz3FwPPZ0gR 
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

George Clooney Tries to Kiss Maggie Smith in 'Downton Abbey' Charity Special

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
6:57 AM PST 09/22/2014 by Alex Ritman



Just over a week after it was revealed that George Clooney would be appearing in a Downton Abbey short film for charity, the show's Laura Carmichael has spilled the beans on the star's appearance and a particularly amusing scene involving Maggie Smith.

Speaking on U.K. breakfast television, the actress revealed that Clooney attempts to land a smacker on Smith. "There's a very brilliant moment with Maggie and George — I don't know if I want to give away any more than that really — but George wants a kiss, and Maggie ends up on the floor. It's wonderful," she told ITV's This Morning.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/george-clooney-tries-kiss-maggie-734639

9 new Downton Abbey pictures: What do they reveal?

DIGITAL SPY
By Alex FletcherMonday, Sep 22 2014, 8:05am EDT



Downton Abbey sizzled on its return to ITV last night with over 8 million viewers tuning in for the sexed up fifth series premiere.

But what is in store for next Sunday? Here are 9 new pictures released today that offer some clues.

2. The arrival of a wireless in the house draws a crowd. Lady Rose tries to convince them that it's a good idea.



4. What has left Carson reaching for a drink?

7. Could Simon Bricker drive a wedge between Cora and Robert?




Read more: http://www.digitalspy.com/british-tv/s183/downton-abbey/news/a598157/9-new-downton-abbey-pictures-what-do-they-reveal.html#~oQGNS53pOevLUj#ixzz3E8xzxRSF 
Follow us: @digitalspy on Twitter | digitalspyuk on Facebook

"Downton Abbey" Season 5 Begins With A Jolt (spoilers)

Jace Lacob
BuzzFeed Staff

Period drama Downton Abbey had begun to show signs of wear and tear, particularly in its fourth season, where the creakiness of the subplots began to match that of the house’s ancient stairs.

It was, simply put, not the best year for the drama, which had come off the narrative highs of its third season, including the highly emotional deaths of two linchpin characters, Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) and Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay). But, in its fourth, Downton sagged into overt melodrama with storylines involving murder, blackmail, and the shocking and highly controversial rape of Anna Bates (Joanne Froggatt). For a series that once had such great promise and potential, it felt like the life had been sucked out of the show somewhat as it was forced to restructure in light of those two high-profile departures.

Allen Leech as Tom Branson, Tom Cullen as Lord Gillingham, and Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Nick Briggs/Carnival Films 2014 for MASTERPIECE

Resurrecting my crackpot theory that odd-numbered seasons of Downton Abbey are far superior to their even-numbered counterparts (I’m looking at you, Season 2!), the fifth season opener of Julian Fellowes’ period drama — which airs Sept. 21 on ITV in the U.K. and Jan. 4, 2015, on PBS’s Masterpiece in the U.S. — offers a reinvigorated Downton, one full of downstairs intrigues and domestic drama. The first episode back is a bit of a whirling dervish: There are so many subplots that it’s almost impossible to account for all of them.

But rather than feel overwhelming, there’s a particularly pleasing rhythm to all of this narrative dance work, with scenes that are short on time but long on significance. Long-simmering plots come to the boil. The ongoing love triangle between Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery), Lord Gillingham (Tom Cullen), and Charles Blake (Julian Ovenden) twists in a most unexpected direction, at least by the standards of the time. (It’s 1924, after all.) The relationship between James (Ed Speleers) and Lady Anstruther (a particularly aptly cast Anna Chancellor) is explored with clarity, humor, and a potential resolution. Isobel (Penelope Wilton) and Violet (Maggie Smith) are once again at odds — their temporary cease-fire marred by a new twist in their rivalry, this time over Isobel’s romantic prospects.



Throughout it all, the spectre of Gillingham’s dead valet Mr. Green (Nigel Harman) hovers uneasily over the proceedings, threatening to destroy the fragile happiness of Anna and Mr. Bates (Brendan Coyle), whose devotion to each other appears even stronger now, despite suspicious eyes turning toward the couple. And the dark secret harbored by the tremulous Miss Baxter (Raquel Cassidy) — or at least part of it — is finally revealed after being teased out so thoroughly by both Fellowes and by the malevolent Thomas (Rob James-Collier), using it to gain a Svengali-like hold over the lady’s maid.

Then there’s poor Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael), whose anguish over secretly giving up the child she conceived with missing paramour Michael Gregson (Charles Edwards) becomes even more palpable with the baby — the adorably named Marigold — living on the estate, just out of her grasp. That Edith should still be able to check in on Marigold, as much as propriety might allow for, might help to assuage the loss that she feels, but the gravitational pull between mother and child may prove impossible for Edith to resist, even as she risks exposure.

Edith has, most remarkably, of late become an incredibly sympathetic figure, and even her more damning actions in this episode (I won’t spoil what they are exactly) don’t derail the character’s redemption. Carmichael infuses Edith with such pathos and barely restrained emotion — she appears to be perpetually on the verge of tears so far — that it’s difficult not to empathize with the character, even when Lady Mary deploys a typically cutting remark against her sister toward the end of the episode.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jacelacob/downton-abbey-season-5-premiere-review#2gloo6x

Downton Abbey episode one: love is in the air, Lord Grantham v Carson (SPOILERS)

STV
16 September, 2014



Downton Abbey is back on our TV screens this Sunday September 21, and today we can share a breakdown of what to expect from the first episode from series five.

A new Labour government is in power, leaving the aristocratic classes uneasy as the prospect of social change becomes a reality, and their way of life begins to come into question.

Plans for a war memorial in the village unexpectedly pit Lord Grantham and Mrs Hughes against Mr Carson, something that leaves the butler and his master very uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, romance is in the air, as Tom Branson’s head is turned by local schoolteacher and political activist, Sarah Bunting, and Lady Mary is finally ready to move on and find love again. And with many suitors to choose from, she’s going to have a bit of fun before making her choice...

READ MORE HERE: http://shows.stv.tv/downton-abbey/latest/292283-downton-abbey-episode-one-love-is-in-the-air-lord-grantham-v-carson/

Keeley Hawes: TV's toughest detective

LONDON EVENING STANDARD
STEPHEN ARMSTRONG
Published: 18 September 2014



One of the downsides to being Keeley Hawes is getting pulled over by the police. At the end of last year, for instance, she was buying a burrito in Covent Garden when a burly squad in full blue serge piled out of a riot-proofed patrol van to confront her.

‘It looked like I was a major terrorist,’ she laughs. ‘But then they said, “Can we get a picture?” They all got out their handcuffs and posed. Eventually one said, “Come on, we’re going to lose our jobs.” ’ She laughs again. ‘Having said that, this was after Ashes to Ashes and before Line of Duty. I wonder what would happen now…’

It’s easy to see why the boys in blue love Keeley — she’s been adding glamour to the force as Zoe Reynolds in Spooks, Alex ‘Bollyknickers’ Drake in Ashes to Ashes and DSI Martha Lawson in ITV’s Identity. However, as the twisted, lonely DI Lindsay Denton in Line of Duty… well, not so much.

Line of Duty is all about dodgy cops — Jed Mercurio’s internal investigations thriller follows a fictional anti-corruption unit. Denton was its target in this year’s second season, suspected of having set up her colleagues in a fatal ambush. As suspicions mounted, Denton was bogwashed and beaten up by fellow officers, thrown in jail where wardens and inmates did the same, all along protesting her innocence and uncovering even bigger scandals. In terms of water-cooler moments, Line of Duty ranks alongside The Honourable Woman and The Fall as part of the new wave of Brit TV that’s finally making US producers jealous again.

And Hawes — like Maggie Gyllenhaal and Gillian Anderson in Woman and The Fall — was a revelation. She evoked such energy and raw emotion that even the disparaging TV critic AA Gill has put her among our best actresses, alongside Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

Today, however, she’s just a 38-year-old Londoner. We meet at an outdoor restaurant near Richmond Park on one of the last sunny days of summer. She rummages through the menu, wondering about the healthy options. ‘I’ve got a shoot in a minute,’ she explains, before quickly adding, ‘I don’t feel the pressure any more, though. I honestly don’t give a shit. Two days of dieting isn’t going to happen. I have a ten-year-old daughter and I’ve got far too much responsibility to be seen to be picking around with bits of food.’

Who knew Keeley Hawes was a laugh? Any fears of an ice queen quickly melt away as she riffs on her Marylebone upbringing — riding around her council estate on the back of her brother’s Chopper, playing run-outs, and her mum shouting, ‘Dinner!’ across the blocks. Her dad and her two older brothers are cab drivers and she grew up near the Lisson Grove Estate, in a block that’s since become luxury flats.

If her accent seems a little crisp for a cabbie’s daughter, she points out, ‘I came from Central London, I wasn’t Cockney — my mother made sure we put the Ts on the end of words, and then I went to drama school.’ She pauses. ‘I do sound slightly posher, but listen, I’ve just been working with Tom Hiddleston and I feel very, very London talking to him.’

Next up there’s The Hollow Crown, the second part of the BBC’s ambitious attempt to screen all of Shakespeare’s history plays. She’s playing Queen Elizabeth in Henry VI part 2 and Richard III, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and, terrifyingly, Judi Dench. ‘I haven’t done Shakespeare and I’ve told them I can’t do Shakespeare and they still employed me.’ She seems amazed. ‘We’re rehearsing and I feel like I’m in safe hands, but still… I mean, I’ll be doing it with Judi Dench…’

She trails off, looking genuinely worried, so I leaf through my notes, pull out the AA Gill quote comparing her to Dench and read it to her: ‘Hawes is one of a number of very good female actors we have, from Judi Dench and Maggie Smith down,’ I read. She is momentarily stunned, then her face flushes a deep, deep crimson and she stares at her hands.

‘Well, that’s ridiculous,’ she mumbles. ‘I mean, I don’t even know what to say about that…’ and then she thinks it through. ‘Although he doesn’t say exactly how far down, does he?’ and she looks up, her impish grin returning. ‘I’d say it was fairly far down — but I’d still put that in a frame…’ When it’s time for her to leave, I make a joke about her receiving an honour to match Maggie and Judi and she turns back briefly — ‘Dame Keeley…? I can’t quite hear a copper calling me that.’

Doctor Who is on BBC One Saturday night at 7.30pm


READ MORE HERE: http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/keeley-hawes-tvs-toughest-detective-9739507.html

Downton Abbey: Behind the scenes of series 5 On location at Highclere Castle for the filming of Downton Abbey

THE TELEGRAPH
By Chloe Fox9:15AM BST 13 Sep 2014



In her temporary tent outside Highclere Castle in Berkshire, Lisa Heathcote, the home economics adviser on Downton Abbey, is peeling countless quail eggs to be served at the cocktail party – a reception being thrown by Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), the Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire – that is being filmed inside the house.

Things are going well. The sun is out. Everyone is happy. And then there is a problem. The ice in the cocktail glasses is making too much noise. Is there perhaps any rubber ice that they could use instead?

Inside the Victorian castle the atmosphere is hushed. Candlelight, shimmering beads and elegant grandeur are the order of the day. Above the murmur of polite, cocktail-party conversation, a familiar booming voice announces the arrival of each new guest.

Jim Carter, aka Mr Carson the butler, is the physical embodiment of everything that its estimated global audience of 150 million viewers (100 million of them in China alone) has come to love about Downton Abbey: dignified, reassuring, and not quite knowable.

Downton Abbey is a phenomenon. Not since Brideshead Revisited more than three decades ago has a televised foray into the lives of an aristocratic English family held such sway over its audiences.

When it first aired on ITV, on a Sunday night in September 2010, Downton Abbey – written by Julian Fellowes, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Robert Altman's Gosford Park – had a consolidated figure of 9.2 million viewers, instantly making it the most successful new drama on any channel.

Here was something that had all the magic ingredients that Sunday night audiences wanted: period escapism, an original storyline – and Dame Maggie Smith. ‘We knew that we had very good scripts and a top-calibre cast,’ the producer Liz Trowbridge says. ‘But we never in our wildest dreams thought that it would be as successful as it has been. Our dream, when we first set out, was to make three series – before, during and after the First World War – to explore the social history of a house and the people who lived in it.

That was all.’ Three series came and went. Ratings remained high. Devotees hung on every plot twist. Would Lady Mary Crawley (Lord Grantham’s eldest daughter, played by Michelle Dockery) end up with her cousin Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens)? Would Lord Grantham kiss the housemaid? Did Bates, Lord Grantham’s loyal valet (Brendan Coyle), murder his wife? And what possessed O’Brien (Lady Cora, Lord Grantham’s wife’s maid, played by Siobhan Finneran) to leave that bar of soap where she did? With the reassuring feel of an adaptation but the content of a soap opera, Downton Abbey was television gold.

So, what can we expect from season five? From spending one day on set, it is frustratingly difficult to glean anything at all (except, perhaps, that there seems to be some tension simmering between Lord and Lady Grantham). Cast and crew, briefed to within an inch of their lives, are tight-lipped.

‘My friends just know not to ask me any more,’ Brendan Coyle says with a smile. ‘If I told you, I’d have to kill you,’ says Lily James, who plays the mischievous, fun-loving cousin of the Crawleys, Lady Rose Maclaire.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/downton-abbey/11090761/Downton-Abbey-Behind-the-scenes-of-series-5.html

'Downton Abbey' Season 5: The First Trailer, With Passion And Fire (spoilers)

FORBES
Neil Midgley
Contributor
August 30, 2014



A surprise tonight from ITV in Britain.

Before the season opener of The X Factor – still a very big event in the British television calendar, and all the more so since Simon Cowell returns to the judging panel tonight for the first time in four years – ITV ‘premiered’ the trailer for the upcoming season 5 of Downton Abbey:

The trailer confirms some of what’s already been reported – such as the impending fire that burns through the great house itself – and teases forbidden passions and new characters (such as the guest roles for Richard E Grant and Anna Chancellor).

And it features the Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) delivering the chilling line: ‘Our grandchild is about to be stolen from us forever.’ Does he mean Sybbie or George? Or is this perhaps an even more explosive scene, when he has discovered Edith’s secret?

READ MORE HERE: http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilmidgley/2014/08/30/downton-abbey-season-5-the-first-trailer-with-passion-and-fire/

'Downton Abbey' Season 5, Episode 1: The First Review - The Earth Is Shaking At Downton (NO SPOILERS)

FORBES
Neil Midgley
Contributor



Today is the press launch of the fifth season of ITV's hit drama series Downton Abbey – even as I type, the actors and execs are doing a Q&A with journalists. But the first episode of this new season has just been screened to the press for the first time, and these are my thoughts.

This was as strong a season opener as we’ve seen since that very first season four years ago. And this time, writer Julian Fellowes didn’t have the sinking of the Titanic to help him on his narrative way.

Indeed Downton Abbey is finally – inasmuch as this potboiling manor ever can be – back to normal. Last year’s season opener started with special sad music, and the great house in darkness. Not only was Matthew (Dan Stevens) dead, but Miss O’Brien (Siobhan Finneran) had left in the dead of night.



This fifth season opener has neither of those sadnesses to contend with (although, as you will see, that doesn’t mean it is without sadness). We started with the usual, familiar theme music – and with a much more well-adjusted Downton.

But before the episode started, Steve November, who is ITV’s director of drama commissioning, gave a few brief remarks. He said that we would see ‘surprising stories’ in this new series, and as far as Downton’s great set-pieces go, ‘some of the best we’ve ever seen’.

Even in this first, feature-length episode, November was proved right. The script was tight and incredibly well-plotted – you could imagine the producers and cast literally turning the pages quicker and quicker to see what happens next. (Indeed I understand that, at the read-through when the cast saw the script for the first time, that’s exactly what happened.)

Fellowes has perhaps taken some inspiration from ITV’s other big recent drama hit, Broadchurch, in his plotting. Before every commercial break, there was a cliffhanger. One of them made me cry: another made me gasp.


READ MORE HERE:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilmidgley/2014/08/14/downton-abbey-season-5-episode-1-the-first-review/

SPOILERS! It's Downton confidential! Fresh scandals, new secrets, it's our very sneaky peek at Series 5

MAIL ON LINE
By CHRIS HASTINGS
PUBLISHED: 17:38 EST, 9 August 2014 | UPDATED: 04:22 EST, 10 August 201

For Downton Abbey’s 12 million fans, the waiting is almost over.

In just four days, journalists from around the world will descend on London to watch the first episode of the new series.

The producers of Britain’s most successful drama export are keeping the show’s explosive plot lines a closely guarded secret.

As Downton devotees know only too well, trying to work out what happens next can be as complicated as Lady Mary’s love life.

But The Mail on Sunday has sifted through all the available evidence – including photographs from the set – in a bid to work out what the future holds for the Crawleys and their servants.

The fifth series of Downton Abbey is set in 1924 when Britain’s first Labour Government threatens to exacerbate simmering tensions both above and below stairs.

Several of the servants – including the normally reliable kitchen maid Daisy and the feckless Jimmy – are determined to better themselves.

Not even the generally unflappable Carson can protect the old ways from the winds of change. He says in a trailer: ‘I feel a shaking of the ground I stand on. The nature of life is not permanence, but flux. Things are changing.’

A series of scandals from the past – including the brutal rape of lady’s maid Anna Bates and Lady Edith’s secret love child – remain buried beneath the surface but have the potential to change life at Downton for ever.

The house is now fit to burst with secrets and the arrival of outsiders threatens to bring the carefully constructed façade crashing down.

At least one of Downton’s characters appears to have found themselves behind bars.

A female inhabitant of Downton was last week filmed getting out of a car and approaching the gates of the fictitious HMP York. Is she Anna Bates (Joanne Froggatt)?

And could the visit be linked to her brutal rape at the hands of Lord Gillingham’s former valet Green, played by Nigel Harman?

Some fans suspect Green may have been murdered, although he is supposed to have died in a freak road accident in London’s West End.

The prime suspect for any killing would be Anna’s husband Bates (Brendan Coyle) who is known to have been in London around the time of Green’s death.
Or could the prison visit be linked to the mystery disappearance of Lady Edith’s lover Michael Gregson?


ttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2720864/It-s-Downton-confidential-Fresh-scandals-new-secrets-s-sneaky-peek-Series-5.html#ixzz3A0WT1dGs 
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook