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

As 'Downton Abbey' heads into season five, it maintains its magic touch

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
BY DAVID HINCKLEY
Sunday, January 4, 2015, 2:00 AM


NICK BRIGGS

Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith Crawley on “Downton Abbey”; the plotline for Season 5 will spend a fair amount of time with Lady Edith.

The magic touch that “Downton Abbey” has wielded from its opening scene is the kind of gift that, like a lavish British country estate, you have to be born with.

From the moment the Titanic went down right up to the show’s fifth season, which launches on PBS at 9 p.m. Sunday, that touch has not diminished.

Take it from Rob James-Collier, who plays Thomas Barrow, better known to fans of “Downton Abbey” as Evil Thomas, the downstairs servant whose own nefarious touch routinely turns gold into sawdust.

James-Collier earned two university degrees and spent several years in marketing before deciding at age 28 to become an actor.



“I discovered I hated marketing,” he says. So he took some acting classes and the kind of small roles aspiring actors always take before landing Barrow.

“Now I love what I do,” he says. But sure, he allows, all that marketing experience can at times still hover about.

Like it did this summer, when “Downton Abbey” was rocked by plastic water bottle scandal.

Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) and Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) posed for a Season 5 publicity picture in front of a stately mantelpiece on which was nestled a plastic water bottle.

Plastic water bottles had so not been invented in 1925.

The scandal abated when the cast quickly shot a followup picture acknowledging and joking about their grievous error.

But scandal it was, and James-Collier says it was nothing short of brilliant.

“I have no idea if it was accidental or deliberate,” he says. “But my immediate reaction, from my marketing training, is that this did everything a good marketing campaign is supposed to do.

“It got that picture onto front pages all over the world. It got people talking about the show when it wasn’t even on the air.

“If I were running the campaign, it’s exactly what I would have done.”

Wherever The Case of the Mysterious Water Bottle originated, it’s hardly the only time “Downton” has emerged shining, or scored in a way that PBS shows just don’t score.

Over the last week and a half, more than a millions viewers have watched a nine-minute video in which George Clooney joins the “Downton” cast to promote Britain’s Text Santa charity.

Best of all, for PBS, “Downton” has become the most popular drama in PBS history. The fourth season U.S. premiere drew 10.2 million viewers, more than most commercial broadcast network shows, and while the fifth season audience dropped a bit when it ran this past fall in the U.K., it was still at the top of the pack.

It was primarily “Downton,” PBS officials will happily admit, that lifted PBS from being the 13th most-watched TV network a couple of years ago to the fifth most-watched last year.

So PBS itself, like the show’s fans, wish it could run forever.



That doesn’t happen, though, and executive producer Gareth Naeme remains coy about just how long it will actually run.

“It will end somewhere between Season 5 and Season 10,” he said in early December.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/downton-abbey-retains-magic-season-article-1.2059841

5 things we learned from 'Downton Abbey' cast's royal visit

TODAY
RANDI DAWN
December 8, 2014

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here are five key things we learned:

George Clooney is not appearing in the Christmas special/season finale
OK, we kind of suspected, but it was confirmed by Bonneville that Clooney merely made a tiny promotional appearance in support of a charity. "He's in a sketch for a fundraiser," said the actor. Joked Nicol, "We didn't all get to meet him, and we're not bitter."



The truth behind that anachronistic water bottle
Remember that "Downton Abbey" publicity photo that included an unexpected cameo by a water bottle? Not intentional, but it worked out nicely: "That photo was cropped originally, and then suddenly it was uncropped," said Bonneville. "[It made us able] to get behind the charity Water Aid in the UK."

Isis the dog's fate is not tied to any current headlines
Rumor had it that Grantham's dog Isis (the one Thomas once locked in a shed overnight!) was going to be killed off because the terror group ISIS had started using the name of the legendary Egyptian goddess. "Any story line involving the dog has nothing to do with horrible international events," said Bonneville.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.today.com/popculture/5-things-we-learned-downton-abbey-casts-royal-visit-1D80342640

Rob James-Collier: 'We're all waiting for the chop' says Downton Abbey baddie

DAILY STAR
By Ed Gleave
Published 9th November 2014

As fans gear up for the series finale tonight, the telly hunk, 38, said actors are worried about ­getting the chop by the writers.

But the ex-Corrie star reckons he would not be too fussed if he was shown the door.

He said: “It doesn’t bother me what happens. I’ve got no fear about moving on. Life’s too short.”

ITV producers announced a few days ago they have commissioned a sixth series of the popular drama.

Rob, who is known across the globe for playing evil Thomas Barrow, said: “Downton as a whole is greater than a sum of its parts. There’s not one ­person it can’t carry on without.

“We have seen that with high-profile people leaving before. There really is no one bigger than the show.”

In recent years a string of characters has been written out of ­Downton, which pulls in up to ten million viewers every week.

But Rob, 38, insisted he would be happy to turn his back on the drama.

He said: “If you stay in the same place too long you’re not doing different roles. I have no fear about moving on.

"If I wanted to go, I’d go. If they got rid of me from Downton I’m sure something else would happen. It may not be on the same scale but it would be a different role.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz/181155/Thomas-Barrow-Downton-Abbey-cast-axed

"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's Rob James Collier: I lost sleep over harrowing homosexuality storyline which takes character Barrow to the 'abyss'

MAIL ON LINE
By MAIL ON SUNDAY REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 18:14 EST, 13 September 2014 | UPDATED: 01:52 EST, 14 September 2014



Downton Abbey star Rob James-Collier says he is having sleepless nights over a harrowing storyline that will push his character into an ‘abyss’.

James-Collier, 37, who plays scheming under-butler Thomas Barrow, reveals that his character’s tortured homosexuality will come to the fore in the new series of the hit ITV drama which begins next Sunday.

James-Collier said: ‘It’s quite a harrowing storyline and I hope it is.

'Because if it isn’t, I haven’t done it justice.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2754974/Downton-s-Rob-James-Collier-I-lost-sleep-harrowing-homosexuality-storyline-takes-character-Barrow-abyss.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' cast responds to water bottle photo goof with goofy photo

HITFIX
By Dave Lewis  @HitFixDave | Saturday, Aug 16, 2014 2:45 PM



Earlier this week, PBS released an image from the upcoming season of "Downton Abbey" that mistakenly featured a 21st century water bottle in background of a scene set in 1924.

Now they're at it again, releasing another photo with even more historical inaccuracies. This one includes modern hairstyles and trendy 2014 fashions, and each and every cast member is holding a water bottle this time around. Is anyone paying attention to these promos?

Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/news/downton-abbey-cast-respond-to-water-bottle-photo-goof-with-goofy-photo#lfvzcgTFQl3hUfev.99

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 
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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)

SPOILERS!!! Video of ‘Downton Abbey’ season 5 cast at Television Academy event

 ZAP 2 IT
Sponsored Article
By Andrea Reiher
May 05th, 2014



If you have a spare 90 minutes, some of the cast and producers of "Downton Abbey" did a Television Academy event over the weekend, and there is video of the entire panel. It's worth a watch for the fans -- though there aren't any huge Season 5 spoilers revealed.

But amongst the topics discussed are the famous fans of "Downton Abbey," how creator Julian Fellowes always had Brendan Coyle in mind for the role of Mr. Bates and how people follow Fellowes around in stores, begging him to bring Lady Edith some happiness. Hee. Poor Lady Edith.

Joanne Froggatt also discusses her character's controversial rape plotline from Season 4, saying that it was an "eye-opening experience," but that ultimately, Anna's choices made sense to her in the context of the times, when a woman like Anna would have her name and reputation sullied by publicly declaring that she was raped. Froggatt says it was "heart-wrenching" to play.


As for Season 5, there are a couple tidbits:

- Fellowes teases in regards to Edith's paramour Michael Gregson to "stay curious" and says "you'll have to watch" to find out if he returns or what happened to him.

- Froggatt also says that "in Season 5, Anna is more and more honest with Mary."

- Finally, Rob James-Collier discusses the Thomas-Baxter-Molesley plotline in Season 5.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/downton_abbey_season_5_anna_is_more_honest_with_mary_baxters_secret_arc_continues-2014-05

‘Downton Abbey’ Season 5 SPOILERS: Laura Carmichael Teases ‘Really Meaty Story’ For Lady Edith, Tom Branson And...

FASHION & STYLE

(Photo : Downton Abbey) Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith on "Downton Abbey"

“Downton Abbey” may still be filming Season 5, but that hasn’t stopped a few subtler spoilers from leaking.

After cast members including Michelle Dockery, Allen Leech, Rob James-Collier, Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith and Penelope Wilton were spotted filming scenes in a graveyard last week (don’t worry, signs point to no funeral!), Allen Leech and Daisy Lewis were spotted filming a sweet scenes between Tom Branson and his new love interest, governess Sarah Bunting.

The Daily Mail writes that the scene features Tom helping Sarah into a car and bidding her a sweet goodbye. She takes several suitcases with her, suggesting she might be leaving Downton for a while – but Branson doesn’t look unhappy. In fact, both actors were beaming at each other, though Bunting looked apprehensive at other points.However, despite debating moving to America last season, we know that Tom is definitely still at Downton – a relief for fans.

“Downton” stars Laura Carmichael, who plays Lady Edith, and Ed Speeler, who plays the footman Jimmy, have also teased spoilers in recent interviews.

Speeler also said that he hopes Jimmy finds love and revealed that filming is going “great.”

READ MORE HERE: http://www.fashionnstyle.com/articles/19178/20140501/downton-abbey-season-5-spoilers-laura-carmichael-teases-really-meaty-story-for-lady-edith-tom-branson-and-sarah-bunting-romance-continues-will-poulter-to-guest-star.htm

Joanne Froggart takes pictures on her phone as she films scenes for Downton Abbey season five

MAIL ON LINE
By NOLA OJOMU
PUBLISHED: 12:38 EST, 26 April 2014 | UPDATED: 08:16 EST, 27 April 2014

Her character - Anna Bates - was at the centre of one of the most shocking storylines of Downton Abbey during the last series.

And now Joanne Froggatt is back on set to films scenes for season five of the popular ITV drama.

With fans eager to see their favourite characters back on screen, all eyes will be on Anna, Lady's Maid to Lady Mary Crawley, as she and her husband John Bates move forward after the death of her attacker.

With her blonde hair hidden under a black hat, the actress also sports gloves as her character makes her way to her destination.

In between takes, Joanne kept warm in mauve puffy jacket black sheepskin boots as she took a few pictures of the set on her smartphone.



Plot details for the new series, slated for an autumn return, are being kept under wraps, but Hugh Bonneville, (Lord Grantham), Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary), Allen Leech (Tom Branson) and Daisy Lewis (Sarah Bunting) have also been filming over the past week.

Rob James-Collier, (Thomas Barrow) will make a return and show favourite, Dame Maggie Smith was also seen back in costume as her character, Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham.

New faces on the show are expected, including Richard E. Grant, who will play Simon Bricker, an art historian who is a house guest of the Crawley family.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2613932/Joanne-Froggart-stops-capture-moment-films-scenes-Downton-Abbey-season-five.html#ixzz308IgJ5ns 
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Michelle Dockery, Hugh Bonneville, Allen Leech, Dame Maggie Smith, back in character as the Dowager alongside co-star Penelope Wilton (also Rob James-Collier) as Downton Abbey series 5 gets under way

MAIL ON LINE
By FAY STRANG
PUBLISHED: 15:01 EST, 23 April 2014 | UPDATED: 05:11 EST, 24 April 2014



Her character, Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, is without a doubt one of the best loved character on Downton Abbey.

 So fans of the period drama will be pleased to see Dame Maggie Smith back in costume while filming scenes for the fifth series in Bampton Village, Oxfordshire on Wednesday.

The actress was joined by Penelope Wilton, who plays Isobel Crawly – the mother of the late Matthew, who is known for her amusing relationship with the Dowager.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2611558/Dame-Maggie-Smith-character-Dowager-alongside-star-Penelope-Wilton-Downton-Abbey-series-5-gets-way.html