WATCH ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ SEASON 4 FINALE LIVE, ONLINE! WILL FEBRUARY 23RD EPISODE 'THE LONDON SEASON' REVEAL IF *** KILLED *****? (VIDEO & SPOILERS)

HOLLYWOOD TAKE
By Melissa Siegel February 23, 2014 8:37 AM


Photo: Reuters
Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Phyllis Logan, Joanne Froggatt and Sophie McShera from Downton Abbey.

The Downton Abbey Season 4 finale airs Sunday night on PBS. But before you watch the February 23rd episode of the Masterpiece drama, check out our preview and spoilers for "The London Season" below.

Last week on Downton Abbey Season 4, we finally bid farewell to Mr. Green (Nigel Harman). Anna’s (Joanne Froggatt) raper was hit by a car and killed, but was it truly an accident? Bates (Brendan Coyle) recently found out about Green’s attack on his wife, so could he have sought revenge? Lord Gillingham (Tom Cullen) certainly suspected something fishy occurred, and since Bates just happened to be off work the day of Green’s death, things are not looking good for Anna’s husband.

In other Downton Abbey Season 4 happenings, Jack (Gary Carr) and Rose (Lily James) briefly got engaged, only for the former to break it off for the sake of his love. Jack realized that Rose would face a lifetime of scrutiny if she married an African-American, so he sweetly stepped away so she could have a happier future. Meanwhile, Mary (Michelle Dockery) continued to get courted by two suitors, while Edith (Laura Carmichael) struggled to determine what to do with her unborn child.

So what will happen in the Downton Abbey Season 4 finale? For starters, Episode 8 will feature a guest appearance from actor Paul Giamatti. Giamatti will play Harold, who joins Cora’s (Elizabeth McCovern) mother, Martha Levinson (Shirley MacLaine) for a trip overseas.

“I’m this immensely wealthy businessman, who had some sort of involvement in the crooked deals that were part of this thing called the Teapot Dome scandal during the President Harding administration,” Giamatti told Telegraph about his role in the Downton Abbey Season 4 finale. “Harold has come to London to lay low. I thought it was kind of interesting the way the character was written. He’s awkward and not terribly comfortable in these social situations. He’s more comfortable in business. He obviously whores around a lot on yachts and stuff like that, but it’s not his primary interest.”

Harold and Martha join the rest of the characters in "The London Season" to celebrate Rose’s presentation to the Royal Family. But of course, there are several other major plots to be resolved in the Downton Abbey Season 4 finale.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS HERE

CONFIRMED: Downton Abbey is NOT being cancelled! Take that!

UNREALITY PRIMETIME
January 9th, 2014 by Lisa McGarry.



We let out a little sob of distress when we read reports earlier this week that Downton Abbey is in it’s final throes.

We have already been treated to four series of the hit ITV period drama and just managed to get back on an even keel after the emotional Christmas special so we were properly upset when a so called insider claimed that bosses were planning to bring the programme to a close after the fifth series.

It was claimed that that creator and writer Julian Fellowes wouldn’t be able continue with Downton Abbey whilst working on his new project, The Gilded Age.

However, Executive Producer Gareth Neame has put fans’ minds at rest and insisted that there are currently no plans to cancel Downton and plenty of scope for new episodes.

In a statement he said:

“I can confirm that there are no plans to end the show after the fifth series. ITV commission each series on a year-by-year basis. In an interview given to the Wall Street Journal (published 31.12.13), Julian Fellowes stated that the show would not go on forever (inevitable of course and something both he and I have been on the record for previously). For now ITV have commissioned series five and that is what we are busy preparing.”


READ MORE HERE: http://primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk/confirmed-downton-abbey-cancelled-take/

'Downton Abbey' keeps our Winter TV Preview classy

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
 By EW staff on Dec 30, 2013 at 12:00PM


 

It’s the biggest PBS phenomenon since Sesame Street, and might very well be the classiest thing you do every Sunday night. Yes, Downton Abbey is returning on Jan. 5, and Entertainment Weekly was on the set for season four of the British TV phenomenon. Creator Julian Fellowes’ wildly popular period drama about life on a decadent English countryside estate shocked viewers last season with two major character deaths (we’ll never forget you, Matthew and Sybil!), and the show’s anticipated third season promises to be nothing short of shocking, exciting, and traumatic — which is just what we’ve come to expect of the Grantham and Crawley clan. Even guest star Shirley MacLaine was floored by the show’s drama: “When Matthew died I nearly threw a chair at the television. I thought, what is Julian Fellowes doing? It took me a few days to get over it.”

Season 4 kicks off six months after Matthew’s death, and while Lady Mary is in a depressive slough, there are signs of life. “The moment I realized we could have a six month gap,” says Fellowes, “I realized we could also have a disagreement about how Mary’s doing and how we should be looking after her.” In order to help Mary move forward, Robert (Hugh Bonneville) and Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) gently nudge a new suitor — Lord Gillingham (Tom Cullen) — in their daughter’s direction, though Gillingham will have to compete with another man, Charles Blake (Julian Ovenden), who emerges later in the season. Our obsessive viewer’s guide to Downton also includes a complete season-by-season recaps, as well as an introduction to season 4’s new faces, and sneak peek at Lady Edith’s long-overdue makeover.

READ MORE HERE: http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/12/30/this-weeks-cover-downton-abbey-winter-tv-preview/

‘Downton Abbey’ season 4 Christmas Special review: Daisy’s offer, and did Mary choose?

CARTERMATT
25 December, 2013



Last year, fans of “Downton Abbey” lamented how the Christmas Special basically took whatever Christmas cheer that they had and then threw it in the garbage. For the first 98% of it, all seemed well; then, Matthew died and the world fell apart for Mary.

This time around, we had a two-hour special on ITV that was certainly engaging, but afterwards we cannot really help but answer the question: Was any of this really that necessarily? There were episodes this season that contained more in the way of story points, and this served more as a way to tie together old stories than present new ones that could carry over to the new year.

Out of the stories that are staying put into 2014, the biggest one is merely that somehow, Lady Mary still has both Lord Anthony Gillingham and Charles Blake waiting like they are contestants on “The Bachelor” hoping to get the final rose … and this has been eight months of doing so. While we learned in here that Blake has his own ties to nobility, and was merely hiding them in order to, like another show in “Joe Millionaire,” have Mary like him for who he was rather than his inheritance, this has not played a role into the decision. We’re still waiting, and the only key revelation here is that Michelle Dockery’s character will eventually choose somehow.



Meanwhile, we seemingly had an end to the Bates murder story that played out at the end of the season. It seemed for a good half hour or so that Mary was going to turn Bates in after learning of evidence that tied him to what happened to Mr. Green’s death, but his role in helping preserve the family name and protect the Prince from humiliation (the closest thing that this show will ever get to “Ocean’s Eleven”) changed that. He now seems to be in the clear, and unless someone tells Anna what happened, this issue will likely disappear just like Ivy mighty between seasons. Ivy’s potential exit, coupled, maybe with some drama on the horizon for Thomas Barrow and Tom Branson after the former caught the one-time chauffeur with a certain teacher in the gallery, were the two biggest stories that we really see shaping the new season in some substantial way.

Ivy took a potential cooking job with Harold (smartly played by Paul Giamatti) after Daisy turned it down, which was in turn largely a set-up to ensure that one of Harold’s own employees could further pursue her. Clearly, there are still some feelings there for Alfred, even if we never saw him in the special save for news that he has a prestigious new position.

READ MORE HERE:http://cartermatt.com/101688/downton-abbey-season-4-christmas-special-review-michelle-dockery-mary-chooses-no-one/

Downton Abbey - first look at Christmas Special; ‘could end in 2014 as its stars pursue film careers’

METRO
SARAH DEEN
14 December, 2013

Downton Abbey could reportedly come to an end next year.

The show has enjoyed worldwide success but ITV could pull the plug as its stars leave for the bright lights of Hollywood.

A source told The Mirror: ‘After five years on Downton, they are understandably excited at the prospect of taking up some of the roles coming their way.’

Senior executives on the period drama are believed to be referring to next year’s Christmas special as the show’s last.

However, an ITV spokesperson told the paper that there are ‘no plans’ to conclude Downton Abbey just yet.

READ MORE HERE: http://metro.co.uk/2013/12/14/downton-abbey-could-end-in-2014-as-its-stars-pursue-film-careers-4230729/

Tis’ the season to be jolly: Series producer confirms no deaths in store for Downton Abbey this Christmas

METRO
5 November, 2013
By Amy Duncan
Showbiz channel manager for Metro.co.uk and unashamed Simon Cowell obsessive. Catch me tweeting at @amydunkers

But Trubridge promised it will still be packed full of excitement as she revealed it is the most ‘spectacular’ one yet.

‘It is packed full of story and it is without question the biggest episode we have ever done,’ she revealed. ‘it is the most spectacular, it’s not set at Christmas and we won’t be splitting up the family and the servants this time.’

The Christmas special will follow on from the cliffhangers of the fourth series’ finale, which airs this Sunday.

But it will also see the return of Shirley Maclaine as Cora’s mother Martha, and the arrival of Paul Giamatti as Cora’s playboy brother Harold.

‘It is lovely how happy Shirley was to come back and Paul is just a dream, you can’t take your eyes off him,’ Trubridge added.


READ MORE HERE: http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/05/tis-the-season-to-be-jolly-series-producer-confirms-no-deaths-in-store-for-downton-abbey-this-christmas-4174367/

Elizabeth McGovern: Why I turned down marriage to Sean Penn and begged on my knees to play Downton's mistress

MAIL ON LINE
By LOUISE GANNON
PUBLISHED: 16:00 EST, 14 September 2013 | UPDATED: 21:20 EST, 14 September 2013

Are you ready for the return of Downton-mania? The frenzied craze for the costume drama to end all costume dramas is set to shoot right off the scale when series four launches next weekend.

And even the normally unflappable Royals are getting in a lather over the imminent return of Lady Mary, Carson, the Earl of Grantham and his porcelain-skinned wife, Lady Cora, the Countess, played by the stunning American actress Elizabeth McGovern.

Except, unlike normal Downton fans, when the Royals crave a hit of their favourite show, they can simply turn up at Highclere Castle – the stately home where it is filmed – to meet the stars.

‘Pippa Middleton came with her mum and her brother,’ McGovern reveals, as she whisks Event on a whirlwind tour.

‘They were lovely. They asked lots of questions, stayed to watch some of the filming.

‘Pippa was very pretty and polite and I’d definitely say the cast were probably more excited than the guests. I had a big chat with her mum, too.’

The massive success of the show is not something McGovern, 52, imagined.

It’s ITV’s most successful period drama ever, winning Emmys in America, spawning a Hollywood career for Dan Stevens who – as Matthew Crawley – was killed in a car crash in the last series.

‘We miss him,’ she says. The Downton cast are extremely close.

‘It is incredibly hard work, long days, late shoots, but we are a real team. It’s an amazing thing to work on a show that is so successful; that has an unbelievable effect on the cast.

‘There’s definitely a split between the young ones and the older ones. But on set we have ways of keeping ourselves amused.

'Michelle (Dockery, Lady Mary) and Allen (Leech, the chauffeur-turned-gentleman) are brilliant mimics. He does a flamboyant fashion designer act, Michelle does a great LA actress on the red carpet. Then Maggie (Smith) has all her anecdotes, which are amazing.’

I meet McGovern in the restaurant of a West London studio, and over cappuccino she casually gives me a great Downton scoop: as the Grantham family move into the Roaring Twenties, the women are finally granted their freedom .  .  . from their clothes.

‘That’s right, no corsets this time, a big bonus. We can breathe again! The dresses are a lot more comfortable.’

I push McGovern for more revelations, but she remains cagey about what we can expect – Downton stars are kept on a famously tight leash when it comes to revealing forthcoming script details.



Like Cora – whom she loves (‘She’s a really good, decent woman. She doesn’t make dramas, she just tries to make everything right for everyone else’) – McGovern is an American in England married to film director and producer Simon Curtis (My Week With Marilyn, The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice).

Her eldest daughter, Matilda, is reading English at Oxford and her youngest, Grace, is 15. Her life has been about gently breaking rules. Her parents are American academics. Her mother was a teacher, her father a professor, her great-grandfather a famous diplomat.

As revealed in the Mail on Sunday last month, McGovern plays and sings ‘mum music’ in her band Sadie And The Hot Heads, but she never went to a rock concert as a teenager.

‘In my family it was classical or maybe jazz,’ she says.

She grew up in LA and became an actress contrary to family expectations. Success was instant, overwhelming and huge.

Her first film, at 19, was Ordinary People, with Donald Sutherland and Timothy Hutton. It won four Oscars. Her second, Ragtime, earned her an Oscar nomination. Her third, Once Upon A Time In America, pitched her against Robert De Niro as the object of his sexual obsession.

The same year – 1984 – she starred in Racing With The Moon with Sean Penn. Penn fell madly in love with her, they got engaged – everything was pointing to a Hollywood superstar future. So she split from Penn and left LA to study theatre in New York.




Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-2418897/Downton-Abbeys-Elizabeth-McGovern-Why-I-turned-marriage-Sean-Penn-begged-knees-play-Downtons-mistress.html#ixzz2evTi53oz 
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Downton Abbey's Maggie Smith 'Doesn't Take Any Bull****' Claims Tom Cullen

The actor is getting to grips with being around Maggie and Shirley MacLaine

E.

BY DEEPIKA RAJANI ON AUGUST 16, 2013

Downton Abbey's newest recruit Tom Cullen has claimed that iconic actress Dame Maggie Smith is not a person who takes any "bull****".

The actor who is poised to make his debut on the fourth series of the hit ITV drama later this year, as a possible love interest for Lady Mary Crawley, revealed what it was like starting work and filming scenes with Dame Maggie Smith and iconic Hollywood actress Shirley MacLaine.

Speaking in an interview with Attitude magazine, Cullen who plays the role of Lord Gillingham in the hit drama said: "It's kind of surreal, though, being in a room with Maggie Smith and Shirley MacLaine. I'm like, 'What the hell is going on?'

"The thing about Maggie is, because she's been doing this for so long, she knows how to get the best out of a scene and she doesn't take any bull****."

The actor added: "At the same time, she's just the most humble woman and she's so, so funny. Honestly, Maggie makes me wee out of my eyes!"

Whilst he has been left in awe of Maggie, Cullen revealed that it has been Shirley who has been teaching him some dance moves.

He continued to comment: "The other day she was teaching me some Bob Fosse - Shirley MacLaine has been teaching me dance moves!"

READ MORE HERE: http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/123818/Downton-Abbeys-Maggie-Smith-Doesnt-Take-Any-Bull-Claims-Tom-Cullen-

DOWNTON ABBEY: Feared Downton lost the plot with that car crash? Lady Mary's grief (and the men chasing her) will have you spellbound again

MAIL ON LINE

By CHRISTOPHER STEVENS

PUBLISHED: 18:25 EST, 13 August 2013 | UPDATED: 06:12 EST, 14 August 2013

Downton Abbey is returning to our screens, the most eagerly awaited television event of the year. But instead of simple excitement, there’s the anxious sense this time that the show could be past its best — and ready for the TV scrapyard.

A first preview of the new series revealed yesterday that, after the shocking deaths of two leading characters, Downton is darker and more emotional than ever before.

The elements that have made it the world’s most loved costume drama are still in place, more sumptuous than ever — the acres of brocaded furniture, the glittering silverware, the tapestries and tiaras.

So, too, are the towering central performances of Hugh Bonneville, as an aristocrat struggling in the modern world, and Michelle Dockery as his eldest daughter — now widowed, and frozen in her grief.

ITV chiefs unveiled the first episode of series four at a packed media showing in Mayfair, London, with unparalleled razzmatazz — a reflection of how the show has become the most watched and talked-about drama in the world.

Rumours have swirled around possible plotlines and new characters for months, including reports that renowned opera diva Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will be playing a part. 

Yesterday, Dame Kiri walked out on stage herself, to serenade journalists and then reveal that, in a new departure for Downton, her character was based on a real person: the fabled singer Dame Nellie Melba.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2392415/Downton-Abbey-Lady-Marys-grief-men-chasing-spellbound-again.html#ixzz2c3AeYOcb 

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'Downton Abbey' Series 4: 10 Things We Already Know, Plus 5 First Look Photos (PICTURES)

The Huffington Post UK

By Sarah Dean

Posted: 29/07/2013 17:28 BST

Updated: 29/07/2013 17:28 BST

Ahead of the highly-anticapted return of Julian Fellowes' 'Downton Abbey' in the autumn, here is what we know about series four so far...

1. Lady Mary Crawley's baby George and Tom Branson's baby Sybil turn out to be very cute indeed. Both parents - played by Michelle Dockery and Allen Leech respectively - are forced to adjust to life without their partners, Matthew Crawley and Lady Sybil, who both died in series three.

2. Queen Elizabeth's second cousin twice removed, Flora Ogilvy, will reportedly join this year's Downton Abbey as the first genuine royal cast member.

3. Paul Giamatti will appear in the series four Christmas Special. The American actor will play Harold, a “maverick, playboy brother of Cora and uncle to Mary and Edith”.

4. The Golden Globe-Award winning drama is slated to return to ITV in September in the UK and will be shown from 5 January in the US.

5. It will be the "best series ever" - according to Brendan Coyle who plays John Bates.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/07/29/downton-abbey-series-4-news-pictures_n_3670994.html

Shirley MacLaine films picnic scenes with new stars Paul Giamatti and Daisy Lewis for Downton Abbey Christmas special

MAIL ON LINE

PUBLISHED: 07:41 EST, 28 July 2013 |

UPDATED: 07:48 EST, 28 July 2013

With leading characters dropping like flies, Downton Abbey is certainly in need of fresh talent.

And after the arrival of Hollywood legend Shirley MacLaine to period drama, another critically-acclaimed actor has followed as Paul Giamatti joins the cast as an American playboy and relative of the Crawleys.

But Paul isn't the only new arrival, with British actors Daisy Lewis and James Fox getting a warm welcome from Shirley, 79, as they filmed an outdoor picnic scene for the Christmas special.

READ MORE HEREhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2380283/What-warm-welcome-Shirley-MacLaine-films-picnic-scenes-new-castmembers-Paul-Giamatti-Daisy-Lewis-Downton-Abbey-Christmas-special.html

the Boyfriend's Guide to Downton Abbey (or, Downton for Dummies)

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Brendan Coyle reveals MacLaine lunch date (INDEPENDENT WOMAN)

 

30 JUNE 2013

Downton Abbey star Brendan Coyle has revealed he and Shirley MacLaine have formed a firm friendship on the show.

The 79-year-old Hollywood actress previously confessed she had a crush on the actor, who plays valet John Bates in the hit ITV period drama.

Brendan revealed Shirley took him out to lunch when she joined the show, as their characters didn't have any scenes together in the last series, because Bates was in prison accused of murdering his ex-wife.

Brendan, 49, confessed: "It's very rarely that I get starstruck with actors, no matter how big they are, it's very rare for me. Footballers yes, actors no.

"Because we weren't going to have any scenes together, because I was stuck in prison, she wanted to meet me for lunch. And my memory of that lunch is me sitting there doing 'It's Shirley MacLaine! It's Shirley MacLaine!' like an idiot.

READ MORE: http://www.independent.ie/woman/celeb-news/coyle-reveals-maclaine-lunch-date-29383155.html

Downton Abbey Christmas special: Hollywood star Paul Giamatti to join cast STV 24 June 2013 17:41 BST

Downton Abbey is about to receive another injection of Hollywood magic with the news that movie star Paul Giamatti is to appear in the Christmas special.

Fans of the of the period drama were delighted when Shirley MacLaine joined the show for the most recent series last year, with the A-lister playing Cora’s hard-to-please mother.

Now audiences will watch as Paul, who has appeared in movies including Saving Private Ryan and Planet of the Apes, appears in this year’s festive special as Cora’s playboy brother, Harold.

Gareth Neame, the managing director of programme-maker Carnival Films, said: "We're excited that Paul Giamatti will be joining us on Downton to play Cora's brother Harold, the rather free-spirited uncle to Mary and Edith.

"We can't wait to see him work alongside Shirley Maclaine, who are both sure to upset the Granthams' apple cart in this year's Christmas Day episode."


READ MORE: http://entertainment.stv.tv/tv/230638-downton-abbey-christmas-special-hollywood-star-paul-giamatti-to-join-cast/

Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville excited for new male stars (EXPRESS)

AS MILLIONS of viewers await the next series of Downton Abbey the hit show’s lead star Hugh Bonneville says one of the most exciting new additions is the “gorgeous new men”.

By: Day & NightPublished: Sat, May 25, 2013

 Hugh, 49, reckons there will be a host of new crushes once the series, scribed by Julian Fellowes, gets under way in September.

“You can expect more thrills and spills,” he tells us. “We have some wonderful new cast members, guest stars such as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and gorgeous new men looming over the horizon. I think Shirley MacLaine is coming back as well.”

READ MORE: http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbiz/402360/Downton-Abbey-s-Hugh-Bonneville-excited-for-new-male-stars

'Downton Abbey' Season 4 Sets PBS Return Date, PLUS Last Tango In Halifax by Jace Lacob May 14, 2013 10:15 AM EDT THE DAILY BEAST

American fans of the Crawley clan can finally mark their calendars: Season 4 of Downton Abbey will kick off on PBS' Masterpiece Classic on Sunday, January 5, 2014.

Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton announced the official U.S. airdate for Season 4 of the award-winning period drama Tuesday at the PBS Annual Meeting. Downton's fourth season will run for eight weeks, from January 5 to February 23, 2014, roughly the time timeframe as its third season, which aired in the U.S. earlier this year. (In the U.K., Season 4 will air this autumn on ITV.)

"Masterpiece fans will not be disappointed: Julian [Fellowes] has done another brilliant job," Eaton wrote in an email to The Daily Beast, "this time, portraying the Downton family moving on from the tragedies of last season."

Those tragedies include the death of heir Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) and youngest daughter Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay). The duo—along with Siobhan Finneran (who played devious maid Miss O'Brien)—will not be returning for a fourth installment of the Julian Fellowes-created Downton Abbey, the highest-rated drama in PBS history. A stunning 24 million total viewers tuned into Season 3 of Downton Abbey, and finale on February 17, 2012 was the top-rated show on television for the evening, beating all primetime broadcast and cable programming.

Season 4 of Downton Abbey will feature Shirley MacLaine reprising her role as Martha Levinson, along with several new actors joining the cast: Tom Cullen, Nigel Harman, Dame Harriet Walter, Joanna David, Julian Ovendon, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and Gary Carr, to name a few.

PBS also announced the premiere of six-episode dramedy Last Tango in Halifax on September 8 and Season 3 of Call the Midwife, which will return to PBS in 2014. The former series become one of BBC One's top 10 highest-rated dramas for 2012, with an audience of 7.3 million viewers.

PBS described Last Tango in Halifax—which stars Derek Jacobi, Anne Reid, Sarah Lancashire, Nicola Walker, Tony Gardner, Dean Andrews, Nina Sosanya, and Ronni Ancona—as "an uplifting comedy/drama about romance and second chances. Full of zesty humor, great characters and glorious dialogue, it’s about timeless love in a modern setting."

READ MORE: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/14/downton-abbey-season-4-sets-pbs-return-date.html

MAGGIE SMITH: Downton Abbey Set For More Drama With Dame Maggie Smith & Shirley MacLaine? Maggie is 'looking forward to round two'

Maggie Smith spotted filming Downton Abbey in March (Wenn)

Downton Abbey's new series looks set to be a treat, and sparks look set to fly between Dame Maggie Smith and Shirley MacLaine, according to the show's Allen Leech.

Leech, who plays Lady Sybil's widower Tom Branson in the period drama, has teased details MacLaine is set for a Downton return and her character (Martha Levinson) will almost certainly clash with Smith's Lady Violet.


In the last series, we saw MacLaine play Cora Crawley's rather loud-mouthed mother often stand off against Lady Violet in the ITV drama, making it one of the most entertainingclashes on TV.

And now, Leech has admitted that just being around the pair is "great". Talking to the RadioTimes.com at the Olivier Awards this weekend, Leech revealed what it's like to act with the acting veterans.

"You've got a British acting legend and you have a Hollywood acting legend so sitting in a room with the two of them is great," he said.

When pressed for details about MacLaine's impending return and whether writer Julian Fellowes has written any classic lines.

READ MORE: http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/113136/Downton-Abbey-Set-For-More-Drama-With-Dame-Maggie-Smith-Shirley-MacLaine

Brendan Coyle: 'He's quite mysterious' Downton Abbey's Shirley MacLaine admits crush on Brendan Coyle (EXPRESS)By: Kirsty McCormackPublished: Thu, April 25, 2013

The 79-year-old star, who plays Martha Levinson in the hit ITV1 show, is gearing herself up to film the fourth series but says she won't act on her feelings for Coyle, who plays the role of Bates.

"I love doing Downton,” she said. "I loved it from the moment I showed up on set. We were all out in the rain and the wind and everybody was acting away and so good. I have kind of a crush on Brendan. He’s quite mysterious. You don’t really know what he’s up to."

MacLaine explained that she told Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes what she thought of Coyle, which led to him arranging a lunch date.

"I think he wanted to see if there were any cougaring sparks flying,” she said.



READ MORE: http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbiz/394666/He-s-quite-mysterious-Downton-Abbey-s-Shirley-MacLaine-admits-crush-on-Brendan-Coyle

7 New ‘Downton Abbey’ Season 4 Spoilers Reveal Love & Drama Are in the Air (VIDEO) by Adriana Velez 20 hours ago (THE STIR)

Season 4 of Downton Abbey is still months and months away. How long away? We'll tell you in a minute, but trust me. It's like forever. I mean, we may be traveling by jet packs before Downton airs in the U.S. Meanwhile, little by little more spoilers about next season keep leaking out. Here's everything NEW we know so far!

1. More on Jack Ross, AKA "the new black character." We told you about how Downton producers are casting for a charming black musician. Now we're hearing he'll inspire some race-related controversy. Get ready to see Violet grimace disapprovingly and wave her hankie in distress.

2. Mary's new suitor. Remember how hottie Tom Cullen is joining the show as aristocrat Lord Anthony Gillam? Supposedly he walks into the Crawleys' lives to help them out with their financial problems. Naturally, he becomes a favorite of Lord Grantham. Gillam is "good looking [and] very charismatic [with] a perfect cut glass accent. He's warm and charming, but also a strong man with morals."

3. Mary's other new suitor. Oh yes, juiciest of all! It's not just Lord Gillam who's wooing Mary. Julian Ovendon, played by Charles Blake, will also compete for Mary's heart. She will only pick one, though, and my hunch is that it'll be Sir Gillam.

4. Mary may rebuff both! Actress Michelle Dockery says of her character, "I imagine she will not be able to move on very quickly. It will be very difficult to replace the love of her life." So don't expect Mary to get swept off her feet by either of these fine gentlemen too quickly.

Tom Cullen, Harriet Walter 

5. Bates and Anna drama. Finally, that happy couple was getting to be dull. In an online chat, Joanne Froggatt (best name ever) wouldn't go into details, but said to expect plenty of DRAMA. "I obviously can't say more than that but I think it may be the best yet and there are certainly aspects of Anna's character that have never been seen before ... I think these scripts are the best yet. [Julian Fellowes] has done such an incredible job." Also, Anna gets a new hairdo. Bangs? Haha.

READ MORE: http://thestir.cafemom.com/entertainment/153839/7_new_downton_abbey_season