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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3055104/SPOILER-ALERT-Laura-Carmichael-spotted-film-scenes-wedding-Carson-Mrs-Hughes-new-season-Downton-Abbey.html#ixzz3YcLi4MfT 
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Our Night Out With Tom Hiddleston, Henry Cavill Emilia Fox And Natalie Dormer At The BAFTA Gala Dinner

IN STYLE

By Lucy Pavia
February 6, 2015

We hung out with some very dishy Brits in black tie last night - including Tom Hiddleston, Kit Harrington, Freddie Fox and Henry Cavill - at the very first BAFTA Gala Dinner, in aid of BAFTA's Give Something Back campaign. Freddie Fox arrived arm-in-arm with big sister Emilia, who was wearing a floor-length scarlet Temperley London dress, while a very dapper-looking Tom Hiddleston swept in and caught up with friend Edith Bowman. We also spotted Game Of Thrones stars Kit Harrington and Natalie Dormer, who was looking gorgeous in a black ballgown.

The night began with a champagne and canapé reception in the bar upstairs, before guests headed down for a three-course dinner of (delicious) smoked salmon tartare, cumin and coriander rump of lamb and chocolate tart. After dinner the live charity auction began where some of the more deep-pocketed guests bid on a range of treats.

The list of prizes included a photo shoot with top photographer Greg Williams (who had come to the event with his new girlfriend, designer Alice Temperley), a private preview screening for 60 people of the new Bond film Spectre and dinner with Colin Firth and Damien Lewis (this one went for £12 000 - sadly a little out of our budget). Also up for grabs was a private tour of Downton Abbey and a week-long retreat at a villa in Palm Springs. Tom Hiddleston gamely kicked off the action by bidding £2000 for a portrait from Greg Williams, but lost out in the end to a higher offer. By the end of the night £250 000 had been raised. That's a lot of very generous bidding.

Read more at http://www.instyle.co.uk/celebrity/news/our-night-out-with-tom-hiddleston-emilia-fox-and-natalie-dormer-at-the-bafta-gala#BmXc6WMq7QrehUWw.99

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

(video) Benedict Cumberbatch joins Downton Abbey cast & check out his dancing in Star Trek Blooper!

UNREALITY PRIME
September 3rd, 2014 by Anna Howell.

Of all the people in the world who were literally born to be in Downton Abbey, we are sure you would agree that Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch is top of the list.

However, with his commitments playing the iconic London detective in the hugely popular Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss modern day twist on the classic works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as starring in just about every blockbuster film cinema has to offer, the prospect seemed only a dream!

But now, it would seem, he has found the time to join the cast of the show!

Before you get too excited, he only joined them on a trip to the cinema, but we would like to hope that they spent this time trying to persuade him what a fantastic idea this would be (despite him previously branding the show as f*****g atrocious!)

Cumberbatch, who picked up the award for Actor of the Year at the recent QC awards recently, joined the likes of Allen Leech, who plays Tom Branson in the hit ITV period drama and his Sky Sports host girlfriend Charlie Webster, and Jim Carter who plays Mr Carson to cheer on Dan Stevens at the premier of his new film The Guest.

Meanwhile new footage of Benedict Cumberbatch has emerged of him, and his fellow Star Trek: Into Darkens cast mates, larking about on set.

Take a look at our favourite Englishman busting some moves in space in the clip below:

READ MORE HERE; http://primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk/hilarious-benedict-cumberbatch-dancing-set-star-trek-video/

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

DOWNTON ABBEY: Risk of new romance

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN
SUE YEAP The West Australian
March 18, 2014, 10:38



If there's one thing most fans agree on about British period drama Downton Abbey it's that middle sister Edith Crawley, played by Laura Carmichael, is hard done by.

Unlucky in love, left at the altar, despised by imperious older sister Mary and often overlooked by her parents, Edith has, over the past season and a half, quietly broken with Crawley tradition and carved out a niche as a newspaper columnist, having previously, shock horror, learnt to drive.

"It has been a really lovely transition for her the last few seasons," Carmichael said down the line from London during a recent break in filming season five.

It was Edith's newspaper writing that led her to strike up a friendship, then relationship, with her editor and publisher, Michael Gregson, played by Charles Edwards.

In last Sunday's episode, the fourth of season four, Edith snuck back into her Aunt Rosamund's (Samantha Bond) house after spending the night with Gregson, whose wife has been in an asylum for many years.

So desperate is Gregson to be with Edith, he has been making plans for them to move to Germany to be together.

"Things start off so well but it doesn't quite all go smooth sailing," Carmichael revealed.

"I liked having time at the beginning of the series to show her slightly more rebellious side and really living and grabbing life with both hands.

"She takes some risks with Gregson; she's out with this married man and that causes a lot of drama to come, therefore she doesn't quite get away with it all.

"I think it is great, she has really sort of matured and is doing the things she wants to rather than the things she has to, which is really fun to play."

Carmichael said Edith was a bit of a black sheep and it was interesting to see how Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern, who play her parents Robert and Cora, behaved differently towards her.

"It's heartbreaking, isn't it," she exclaimed. "I love playing this sort of underdog character."

Away from screen, however, Carmichael has formed solid bonds with her on-screen family, particularly Michelle Dockery, who plays Mary, and Jessica Brown Finlay, who played Sybil until the character's tragic death last season.

"We have all been through this mad journey together doing this full-on TV show for ITV that has gone kind of global," she said.

"Michelle and I are similar ages, have similar interests and have become really close."

Although Downton is one of the most-watched dramas in the world, Carmichael still manages to get about mostly unrecognised because she wears a wig to play Edith.

"I was recently out and about with Jim Carter (who plays the butler, Carson) and I couldn't get over how much he gets recognised, which is completely different to my experience," she said.

READ MORE HERE: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/22038261/risk-of-new-romance/

Who are the Hunks of Downton Abbey?

‘Downton Abbey’ Season 5 SPOILERS: Allen Leech Teases ‘Very Exciting’ Yet ‘Deeply Saddening’ Premiere

FASHION & STYLE
Jan 30, 2014 12:45 PM EST
By Erika W. Smith,
Fashion & Style Assistant Editor, Features



Allen Leech is one of the most fan-friendly “Downton Abbey” cast members – just look at his Twitter! – and although Season 4 is still airing in the US, he was happy to tease spoilers for Season 5 in a recent interview.

Season 5 will begin filming in February, and Leech, who plays Tom Branson, revealed that has received scripts for the first few episodes. He teased spoilers to RadioTimes at a recent party.

"The only thing I can tell you is, I read episode one and I found out something that I didn’t know and I was deeply saddened by it," Leech said.

"Very exciting stuff happens in episode one and continues into episode two," he added. "I was very excited to get [the scripts].

“The first call I made was to Rob James-Collier [Thomas Barrow]. I’ve seen Jim Carter [Mr Carson] tonight. We’re all very excited to get back and I hope that we can do more of the same."

Leech said that he hopes Branson finds a “kind of a peace within himself.”

Branson has one of the more dramatic character arcs on “Downton”: introduced in Season 1 as an Irish chauffer with revolutionary Republican political views, he fell in love with the youngest Crawley daughter, Lady Sibyl. In Season 2, they elope; in Season 3, Sybil dies in childbirth; in Season 4, Branson becomes Downton’s estate manager despite his socialist views.

"He seems still very torn about what he wants," Leech said. "I’d like to see him come to some kind of peace at where he is, whether it be at Downton or somewhere else."

Leech also told RadioTimes that he expects “Downton Abbey” could continue beyond Season 5.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.fashionnstyle.com/articles/15867/20140130/downton-abbey-season-5-spoilers-allen-leech-teases-very-exciting-yet-deeply-saddening-premiere.htm

More ‘Downton Abbey’ Is Ordered Up

Joss Barratt/PBS

Hugh Bonneville, left, and Jim Carter of “Downton Abbey.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES

By ROBIN POGREBIN

November 10, 2013

The fourth season recently completed its run in Britain, where it drew an average of 11.8 million viewers, making it the highest-rated television drama there this year. The third season finale of “Downton Abbey” attracted 8.2 million viewers in the United States earlier this year.

“We promise all the usual highs and lows, romance, drama and comedy,” said Gareth Neame, the show’s executive producer and the managing director of Carnival Films, said in a statement. Paula Kerger, the president and chief executive of PBS, said: “I can’t wait to see what’s next for the Crawley family.”

The fourth season is scheduled to begin in the United States in January.


READ MORE HERE: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/more-downton-abbey-is-ordered-up/?_r=0

Downton Abbey preview: See episode 2 spoiler pictures as Cora confronts new lady's maid Edna

DAILY MIRROR
By Claire Hodgson
26 September, 2013

We already know that Anna Bates will reach out to Mr Molesley in the second episode of Downton Abbey, but these new images reveal some other nuggets of information.

Cora seems very unhappy about something and it looks as if new lady's maid Edna is the cause. Perhaps she has unearthed a skimpy negligee for her next attempt at seducing Tom Branson?

After last week's snogathon, Edith and her boyfriend Michael Gregson look like they are simultaneously madly in love and trying desperately not to catch a contagious disease from each other, in a rather restrained snap.

Lady Rose appears to be up to no good (again) as well. But we might be mistaking cheekiness for smugness after successfully sorting out all that ghastly recruitment lark.

Or perhaps Rose is looking sprightly because she has met a charming gentleman at the village hall. It looks as if Rose is masquerading as a maid and in a shock twist, the maid's outfit appears to work in attracting a man, with another shot showing the two about to lock lips.





Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/downton-abbey-series-4-spoiler-2307196
Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook

REVIEW: DOWNTON ABBEY - fourth season out, and we have an iconic British drama ***SPOILERS***

INDEPENDENT
OWEN JONES  Author Biography
SUNDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 2013

Downton Abbey was one of those national obsessions I never quite understood: it was the watercooler conversation I was excluded from. But with its return to our TV screens, I give in: the first installment of Downton’s fourth season justifies its status as an iconic British drama.

The seasons begins six months after the death of Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens), killed suddenly in a car crash, leaving his wife Lady Mary in mourning. It is now 1922, and Britain’s post-war boom has abruptly ended. This was a time of mass unemployment and swingeing Government cuts (sound familiar?). Inter-war Britain was an often traumatizing period of political upheaval, economic crisis and technological progress. “It’s a changing world,” says a servant to the Dowager Countess, played by the formidable Maggie Smith. “You don’t have to tell me,” she says wistfully. Little of the gritty reality of this early 20th-century austerity creeps into the bubble of Downton Abbey, of course.



The most fascinating scenes reveal the quiet violence of the class system, dictating people’s behaviour against their own instincts. At one point, Mr Carson (Jim Carter), the conservative household butler, cautiously confronts the grieving Lady Mary with advice, knowing that he is stepping outside the expectations of the estate’s pecking order: “I would only be so bold as this if I thought it was for your benefit.” Emotionally conflicted and clearly in need of Mr Carson’s comfort, Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) avoids engaging with his suggestions by pulling rank: “I’m afraid I may have encouraged the idea you have the right to address me in this way.” The human complexities of the scene are only done justice because of stunning performances from both actors.

There is also the casual humiliation of staff who are unable to speak back. When a waiter’s attempt to serve at lunch is repeatedly sabotaged by a colleague, one of their overlords dismissively tells him: “I hope you’ll soon get back to whatever you were trained to do.” There are also hints at the prevailing sense of women being the mere property of men: this was still six years before all women won the vote. When an excursion is discussed, it is casually said that: “We’re not having the wives!”

READ MORE HERE: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/review-downton-abbey--fourth-season-out-and-we-have-an-iconic-british-drama-8833120.html

Downton Abbey flies the flag for Brits with 12 nods at the Emmys... while Benedict Cumberbatch, Helen Mirren and Damian Lewis are also nominated (MAIL ON LINE) By EMILY SHERIDAN PUBLISHED: 09:13 EST, 18 July 2013 | UPDATED: 13:24 EST, 18 July 2013

Period drama Downton Abbey is leading the way for the Brits as this year's Emmy Awards, with 12 nominations.

The ITV series, which runs on PBS in the US, has received major nominations, including acting nods for stars Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Dame Maggie Smith and Jim Carter.

Hugh is up for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series for his performance as Earl of Grantham, while his on-screen daughter Michelle is up for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series as Lady Mary Crawley.

Creator Julian Fellowes has received a nod for Outstanding Writing In A Drama Series, while the show is also up for Directing and Best Drama Series.

Last year's Best Actor In A Drama Series Damian Lewis is up in the category again for the second year.

The Oscar winner has already won four Emmys already for Prime suspect, Elizabeth I and The Passion of Ayn Rand, her last win being in 1996.

Brits Toby Jones and Benedict Cumberbatch will go head-to-head in the Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie for The Girl and Parade's End respectively.

Toby's The Girl co-star Imelda Staunton, who played Alfred Hitchcock's wife Alma is nominated for Supporting Actress in a Miniseries Or A Movie, although Sienna Miller missed out on a nod for her performance as Tippi Hedren.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2368777/Emmy-nominations-2013-Downton-Abbey-flies-flag-Brits-12-nods--Helen-Mirren-Damian-Lewis-nominated.html#ixzz2ZRa780cM 
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

'Downton Abbey' Season 4 Premiere: Lady Mary Set To Resort To Her Old Ways Following Matthew's Death? VIDEO & Details By Robert Leo, EnStarz

After the unexpected death via car accident to Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) brought Downton Abbey Season 3 to a close, many of the period piece's loyalists have surely been wondering what lies ahead next for the now widowed Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery).

According to TVLine, the fourth season of the British-American drama will feature a grieving Mary that will repossess many of the earlier traits she had before getting involved with the late Matthew

Downton executive producer Gareth Neame explained the respective dynamic of the single mother to the site.

"She mellowed with Matthew [and] opened up a lot more.  But I think [after losing Matthew and little sister Sybil], she would be just so devastated that I think it would lock her down and [she would] go back into a lot of the traits that she had before - that very difficult to read characteristics she's got," he said.
"I think we'll see a lot of those very dark and complex things about Mary," Neame continued.

READ MORE: http://www.enstarz.com/articles/18354/20130522/downton-abbey-season-4-premiere-lady-mary-set-to-resort-to-her-old-ways-following-matthews-death-video-details.htm

Downton Abbey with Toots...I know this is very undignified but I can't stop laughing...

By Marah Eakin May 15, 2013

Leave it to the Internet to take something perfectly highbrow and debase it. The fine people at Previously.TV have posted a supercut of Downton Abbey season one, but with added farts. The Wet Hot American Summer homage (we assume) is a little under three minutes long but contains countless unbridled toots that presumably sullied dozens of fine silk gowns, dinner jackets, and maids uniforms. How disgraceful.

READ MORE: http://www.avclub.com/articles/someone-added-farts-to-downton-abbey-and-the-resul,97805/

DOWNTON ABBEY - THE MUSICAL! Downton Abbey at 54 Below, Season 4

jwaltonwest youtube

Entire Cast of Downton Abbey Killed Off in Season 4 (SPOILERS!!!!) Apr 1, 2013 by DOUG BURSCH (THE MODERATE VOICE)

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes confirmed today that the entire cast of Downton Abbey will be killed off in Season 4. Fellowes stated, “It’s something we do really well, we feel like it’s our niche. You know…creating a character you grow to love, respect and trust and then killing ‘em off. It’s like our thing.” Fellowes added, “You know how the Fonz said ‘Hey’ a lot, well killing people off is kind of our way of saying ‘Hey.’”
Downton Abbey producers hint that the demise of everyone associated with Downton will revolve around Bates and Anna opening a motel, where each Downton cast member visits before mysteriously disappearing.

APRIL FOOL (I HOPE)

Read more at http://themoderatevoice.com/179880/entire-cast-of-downton-abbey-killed-off-in-season-4/#Lcl4A5xSXr2CMzco.99 

DAN STEVENS: HE'S BAAACCKKK! DOWNTON ABBEY AND ZOMBIES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2p540lbdF70#!

Downton Abbey: American vs. British Fans (VIDEO MASTERPIECE CLASSIC)

Watch Downton Abbey: American vs. British Fans on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch-online/shorts/downton-abbey-american-vs-british-fans/?elq=70d748043ff343538f470fa09fdf9c65&elqCampaignId=549

Downton Abbey: Maggie Smith, Queen of the Double Take (MASTERPIECE)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLzkQfVIJun2KXuW_3l0gct_0X5yiFs8SN&v=3ZiPV-nEhbQ&feature=player_embedded#!

Downton Abbey Perform One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful"

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TegWM9Z8Jc

Richard Sanding