Downton Abbey tourist invasion leaves Lady Mary unamused

THE TELEGRAPH
By Anita Singh, Arts and Entertainment Editor
3:23PM GMT 20 Mar 2015


Michelle Dockery looked unamused at the delay to filming Photo: FameFlynet.uk.com

If Lady Mary’s expression is anything to go by, the tourists who wandered on to the set of Downton Abbey were not very welcome visitors.

Filming in the picturesque village of Lacock was disrupted when a tour guide led up to 50 overseas students on to the High Street in the picturesque village of Lacock, Wiltshire, which was being used to recreate a market scene.


Rob James-Collier joked with the crew during the hiatus in filming (Photo: FameFlynet.uk.com)

Thrilled to find themselves in the midst of a TV show, the group waved camera phones and selfie sticks. Witnesses said the shoot was interrupted for 45 minutes until they moved on, although a Downton spokesman claimed their presence had no impact on the day and filming continued.

Michelle Dockery, who plays Lady Mary, looked unamused. Others, including Rob James Collier (Thomas Barrow) appeared more relaxed about the visitors.

Downton stars and extras pause while tourists take pictures of the set (Photo: FameFlynet.uk.com)

READ MORE HERE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11485675/Downton-Abbey-tourist-invasion-leaves-Lady-Mary-unamused.html

Downton Abbey Spoilers: Thomas Barrow trying to cure homosexuality & Simon Callow to join cast?

UNREALITY TV
October 20th, 2014 by Anna Howell.

For the past few weeks in Downton Abbey we have seen Thomas Barrow being very secretive about something… but what?

Fans of the hit ITV period drama will know that after a string of phone calls to a ‘life choice’ advert the Under Butler saw in a paper, he told the staff that his father was ill and that he had to go and care for his parent.

However Baxter (Raquel Cassidy) didn’t believe Thomas’ (Rob James Collier) excuse, and when he returned he was quick to challenge him over the truth of the matter.

During this confrontation the ladies maid saw a box of syringes and medical equipment that Thomas was using on himself and it became clear that the side effects of this new medication were leaving him increasingly unwell and in agonising pain.

Last night viewers would have seen this reach new levels, as the usually malicious and sharp-tongued servant looked a shadow of himself, dripping with sweat, pale as a sheet and ready to drop.

What is it he is doing to himself? The answer is he is trying to cure himself of his homosexuality.

Back in the 1920’s homosexuality was still illegal, and punishable by hard labour at the workhouses, something which wouldn’t suit Barrow at all.

From the very first episode of this new series we have seen that his sexuality has been at the forefront of Barrows’ mind and, as Rob James Collier told us himself, leads to a “horrific” journey of self-discovery for his character as the series plays out.



READ MORE HERE: http://primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk/downton-abbey-spoilers-thomas-barrow-trying-cure-homosexuality-simon-callow-join-cast/

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/

'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/

Rob James-Collier on Being Downton Abbey’s Edwardian Sex Pest and His Smoking Skills

VULTURE
By Denise Martin
2/11/14



Thomas has been off his game all season on Downton Abbey. At best, he got Cora thinking O’Brien wanted to leave her position, and at worst, he outed himself to the house by kissing Jimmy. But of course, Thomas found himself on top once more, saved by Bates, and even promoted above him. Rob James-Collier, who plays the diabolical footman, said his brush with near-termination won’t have much of a lasting effect. “Saving Thomas, it’s the worst thing that could have happened to Bates,” he said. Vulture spoke with the 36-year-old actor while he was out in Los Angeles about Thomas’ lovesick arc, run-ins with his fans, and what the servants do for fun downstairs. (Or not.)

Hey. How are you?

Hi, how are you doing? I know I look like a drug dealer because I’ve got two phones right now. In England drug dealers have two phones. But this one’s for America and this one’s me English phone. I’m not going to be selling crack while we have the interview though.

That’s good. I don’t judge.

You condone the sale of crack? Sorry, where do you write for?

Vulture. We make Downton Abbey paper dolls.

You did the Thomas and O’Brien cut-out kit?

That’s us.

Can I get one of them? I’ve not got one. I want to frame it and put it up on my wall. Someone sent Siobhan [who plays Ms. O’Brien] a photo of it and I want a proper one. Can you make that happen?

I’ll do my best. But for now, I want to talk about the dastardly way Thomas smokes. Is that how you normally smoke?

I don’t even smoke! If you watch from seasons one to three, my smoking is terrible in the first year. There was a scene in season two where I took it so deep, I said a paragraph’s worth of dialogue and five lines after that smoke was still coming out my mouth. I do use it for dramatic effect, totally. Others might say it’s “Rob, you can’t remember your lines, so you take a take drag on your cigarette until the line comes into your head.” And let’s be honest: I think it looks good on screen. I need all the help I can get. It’s like having your own lighting on stage. Foggy lighting. It makes him mysterious.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.vulture.com/2013/02/downton-abbey-rob-james-collier-interview.html

Downton Abbey Season 5 Cast Revealed: Meet the New Characters and Find Out Who's Returning

E!
by CHRIS HARNICK
February 14, 2014



Downton Abbey is welcoming new faces, and maybe new drama for its upcoming season five.

Richard E. Grant is joining the cast as Simon Bricker, a guest of the Granthams who visits Downton Abbey. Grant's other TV credits include Girls and Doctor Who. Anna Chancellor (Four Weddings and a Funeral) will guest star as Lady Anstruther and Rade Sherbedgia (24, Eyes Wide Shut) will play a Russian refugee.

Returning guest cast members include Dame Harriet Walter as Lady Shackleton and Peter Egan and Lord Flintshire.

Downton Abbey season five is slated to premiere in the UK in the fall with a winter 2015 start in the US. Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Jim Carter, Penelope Wilton, Phyllis Logan, Samantha Bond, Laura Carmichael, Lily James, Allen Leech, Brendan Coyle, Joanne Froggatt, Lesley Nicol, Sophie McShera, Rob James-Collier, Ed Speleers, Kevin Doyle, Raquel Cassidy, David Robb, Tom Cullen, Julian Ovenden, Daisy Lewis, Douglas Reith, Jeremy Swift and Andrew Scarborough will all return for the fifth season.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.eonline.com/news/511088/downton-abbey-season-5-cast-revealed-meet-the-new-characters-and-find-out-who-s-returning

A decade of Downton Abbey? TV bosses want the hit show to run and run (MIRROR)

Lady Mary Crawley, and the ups and downs of her aristocratic 1920s family, could grace our screens for a decade if Downton Abbey bosses get their wish.

Producer Gareth Neame said: “I think Downton Abbey is going to go on for a while. Right now the show is still growing in the US and it would be awful to think of it ending now.

"I would rather let the show run between four and 10 years, I imagine.”

But he added that he was wary of pushing creator Julian Fellowes’ hit drama too far.

The fourth series is now in production. Gareth said: “I’d rather that in 20 years’ time it was loved rather than we went on a season too long and people fell out of love with it.”


Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/decade-downton-abbey-tv-bosses-1881329#ixzz2SzriI6yh 
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Eddie Redmayne, Matt Smith, Nicholas Hoult: Who Will Play 'Poldark' In The BBC's Reboot Of The 70s Period Drama? by Holly Williams | 10 May 2013 (CONTACT MUSIC)

'Poldark' is set to return to our screens in a brand new reboot almost four decades on from the first episode premiere of the original series.

The BBC costume drama was first aired in 1975, based on the series of books by Winston Graham. It follows the trials and tribulations of Army Officer Ross Poldark's love life as he returns to Cornwall to find that the love of his life, Elizabeth, is set to marry his cousin. Embittered and unable to move on from his stolen love, he marries a simple servant girl named Demelza as the rest of his once idyllic life crashed around him. 

Filming for the new series is set to begin later this year in Cornwall, though producers are still searching for the right candidate to play the coveted lead role. So far, suggestions as to who might land the part include 'Les Miserables' actor Eddie Redmayne, Matt Smith of 'Doctor Who', 'Kick-Ass' star Aaron Johnson, Jonas Armstrong from 'Robin Hood', 'Merlin''s Colin Morgan, Rob James Collier from 'Downton Abbey' and 'Warm Bodies' actor Nicholas Holt.

READ MORE: http://www.contactmusic.com/news/who-will-play-poldark-in-the-upcoming-reboot-of-the-70s-period-drama_3655863