Read Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey Online
Authors: Emma Rowley
Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey (12 page)
FILMING AT INVERARAY
Gareth Neame sees the move to Scotland as a crucial part of keeping the show fresh for the audience. ‘When I was traipsing around in Scotland I said to the location manager, “When we designed this show, it was supposed to be shot entirely at Highclere and Ealing. Now I’m wading through a bog in Scotland. How did that happen?” But we have to keep making new stories and doing fresh things with our characters.’
A FAMILY AFFAIR
Scotland offered the audience a chance to see the Crawleys away from Downton and to meet distant relative ‘Shrimpy’ MacClare, Marquess of Flintshire. Played by Peter Egan (pictured), he is an unhappy aristocrat falling victim to the failing fortunes of his class, but this trip is really an introduction to his wild daughter, Rose, who leaves her family to stay with her relatives at the Abbey.
‘Formal dining scenes are always laborious. When you have ten people speaking in one scene, in one room, it naturally gets very tricky to shoot. Having said that, there’s a lot of fun to be had in filming them.’
Hugh Bonneville
ROBERT, EARL OF GRANTHAM
The Perfect English Village
Highclere and Ealing both play crucial roles in creating the home of the Crawleys, but also of great importance to the family and their estate workers is the nearby village. The village of Downton is in fact Bampton, which lies rather further from the big house – nearly 30 miles – than is implied on screen. The beauty of Bampton, a picturesque Oxfordshire village, is that the stone of the buildings there is similar in colour to those in Yorkshire, where
Downton
is set.
‘It’s a very quaint English village,’ says ‘Sparky’ Ellis. ‘The reason it works so well is there’s the modern part where all the shops are, but set behind that are some lovely old houses, the village green, the church and the building we use for the exterior of Crawley House.’
Filming for
Downton Abbey
is now such a fixture of village life that cast and crew have made some good friends amongst the locals. So good, in fact, that many actively get involved, according to Ellis. ‘The parish council are great and so are the residents. We get the locals into scenes as extras, and the children love seeing us filming.’ Several of these villagers enjoyed prime seats in the congregation for Mary and Matthew’s wedding.
Downton, like any traditional English village, is orientated around earthly pleasures and the divine: The Dog and Duck pub and the church St Michael and All Angels’. Between those two poles lie the post office and hospital, Crawley House (Isobel’s home)and also the Grantham Arms, the pub where Branson memorably refused a bribe from Robert to give up his daughter Sybbie.
While the village is long established, with evidence of its existence dating back to Roman times, Bampton now has a new profile among tourists because of the show. Coachloads of visitors arrive at the village wanting to wander the same paths as Mary, Violet and the rest. Indeed, walking up Church View you can step into the series’ cottage hospital, which you will find is used today as a library, although it was originally built as a village school.
As with any English village, it is the inhabitants, rather than the buildings, that give it life and make it such a pleasure for the cast and crew to film there. ‘Bampton’s a joy,’ says Liz Trubridge. ‘The people are so generous-spirited.’
VILLAGE PAST AND PRESENT
On occasion, Mrs Patmore and Daisy are seen running errands in the village; although the majority of food they prepare would have been delivered by local tradesmen, they relish the chance for an excursion. Bampton residents also love venturing into the village during filming, where the atmosphere becomes quite festive.
ALL THE FUN OF THE FAIR
The village green has to be dressed just like any other set, and for the fair scene in series one it was decked out with bunting and lights. In reality, Bampton village is much bigger than it appears on screen, boasting not one, but two churches, a primary school and an art gallery – a rather more sophisticated venue than anything Downton offers.
IT’S ALL IN THE DETAIL
Every care is taken to recreate accurately the period on screen at every location. Look closely and you will see that the outside of Downton’s post office is decorated with the iconic wartime recruitment poster exclaiming Lord Kitchener ‘Wants You!’ The poster has been modified with some graffiti in the aftermath of the war – ‘RIP’ to fallen soldiers is scrawled across it.