Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey (33 page)

The show also claimed victory over US heavyweights
Mad Men
and
Homeland
, among others, for a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award in early 2013. This was an event that was particularly memorable for Michelle Dockery. ‘That award was so special, because it’s an ensemble award [for best ensemble in a drama], and that says so much about the show,’ she says. ‘We really weren’t expecting to win, being up against such incredible shows. It was just the most amazing night.’

Not all the cast members were present, due to filming commitments. But those who did attend nominated Phyllis Logan (Mrs Hughes) to give a speech if they won. Assuming the award would go to
Mad Men
, she ended up having to improvise on the podium.

As well as enjoying formal recognition by the industry, the show is celebrated by its millions of fans in the most creative of ways. Most period dramas aren’t spoofed by P. Diddy, but then most period dramas are not
Downton Abbey
. The hip-hop star proclaimed himself an ‘Abbeyhead’ in a video he made in which he was superimposed into scenes from the series.
The Simpsons
have also paid tribute to
Downton Abbey
in their opening-sequence spoof
Simpton Abbey
.

The show has become a cultural touchstone, and something to play with, too. On the internet there can be found scores of YouTube compilations made by fans – romantic shots of Mary and Matthew or Bates and Anna set to music, vying for popularity with Violet’s acid one-liners. There are also numerous parodies and re-enactments that have been created by big-name stars. The show’s creators see such tributes as the ultimate compliment. Julian Fellowes loved ‘Downton Arby’s’, a viral short about a fast-food chain with familiar problems. ‘It was this pancake house with three daughters ... Those things are always flattering, because you’ve got into the zeitgeist and very few shows do that. Even shows that are pretty popular don’t get into that level of spoofery and reference, and that has been good fun.’

Indeed, the cast have, on occasion, played along. Gareth Neame’s favourite spoof is ‘the one that our actors did themselves – the sort of mash-up of
Downton
and
Breaking Bad
for [US show]
The Colbert Report
’. The resulting ‘Breaking Abbey’, a period-drama-meets-drug-fuelled-crime-caper, was definitely one to remember: ‘Right you are, Mr Carson,’ says Thomas the footman. ‘Allow me to bring the mobile lab.’

Another benefit of the global success the show has enjoyed is the increasing pull that
Downton
holds for big-name stars. The great Hollywood actress Shirley MacLaine returns in series four as the indomitable Martha, mother to Cora and a worthy match for Violet. ‘I love having her on the set, because she’s a really engaging, fun person, but also it’s just really nice to have another American there because I so understand where she’s coming from,’ says Elizabeth McGovern. ‘She brings so much experience and history, and all of that comes with her before she even walks through the door. That is thrilling.’

The casting of MacLaine was a careful choice, not a case of bringing in some Hollywood razzmatazz for the sake of it – although everyone enjoys a sprinkle of extra stardust on set. Fellowes, for one, planned to visit the set for the appearance in series four by the acclaimed opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, ‘which I was enthralled to see. I think it’s rather a high moment for
Downton
.’

The regular cast themselves are also enjoying boosted profiles around the world – and all that that entails. ‘I’m not interested in fame,’ says Matt Milne (Alfred), ‘but work-wise it does mean that I’ve been able to do a couple of interesting things I wanted to do.’

Ed Speleers (Jimmy), another more recent addition to the cast, tries not to think too much about the show’s success. ‘It was a bit of an opportunity for me and I was delighted to get the chance,’ he says. ‘But if you worry too much about how big the show is, you can’t get into the work.’

Still, the attention can be tricky to ignore. Lesley Nicol (Mrs Patmore) remembers a 2012 trip to the theatre with Sophie McShera (Daisy) in New York, which descended into bedlam as the pair were recognised. ‘It was crackers; people shouting, screaming, running after us in the theatre.’ She and McShera were, she stresses, ‘done up with lots of make-up and looking better than we do in the show!’

Certainly, a lot of the cast think they receive more attention from the public in the US than in the UK, where Jim Carter suspects people are ‘a little more reticent to confront them’. Laura Carmichael (Edith) once found on an overseas trip that people can easily confuse the character and the actor when a waiter in a bar was convinced he knew her. He finally twigged who she was and offered her free drinks all night, leaving her musing on the strangeness of a ‘young guy from Brooklyn watching an English period drama that has come from ITV’.

A raised profile translates into more opportunities for an actor, with many of the cast now using the six months in which they are not filming to fit in feature films. ‘Allen [Leech] has done a picture with John Cusack, Michelle [Dockery] has done a movie with Julianne Moore and Liam Neeson, and Hugh [Bonneville] is doing a big movie with George Clooney and Matt Damon,’ says Fellowes, reeling off a few examples. ‘The show has had the most extraordinary effect on the movie-making colony. I think it’s absolutely great that the cast have been given these opportunities.’

For the crew, too,
Downton
acts as a similar calling card, helped by the many industry awards the show has won. However, the real draw of the job is the audience. ‘It’s hard work, doing this, and we do it for half the year with very long hours,’ says Liz Trubridge. ‘But there’s nothing like it when you know that people around the world, millions of people, are waiting to see the finished result. That’s the sheer pleasure of making this show.’

For some of those behind the camera, the show’s growing scale has also meant their jobs have changed in a way that those of the cast have not. ‘We started out on this thinking we were making a British TV show that would hopefully go on and sell round the world,’ says Neame. ‘Now, I’m thinking we’re making a series for people round the world, which premieres on ITV. The homeland of the programme is ITV, but it is as big in America as it is here – socially, culturally – and I think it is in many other countries, too.’

For him, the shift has been to move back from the detail of the filming stage to concentrate more on the scripts, casting, editing and post-production – ‘the key storytelling moments’. Another aspect of the job which has ballooned is that of managing a global brand. This role did not exist when the show first aired, but now it encompasses working on everything from award ceremonies, press and marketing to merchandising through clothing and homeware lines.

Meanwhile, the series is also setting the trend for new shows on our screens, but it’s a tough act to follow, notes Laura Carmichael. ‘In the way that
Mad Men
has its aesthetic,
Downton
has its own period and look – it’s so dreamy.’

Yet all good things must come to an end one day, and so it is inevitable that, even at its peak, the storytellers behind the show are always thinking about what will come next. The creators are adamant that they will give
Downton Abbey
the stage exit it deserves. ‘Just as we managed the start of the show, I want to manage the end of it in the same way, so that when it finishes, it will hopefully be a perfectly formed piece,’ says Neame. ‘I want it to get out at the right time, so that when there are no more episodes you can still look back on it five years later and think, “That was perfect as it was.”’

That said, fans can sleep easy because the producer feels the show is still growing. There is no end in sight just yet. Could there even be a
Downton
movie, a route other TV hits have followed? ‘That’s possible, ’Neame says. ‘
Downton
is so loved that we hope it will be watched by audiences for years and years to come.’

Julian Fellowes is likewise hopeful that
Downton Abbey
has carved out a niche in the collective memory. ‘What I would like to feel is that we are one of those milestone bits of television that people remember years later – that’s enough for me,’ says Fellowes. ‘I have chosen to make my life painting pictures in the air. You finish them, and people either enjoy them or they don’t. But either way, by the next day they’re gone – and, you know, I’m okay with that.’

For now, the cast and crew – and the audience who are watching their work – are holding on for the ride. ‘We never would have imagined how huge the show would become,’ says Michelle Dockery. ‘Nothing lasts forever, and the show will end one day, so we’re enjoying it while it lasts.’