Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey (8 page)

For the summer game of cricket, which pits the Abbey against the village, Highclere Castle offered its very own pitch and pavilion. However, shooting outdoors left the cast and crew at the mercy of the British weather. ‘That summer was wet all the time’, remembers executive producer Liz Trubridge. ‘We really were worried that we weren’t going to be able to do it, and Highclere, understandably, didn’t want us to go on their pitch if it was sodden because it could make a huge mess.’ So the team hired a ‘blotter’ – like those used at international cricket grounds – to soak up the puddles.

There was still the threat of more rain, however. ‘On the way down there was the most terrific downpour,’ says Trubridge. ‘I thought, “How are we ever going to get this sequence?”’ But the gods were smiling. ‘When we got to Highclere, blue sky appeared! They hadn’t had the downpour there and we filmed for three days in dry weather. Then about two hours after we wrapped, it started to rain and it didn’t stop raining for days.’

As the butler, Jim Carter plays one of the characters who can move fluidly between the two worlds at Downton Abbey, but as an actor he does admit to a personal preference in terms of locations. ‘Highclere is essentially opening doors, “dinner is served” and standing watching posh people eat breakfast,’ he sums up. ‘For me, the scenes in my office, or my pantry as they call it, are more fun.’ Phyllis Logan (Mrs Hughes) agrees: ‘I do like it when Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes do a round-up in either her sitting room or his pantry with a glass of sherry.’

For the below-stairs cast, Ealing is a more familiar location; many of these actors rarely visit Highclere, because their characters make only occasional trips through the green baize door. For example, Mrs Patmore, as the cook, would have had no reason to go into the family’s rooms. ‘I have been a few times,’ says Lesley Nicol, ‘but it has to be a big event where the servants are all together … a wedding or a funeral!’ Cara Theobold (Ivy) films mostly at Ealing, and her rare scenes at Highclere generally take place in the kitchen courtyard. ‘I’ve been in the great hall and stoked some fires, but Ivy would never be in the family rooms – or any room that an above-stairs character would be in.’

The actors don’t mind, because Ealing offers a more intimate environment. Ed Speleers (Jimmy) remarks, ‘It’s lovely to go to Highclere; it’s a beautiful place to go to get away from the hubbub of London, but I prefer working at Ealing. I love the old English studios. Highclere is more of a training ground for me – I get to watch what’s going on. But Ealing is where all my nuts and bolts take place.’

The below-stairs rooms dominate the
Downton
stage at Ealing Studios, simply because, as with many stately homes, they no longer exist at Highclere in their original state.

The silver lining to that problem was that the show’s designers could create what they needed. In this way every room in the servants’ quarters could be meticulously designed for historical accuracy, but also to accommodate a large cast, crew and their equipment.

The result is a fixed, interlocking structure that includes the kitchen complex, the servants’ hall, Mr Carson’s pantry, Mrs Hughes’s sitting room and now a boot room – as well as stairs that appear to lead up to the family’s part of the house. Donal Woods, the production designer, cites the hit US political drama
The West Wing
as a surprising inspiration for the set, which boasts corridors wide enough to allow the staff to rush past each other while cameras swing about. ‘It’s a similar situation, where you’ve got lots of rooms,’ he says. ‘The set was designed for flow and movement, as below stairs is busy and hectic – the characters are in and out. I’m quite proud of this set; it works very well.’

Wandering onto the below-stairs set in between takes, it is easy to believe you are in the kitchen of a grand country house. You feel that at any moment Mrs Patmore will walk in and start barking orders at you. The solidity of the structure helps to create this realism. The floors are paved with stone flags and the corridors, unlike the other rooms in the set which have open ceilings for lights and cameras, are finished with low arches overhead.

Despite its adaptations for filming, the set retains the intimacy of a working country house, says Ed Speleers. ‘I love how claustrophobic it is, especially when we are all there. When you put 15 cast in the servants’ hall with two cameras and sound men, you soon run out of room.’

Cameras often follow a servant through the set, which demands technical delicacy, notes Nigel Willoughby, director of photography: ‘Setting up the action takes a lot of time, and it can be challenging to light. But if you light everything from outside the set, and you’re not afraid to let people walk through dark areas, it works.’

Lighting and camerawork, key to creating the lush
Downton
look on screen, are elements that are overseen by the director of photography, who for much of series four is Nigel Willoughby. ‘Every room in reality is different; they have different colours, tones and textures, so I follow that principle on set,’ he explains. He doesn’t want the audience to see his work, though, because ‘the less you notice lighting, the better it is. It’s the same with camerawork.’

While Willoughby has his opinions on what makes the best angles and shots, ‘it’s a collaboration between me and the director and the camera operator. We pool ideas and together we come up with the best solution.’