Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale cast and creator talk saying goodbye to beloved franchise - and the potential for spin-offs

Fellowes is just as delightful on how British and American fortunes were made in the 19th and early 20th centuries, real-life tales of which he has, so far, syphoned into Oscar-winning screenplay Gosford Park, big-budget sweeping TV saga The Gilded Age and, of course, TV juggernaut and now film trilogy, Downton Abbey.

“Americans made vast fortunes, but they wanted it quicker,” he says. “They didn’t want to have to wait five generations before they could have tea with someone. So they made a new society that was a mixture of people from successful families, and other people who had made all their money in three months. The thing is, I think Europeans still have a greater sense of their own history. They carry it within them, whereas Americans tend to look to the future – what’s the next big thing?”

Our first conversation takes place in a Richmond office block, turned over to catering for the hundreds of crew and cast filming Downton Abbey’s last instalment, The Grand Finale. People flit around in the glittering garb of 1930, looking a bit overdressed for a weekday afternoon in south-west London. But, at the centre of it all, Julian Fellowes looks entirely relaxed – unsurprisingly, for it is a world of his making.

It is a world, however, of two very distinct halves. Later on, when we meet again on Zoom, I ask if he admires this bygone social system: “Well, I think we live in a very black-and-white era, where everything is either good or bad. In fact, all systems that last any length of time have some strengths and some weaknesses, and eventually they become wrong for the time that they move into.”

Fellowes remembers growing up in the 1960s and visiting houses where maids and butlers were still employed. “I am a traditionalist by nature, and yet even I could feel the sun was setting on that particular way of life. There were aspects of it where everyone sort of knew what was what, with formalities and patterns, rather than the sort of chaotic, catch-me-if-you-can society that came after. But it wasn’t impossible for me to see that this was nearly over, that this just wasn’t how people wanted to be.”

One thing that hasn’t changed is Britain’s complicated relationship with figures of celebrity, wealth and status. It is something that clearly bemuses Fellowes, who has enjoyed success on both sides of the Atlantic. “Britain has this curious double standard of hating the rich and hating anyone who has been very successful, and yet wanting it. I don’t get it. It seems to me ungenerous not to admire people who have done very well.”

Easy to say, as a man who was raised the son of a diplomat, and entered the House of Lords himself in 2011? He demurs. “Even when I was a struggling actor – which I can tell you is not the easiest of existences – if I met someone who’d had success and become a movie star, I’d think, ‘Good luck to them’.”

With an Oscar and slate of acting roles to his name, Fellowes was already – by most standards – highly successful when he began writing Downton Abbey in 2009. What did it bring him? “It was my first opportunity to create my own world, to invent a whole thing that went on and on. I could explore vicissitudes of people’s personalities in a way that if you just write a show or a film, you can’t.

“Continuing to explore people and give them different sides and different elements is something you only experience in writing a series, and when you’re writing to performances that you’ve already seen. When you think of somebody like Thomas, his evolution was very moving.”

Thomas, played by Rob James-Collier, was initially the sullen and quite spiteful servant, secretly gay, who found a whole new lease of life in the employment (and presumably embrace) of a visiting actor, played by Dominic West. If there were to be any spin-off stories for characters from Downton Abbey, would Thomas be in the frame?

“I think you could make a case for many of them,” smiles Fellowes. “Thomas was an interesting character for two reasons. One, it was very difficult to be gay when we started, which was 1912, and it was beginning to be easier by the time we finish in 1930, although still a long way to go. The other thing is, I like to write characters where the audience changes their mind about them and I hope they did with Thomas. You started feeling he was rather waspish and malicious, then you gradually saw his life had been very hard. And you started to see his point of view.”

Fellowes pauses. “But I think that, on the whole, I’ve probably said most of what I’ve got to say. I don’t know… “Every time I say ‘never’ in this business, I find six months later, I’m doing exactly what I said I’d never do.”

Michelle Dockery

After 15 years of playing Lady Mary, do people expect her when they meet you?

I do think sometimes people are a little surprised at how different we are when they meet all of us. Mary’s lovely but she’s very self-contained. She’s very different from who I am, and I’ve really enjoyed playing her.

In that time, Mary’s storyline has been arguably the most dramatic — daughter, wife, mother, widow, now matriarch and chatelaine. How have you evolved the role?

I feel like I’ve grown up with her. When I look back at those early episodes, I realise she’s become quite a different person. She’s always been strong-willed but, back then, she was petty, quite like a grumpy teenager. Since then, she’s faced all sorts of things and, in this film, she’s facing social disgrace. I think that’s what people enjoy seeing – the highs and lows of these characters and what life throws at them.

How quickly did you realise that Downton Abbey would change your life?

When I got the role I was 26, doing lots of theatre and just starting to stick my toe in television and film. I knew the show could work, that I was right for it, and that I was going into something that would change my career, but I never imagined it would go on for as long as it has, or be so huge.

We’ve had lots of period dramas, but Downton Abbey is a hit apart. What do you credit for its success?

I think it starts with the writing. Julian created this world of people that audiences really related to. And, in the end, it’s comforting.

Previously, you shared a lot of scenes with the late Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess. What lessons did she share with you?

I soaked up every moment. With a very special one like Maggie, it’s like playing championship tennis – you really up your game. I was always slightly nervous going into those scenes, even though we were great friends and we worked together for 15 years. I will treasure those moments, and how we played Bananagrams between scenes. She was so good at it, and so sweet.

Brendan Coyle and Joanne Froggatt

Where do we find Mr and Mrs Bates this time?

BRENDAN COYLE You find us in a very happy, joyous, expectant time of our lives. That seems like a big hint — Joanne, from your costume you appear to be expecting a happy event?

JOANNE FROGGATT This is all me! I’m actually pregnant, expecting my second child. Julian Fellowes kindly wrote it into our storyline because at this stage I’m quite obvious, so it made more sense. And it was a nice ending for Anna and Bates to have that happening in their future. The Bateses get their happy ending, which is what everyone is championing.

As with all the characters in Downton, you’ve experienced your share of highs and lows…

BC When they first met, Anna and Mr Bates had a beautifully drawn-out romance, which I think viewers responded to. Initially, it was secret and surreptitious, including one scene where Bates came to the forbidden ladies’ quarters with a cup of tea! Now, the story feels beautifully rounded, with the pair going off as a fully formed family to work together.

Is this film a fitting farewell for Downton Abbey?

JF It was lovely to come back and do one more movie. Gareth Neame [the producer] always had the idea of a trilogy of movies, he was after the Downton legacy. We’ve all moved on since the show ended, but if it hadn’t been such a great experience, we wouldn’t have kept coming back. We’ve had so many goodbyes – it was the end of the series, then the end of the first film, then the second film, but this really is the final goodbye. Everything has to come to an end at some point.

Did you have any idea back in 2010 that the series would become such a hit, a franchise with fans all over the world?

BC When we started out, there was no sign of this trajectory. When I got the scripts for the first two or three episodes, it looked like bums-on-seats stuff. I saw that Maggie Smith had signed up, so I thought, “This’ll do good business.” I signed up for two series originally, and I thought it would do those easily. But even when it became the hit it did, there was no sense of it stretching to six series, and then Christmas specials… it all kind of snowballed. I’d be off doing a play or something and get another call; then came three films. Each manifestation came as a surprise.

Talking of Maggie Smith, who gets the best lines in the absence of the cutting Countess?

JF All of Julian’s best lines were said by Maggie, and he wrote for her. She’s irreplaceable, but there are still some good lines, for sure.

In those 15 years, the two of you have shared almost all your scenes together. Do you fit together now like a pair of slippers?

BC I love nothing more than working alongside Jo. I think we’re cracking acting partners, and it’s always engaging and fun. From the get-go, we both understood how these characters worked together. I’ve loved them.

If you hadn’t played Mr and Mrs Bates, which characters would you have liked to be?

JF There isn’t another character I’d prefer to play.

BC If asked, I’d say the Dowager Countess!

Harry Hadden-Paton and Laura Carmichael

How do we find your characters in this film?

HARRY HADDEN-PATON With Edith and Bertie, you don’t see the trials and tribulations, the holes in their roof, the plumbing that needs fixing in their stable cottages. We’re in a place of happiness; I’m not sad about that. I think audiences really respond to the hope that there are mature relationships that can be happy.

LAURA CARMICHAEL Edith is feeling her power. We see her enjoying the authority and awareness of someone who has the editorship of a magazine. In this film, you get to see just how comfortable she is, plus how things have turned out with her sister Mary [Michelle Dockery] in terms of who’s helping who out.

Edith’s relationship with Mary has developed — was that mirrored in real life?

LC Michelle and I are so close off screen, we’re able to tap into that natural sisterly chemistry. We’ve both got two sisters in real life, so we understood that bond very well – although neither of us has feudy relationships like that in real life, fortunately. But we both understood the closeness and in-jokes, being able to squabble, then be close again the next day.

Talking of family ties, Harry, your sisters are on set here today as extras. How have you managed to sneak them in?

HH-P Well, we’re in week ten of filming, I finish my scenes on Saturday, so this is my last big set piece, and there’s a bit of a precedent for this. On big occasions, producers are very allowing about having friends and family joining in. For example, when I got married to Lady Edith in the show, I had my real best man as my best man on screen. Then, in series six, we had a big get-back-together scene at the Ritz, which we filmed in the middle of the night, and the entire Ritz dining room was comprised of crew in full make-up and costume pretending to be other diners. The producer was the maître d’! So the lines have sometimes been a bit blurred between real and fictional with these surreal celebrations.

Laura, Lady Edith’s storyline has been a rollercoaster. Dare we mention when she was jilted at the altar, back in series three?

LC The jilting was really brutal, but after that, Julian Fellowes had a surge of interest in what you could do with someone who no longer just wanted to get married, so it got a lot more fun. Edith had affairs and all the rest, and then she joined the newspaper. At that point, I felt like I was on an away day, apart from the rest of the cast. It felt like I had my own spin-off within the series.

Could there be a spin-off show for Edith and Bertie?

LC Harry and I have joked about it, but I don’t think so. Downton Abbey is about a family group, I don’t think you could pick any of them off and follow them, it would be too hard.

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