Once filming started, riders and horses needed to be flexible about timings and were generally alerted when they were needed by trumpet calls across the camp. The shoot involved long days of waiting around, interspersed with short bursts of action – a little like being at war, some of the soldiers joked, but without getting shot at!
The commander of the King’s Troop not only had to lead the unit around the village and then line them up, but he also had to address the King as part of the ceremony. As the real Commanding Officer of the troop, Major Harry Wallace RHA,was obviously not a professional actor, producer Mark Hubbard had to go to the trade union Equity for dispensation to cast him in this small speaking role. As Mark recalls, ‘I explained that I couldn’t get an actor to lead sixty horses and six gun carriages, it really had to be this specific person! Equity understood the situation, thankfully. The Major did a great job, which isn’t surprising really as he does this kind of thing in front of our Queen!’
The parade included six gun teams, each 60-feet in length, with six horses pulling guns and limber (carriages) weighing 1.5 tonnes. Each gun dates back to 1904 and all saw action on the Western Front during the First World War.
The only modifications made to the soldiers’ uniforms were the replacement of the current Queen’s insignia with those of George V and medals from the era. Otherwise the ceremonial uniform was unchanged as it is based on the 1860s Royal Horse Artillery uniform worn in the Crimea Campaign.
MAJOR CHETWODE
Stephen Campbell Moore
At the beginning of the film, a mysterious figure emerges from the steam at King’s Cross and boards the train that’s carrying the letter from Buckingham Palace to Downton Abbey. We see the same man in the village of Downton, as he checks in at the local pub.
When the figure announces himself as ‘Major Chetwode’ and begins to question Branson about whether he supports the King and Queen, we suspect he is some sort of agent of the Crown. Branson assumes Chetwode knows his history and has come to check on whether he’s intending to sabotage the royal visit, for the sake of his homeland, Ireland.
It emerges, however, that it is Chetwode who is fighting for the republican cause. In his room we see him pull a revolver from his suitcase; he plans to assassinate the King. Fortunately as the Major raises the revolver at the parade, Branson, who has followed him through the crowd, manages to push him to the ground, and Mary, who is close behind, kicks the gun out of his hand, before two plain-clothed policemen pin him down to arrest him.
When Julian Fellowes was writing the script, Gareth Neame suggested that the character of Chetwode be influenced by members of the British establishment of the era who became sympathetic to the Irish cause. One such individual was Erskine Childers, author of what is often regarded as the first spy novel, The Riddle of the Sands. A former House of Commons employee, Childers devoted his later life to the support of Irish Home Rule, eventually being executed for treason in Dublin in 1922.
Mary: ‘It’s so strange. He seemed so English.’
Branson: ‘And so he was. A pillar of the establishment, until the notion of Irish independence took him over to the other side.’
Stephen Campbell Moore, who plays Chetwode, jokes that, while wrestling with Allen Leech on the ground might not get him any fan mail, he did have fun playing a character that viewers hadn’t met before: ‘You can’t quite put your finger on what he’s up to and why he’s so interested in Branson. He literally pops in and pops out and there’s an element of mystery to him.’
When he read the script, Stephen was also struck by the film’s unconventional storyline: ‘For me it’s unusual as a film and brings together lots of different characters. I think it’s a pleasure to see such an expansive film unfold through the eyes of these characters, instead of through one hero, and one point of view.’
Despite being a new character on the Downton set, Stephen was immediately welcomed by his fellow actors. He also felt that director Michael Engler contributed to the friendly environment on set: ‘A director has to create an atmosphere where people can work at their best, and Michael does that. For me he’s great because he doesn’t give long, convoluted notes, he says things quite simply and you have total trust in him. He’s got a really good sense of where the story is going, and when a director imbues you with confidence and knows their subject matter, then it’s always a good experience.’
Free Ireland
The Black and Tans started fires in retaliation for IRA attacks in Cork on the night of 11 December 1920.
The struggle for the control of Ireland was still a bitter issue in 1927, so much so that the seemingly establishment figure of Major Chetwode is motivated to take up the republican cause, risking all to assassinate the King. British involvement in Ireland had for many years caused deep resentment and Irish republicans were vehemently opposed to an Anglo–Irish treaty that in 1921 had led to the partition of Ireland into Northern Ireland and the independent Irish Free State (the former Southern Ireland).
Violent clashes between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and British paramilitary forces (the ‘Black and Tans’) had led to the agreement, and George V himself (under the protection of some 10,000 troops) opened the Ulster parliament in June 1921, where in a moving speech he urged all Irishmen ‘to forgive and forget’. It was not to be – instead the treaty served to divide nationalists into those who favoured it and those who were opposed to the dominion status of the Irish Free State, which was still part of the British Empire with the British monarch its head of state.
Searching a suspected Sinn Fein member.
Many saw the treaty as a betrayal of the Irish Republic which had been proclaimed in 1916 during the Easter Rising, and vowed to sever remaining ties with Britain. Tom Branson admitted that when he and Sybil moved back to Dublin in 1919 he had attended rallies by the IRA and had been part of the movement involved in the arson of Anglo–Irish homes in Ireland. The sight of families losing their houses, however, proved too much for Tom, and he and Sybil, who was then pregnant, moved back to England and Downton Abbey.
In Ireland, civil war ensued between June 1922 and May 1923, ending in victory for those who favoured the treaty. But the conflict left Irish society divided for generations, and King George provided an obvious target for those who, like Chetwode, shared the view that Ireland could not be free with ‘the bloody Crown around its neck’.
AT HOME IN SHEPPERTON
Much of the action in the movie – the frenzied preparations for the royal visit and the showdown between the Downton staff and royal servants – takes place below stairs. Filming for many of these scenes was done at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, where a large set was built to represent the downstairs area of Downton, along with other key interiors seen in the film.
As in many other stately homes, most of the below-stairs rooms no longer exist in their original form at Highclere, and if they do, they are often difficult to light for filming. For that reason, the art directors have always built sets for the servants’ area of Downton Abbey, designing rooms that are historically accurate and appear authentic on screen, but can also accommodate a large cast, crew and their equipment.
The result is an interlocking structure of rooms, complete with stairs that appear to lead to up to the family rooms and corridors that are wide enough to allow the staff to rush past each other while cameras and crew film them. ‘The set is designed for flow and movement as below stairs is always busy and hectic,’ explains production designer Donal Woods. All the rooms have open ceilings to allow for lights and cameras, although there is a solidity to the structure, with stone flags on the floors, and it retains the intimacy of a working country house.
For the movie, the set-build at Shepperton was bigger than the one created at Ealing Studios for the television series. The original servant areas were recreated in meticulous detail and extra rooms were added. All of Downton Abbey’s bedrooms were rebuilt and filmed at Shepperton, along with the interior of Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes
’ cottage and the village post office. Extra rooms were also added to the servants’ quarters, including a new wine cellar, a silver room, servery and more servant bedrooms.
The kitchen was built to look exactly the same, although special touches were added here and there by Gina Cromwell’s set decoration team so that even more pots and pans gleam in the light. The dimensions of the kitchen were also a little different, as Lesley Nicol, who plays Mrs Patmore, noticed: ‘I know that kitchen so well I did spot that, but otherwise coming back on set was like coming back home.’
For new members of the cast, like Susan Lynch, who plays the Queen’s dresser Miss Lawton, walking on to the set at Shepperton was an almost magical feeling: ‘The moment I walked into the kitchen, just seeing the way it had been lit, I could really see the work that had been put in. It looked like a picture.’
Mrs Hughes: ‘You’re not in charge any more. Now, come in for your lunch and let me get back.’
MR CARSON and MRS HUGHES
Jim Carter
Phyllis Logan
By 1927, Downton Abbey’s long-serving butler Carson has retired, and we see him tending to his vegetable garden at the cottage he now shares with his new wife, Downton Abbey’s housekeeper Elsie Hughes. For actor Jim Carter, the film was also an opportunity for him to go in for the occasional day’s filming with his real wife Imelda Staunton, although as they didn’t share many scenes this didn’t happen often.
Carson’s loyalty to the Crawley family still runs deep and it takes very little to encourage him to return to Downton – particularly as it’s at the personal request of Mary, who has doubts that his successor, Mr Barrow, can cope with a royal visit. As Mrs Hughes reminds us, Carson has never been able to refuse her.
While Carson is itching to don his butler’s livery again, the knowledge that the King and Queen are to visit Downton Abbey is also a huge draw. He knows what an honour it is for the family to receive the royal couple and he shares Mary’s doubts about Mr Barrow too. Jim Carter explains: ‘Carson is a fervent royalist and supporter of the status quo. In an earlier TV season, he nearly burst with pride when a high-born duke pays a visit. To be in the same room as the King would simply be the greatest moment of his life.’
Almost as if his destiny is calling him, Carson heroically takes charge of his former domain at Downton. ‘I felt I should go where I could do the most good,’ he responds to the Dowager when she asks him about his return. After a gap of three years, Jim was equally pleased to be back on the Downton Abbey set – both Shepperton studios for scenes below stairs and the ‘very nice’ office of Highclere Castle, as he calls it, for scenes with the Crawley family.
‘I don’t think having Carson at home retired is much of a challenge for Mrs Hughes. She can leave him in the morning, be with her old muckers, Mrs Patmore, Anna and Daisy, and then return to him in the evening. I think it’s the best of both worlds for her.’
Phyllis Logan
His return means working once more alongside Mrs Hughes (who even though she married him is never known as Mrs Carson). Decent to the core, she maintains a kind and steadying hand at the house – the ‘intelligent, moral leader of below stairs’ as writer Julian Fellowes puts it. While she is loyal to her employers she isn’t quite as enthralled by them as Mr Carson, and as such provides the perfect foil to her husband’s more conservative tendencies. Like Phyllis Logan who plays her, Mrs Hughes has a Scottish background and is not afraid to speak her mind when the need arises.
Mrs Hughes’ sense of fairness is seriously tested when the royal servants begin to take over Downton Abbey. Having overseen the exhaustive cleaning of the house – ‘I want every surface in this house to gleam and sparkle’ – she, like all the Downton staff, is pushed aside when the royal household arrive. At first she tries to take a measured approach to the invasion, but their behaviour proves too much to bear, particularly after a showdown with the royal housekeeper, Mrs Webb. As Phyllis explains: ‘While we’re daunted by the prospect of a royal visit, we’re also miffed to discover they’ve brought their entire entourage with them and we’re obviously surplus to requirements.’
Mrs Hughes: ‘Mr Carson, this is your destiny. You know as much, and so do I. Now accept it proudly and walk into that room with your head held high.’
Playing an active part in the below stairs’ insurrection, Mrs Hughes proves to be more than a match for her nemesis Mrs Webb. Throughout it all, our sympathies are, of course, firmly on the side of the redoubtable Mrs Hughes.
Mr Wilson: ‘Mr Carson, you are a retired servant in a minor, provincial house, serving an undistinguished family.’
‘On set, Jim is like the father of the downstairs team. Just like [my character] Andy, I felt that if he was there, everything was fine, we could just follow his lead.’
Michael Fox
We also see Mr Carson butting heads with the self-important Mr Wilson, the King’s Page of the Backstairs. Unnerved to no longer be calling the shots, Carson is reluctantly swept up in the servants’ plot to regain a hold on their domain. He plays his part in the uprising admirably and ultimately, of course, the Downton staff survive the royal visit.
It is left to Mrs Hughes and Carson to utter the final lines of the film as they take their leave of the great house, a moment certainly captured in Jim’s memory: ‘We came out just as it was getting dark. There was a beautiful sky behind Highclere Castle and as the cameras pulled away, there it is standing resplendent in its own cinematic timewarp.’ It was clearly a good day at the office.
Violet: ‘How comforting to see you here, Carson. What prompted you to take up the flaming sword again?’
Downton Abbey descends into a frenzy of cleaning in preparation for the royal visit. Mrs Hughes must oversee the whole process and the family is reliant on the downstairs staff to put on a good show. Mrs Hughes already has exacting standards but everything must literally gleam and sparkle for the King and Queen, and her preparations are thorough and meticulous. Curtains are taken down, rugs are taken up, maids make beds, scrub and polish, while gardeners clip the hedges and mow the lawns.
Before the King and Queen arrive, everything must be checked and checked again. When King George V came to stay in 1912 at Wentworth Woodhouse (the filming location for the ballroom scene), the housekeeper had to prepare everything for the imminent arrival. The thirty-six guest bedrooms needed to be thoroughly cleaned, beds made, wardrobes and drawers dusted and freshly lined, stationery supplies and full inkstands placed in each room. All around the house there were vases of flowers and bowls of potpourri to release pleasant aromas into the air. A further forty bedrooms were also prepared for the guests’ valets, ladies’ maids and chauffeurs.
As Mrs Hughes tells the staff: ‘We’ve only a few days left so I spoke to Her Ladyship and she’s agreed our normal rules should be suspended. We won’t clean a room if a family member is using it, but otherwise all restrictions are lifted. No detail should be left undone, however small.’
MR BARROW
Robert James-Collier
Thomas Barrow has finally made it as butler of Downton Abbey, but he is one of the first to suffer from the turmoil of the royal visit. Mary, who is clearly in a bit of a spin herself, begins to doubt whether Mr Barrow can manage the preparations, particularly when she finds him in a trance over the cleaning of the house silver. Much to Thomas’s surprise, Mary calls in Mr Carson to replace him. Robert James-Collier, who plays Mr Barrow, explains: ‘Out of nowhere Mary usurps him and pulls the rug from under his feet. And they wheel Carson back out of nowhere, with his creaky joints, and he becomes butler.’
Thomas is predictably furious at this turn of events, openly so to Lord Grantham as he surrenders his position for the duration of the visit. While Mary queries whether Mr Barrow is to be sacked, Robert is more interested to see that Thomas is a man of principle, having in the past questioned his integrity. Once ruthlessly ambitious and at times unkind, Barrow has had a difficult journey in life, coping with a sexuality that ha
s alienated him from others and brought him to the very brink of despair. This in turn exposed his vulnerabilities and he vowed to reform his behaviour.
Thomas’s hopes of friendship are raised when he meets the affable valet of the King, Richard Ellis, one of the advance party of servants who arrive at Downton. There is clearly a spark of connection between the two and it’s apparent Thomas yearns to meet a kindred spirit, as Robert James-Collier says: ‘For once, Barrow can have a proper chat with someone and get to be himself without hiding who he really is.’
‘I think people find the show a form of escapism. It represents a stable sort of life and you have these grand houses and balls, and fantastic costumes.’
Robert James-Collier
Relieved of his duties at Downton Abbey, Thomas is free to take up Mr Ellis’s offer of a night out. He heads to York and while waiting for Mr Ellis at a pub he catches the eye of a man who takes him to an underground nightclub. There, Thomas is stunned to see men openly dancing together but soon joins in. When the club is raided by the police and Thomas is among the men arrested, it is Richard Ellis who comes to his rescue, trading on his royal connections.
Downton Abbey Page 8