To fuel expectations for “Downton Abbey’s” season 5, which premieres Jan. 4 in the U.S., PBS brought cast members and executive producer Gareth Neame to the TCA press tour for polite chat and harmless teasers.
Beyond the cupcakes festooned with British flags, the reception for four stars of PBS’ “Downton Abbey” was a most news-free zone. Laura Carmichael who plays Lady Edith, Allen Leech who plays Tom Branson, Michelle Dockery who appears as Lady Mary, and Joanne Froggatt as Anna Bates took great pains to avoid anything remotely spoiler-y.
The action begins six months after the Christmas special. Expect Lady Anstruther, played by Anna Chancellor, to show up. “She’s a troublemaker,” Dockery said. “She comes to the house and, yeah, she creates havoc.
The panel’s standout was Leech, and his wry sense of humor. Given ridiculous questions about comparing himself to his character, the chauffeur risen to upstairs status, he deadpanned, “I can drive.”
QUESTION: Not who is staying, who is going, but if that has been that was figured out before the plotting of Season 5.
Neame allowed that contracts have been firmed up before the writing began, so there won’t be a sudden “kill off Matthew” sort of turn. “It did occur to us to find out if we would keep our actors before we” plotted the season.
To which Leech quipped, “You’re expecting the “Downton Abbey” Red Wedding, aren’t you?”
Afterwards, in small groups of critics, Dockery talked about using a less clipped accent than the stereotypical Queen’s English in order to make it easier for the audience to understand. Carmichael spoke about how her life has changed with celebrity, how lucky she is to be a working actor and how “surreal” the experience has been. Froggatt reiterated how hard she worked to create an honest performance regarding Anna’s rape.
