out among the would-be Daisies. ‘We’d seen a lot of people and they were fine but they just weren’t right,’ he says. ‘She was fantastic straightaway. And Jo [Froggatt] too. She has all the right qualities for Anna, very sympathetic, but at the same time very beautiful, with an honest and trust-worthy feel about the way that she plays the character.’
Since Downton is a far from static world, bringing the scripts to life demands a near-constant process of casting as major and minor characters arrive and depart. Unlike American series, which tend to lock in their cast for five or seven years, Downton works, as is standard in the UK, on contracts that ‘option’ (lay claim to) an actor for up to three years. The show has no option on Maggie Smith, notes Fellowes, it being ‘entirely up to her whether she wants to continue or not.’ For some of the cast the end of series three was the time when they decided to move on – with an explosive impact on the plot in one case. ‘As much as we didn’t want to lose Dan Stevens [Matthew], ironically his leaving ended up being the best thing that could happen to us in terms of new storylines,’ says Neame. ‘The scripts are all the stronger for Mary being back at square one again.’
As for finding new cast members, Fellowes and the show’s producers have the final say; the producers attend the auditions but film each one so that Fellowes can watch them on DVD later. The director of the relevant episodes also has some input, alongside the casting director. Cara Theobold, playing kitchen maid Ivy, is one of the cast who has most recently been through this process, via three auditions during her final year at drama school. ‘It was my first professional job,’ she says. ‘The perfect part happened to be the one that I auditioned for first.’ That didn’t mean she avoided a nail-biting wait, however. ‘I had to go home at Christmas and sit and watch the special on TV. I knew I had a recall, but nothing more. I had no expectations, I just thought it was a good experience. And here I am.’
‘My thought was that if we can keep the audience till the end of the first act, then we’ve got them... I had to shoot it in a way that would not let the audience stop for breath or, worse, reach for the remote!’
Brian Percival DIRECTOR
The new arrivals are not only those in front of the camera; each series boasts multiple directors, as the demands of its timetable mean that at any point one director will be in pre-production, another in the midst of filming and the third hard at work in the edit suite. Each one may return for future episodes – their own filming schedules allowing – but the producers like the variety, as it adds to the feeling of freshness and energy on set. The first to shoot was Brian Percival, who won an Emmy for his work as lead director on series one and returned to direct on the second and third series.
Of course, as cast and crew gathered together on set, no one knew how the show would be received. The first scene shot was a courtyard chat between Siobhan Finneran and Rob James-Collier, playing scheming servants O’Brien and Thomas – chilly in every way. ‘It was minus six on a February morning,’ Percival says with a laugh. ‘We thought, “Oh well, this is the start of a journey!” It was nothing spectacular or grand; you tend to start with small scenes to get everyone settled in. There’s always a nervous energy about first days.’
Throughout the process, he knew it was crucial to pique the viewers’ interest. ‘I thought if we can keep the audience till the end of the first act – which is about ten minutes in – then we’ve got them,’ he says. ‘So we tried to create a rollercoaster feel and introduced pretty much the whole cast, with the exception of Violet. I had to shoot the episode in a way that would not let the audience stop for breath or, worse, reach for the remote! I hoped they’d be hooked and we’d go from there.’
Now, the show runs like clockwork, and the process of translating scripts into action follows a precise structure. Each series is split into five ‘blocks’ – the first representing episodes one and two; the second, episodes three and four, and so on, with the fifth devoted to the longer Christmas special. Each of these blocks are overseen by individual directors and each takes about five weeks to shoot. Before filming begins, however, David Evans, as lead director for series four, oversees the rehearsals for each block.
Top-Left: Director David Evans (kneeling) plans a shot with director of photography Nigel Willoughby (standing directly on his right). Top-Right: First assistant director Chris Croucher (left) discusses a scene in rehearsal with director Andy Goddard. Bottom-Right: Director Jeremy Webb explains his vision for a scene during Bates’s incarceration in prison. Bottom-Left: Director David Evans consults his shot list under the light of a prop lantern.
Once shooting begins, it is full-on. ‘It’s a bit like steering an ocean liner,’ he says. ‘You need to think clearly, because the decisions you make at nine o’clock are still being felt at 3 p.m. So, you might say, “Is it really five camera set-ups?” and you might not be able to shoot the scene that way.’
For a typical scene that is shot, for example, in the library at Highclere, vans packed with light fittings and other equipment are parked by the imposing front doors, but positioned so that they are not visible through the castle’s windows.
A couple of minutes’ walk from the house, a flurry of activity is underway at the ‘base’ of trailers parked bumper-to-bumper, housing make-up, wardrobe, dressing rooms and the production office. The cast often jump into a car standing by to drive them the short distance to the set, to spare their costumes and hairstyles from a brisk wind or splash of country mud.
Shooting a scene begins with the cast, still clutching their scripts, being herded on set by the first assistant director for a line run – quite literally a run-through of their lines. This offers a chance for the actors and director to establish how the scene should work.
‘They are always looking to find some little detail they haven’t been able to do before,’ says Evans. ‘Actors generally don’t come onto the set with the lines off pat and they are not too set in their ways as to how they will do the scene.’ The aim is for there to be a sense of creativity, after all. ‘I try and learn my lines quite far in advance,’ notes Lily James (Rose). ‘But some people learn them on the morning in the make-up trailer because they want the scene to be fresh.’
However, the show’s script supervisor is always ready to prompt the actors when they are rehearsing on set – in addition to making sure that the script flows without any continuity issues between scenes, and writing daily notes to keep the show’s editor informed of decisions that are made while filming.
The actors build on the director’s notes to develop their performances. Ed Speleers, for instance, explains how Evans helped him tap into something that is crucial to his character, Jimmy – ‘simply, that the footman is bored. He’s always thinking about what’s going on outside the house. That’s why he’s so interested in the girls. At the end of the day, he’s just a young bloke who wants to have some fun. Before you know it, you’re there.’
The scene is then blocked out, which means establishing the actors’ various positions on the set, followed by a ‘crew show’ for members of the costume, make-up and art department who are on hand to check everything looks right from their perspective. ‘Everybody troops into the room and stands round the edges as they talk out the entire thing, almost like it’s a little play for the various departments,’ says Evans.
The actors then disappear, to be made completely ready for camera in terms of make-up and costumes, while the focus shifts to the director of photography, Nigel Willoughby, overseer of the show’s cinematography. ‘I’m in charge of the look and the camerawork essentially – so, the lighting, and how we stage scenes,’ he explains. Together with the director,
