Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey, talks to Joanna Moorhead about destiny, decency and his Catholic background

The creator of Downton Abbey talks about destiny, decency and his Catholic background

It’s called Downton Abbey: A New Era. But the first thing to know is that Julian Fellowes’ new movie, which opened in cinemas this week, is very much the old gang: Hugh Bonneville and Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter and Elizabeth McGovern – and, of course the indefatigable Maggie Smith. In fact, Fellowes reveals when I talk to him on Zoom from his home in Dorset, the cast was super-keen to gather one more time, to dust down their magic formula and give it another airing. “There’s a real reunion feeling as we begin the new movie: there we all are again, back at Highclere in the Great Hall, everyone in costume,” says its creator. “It was all very exciting.”

I say “one more time” but this may not, of course, be the end of Downton, which began as a TV series in 2010, and was previously revived in a 2019 movie. It could, though, be the end: many loose ends are tied up in the new film, and there’s a strong sense of time catching up with some of the characters, and with elements of the plot. The subtext “we’ve had a good innings” is shot through, as ­ubiquitous as Lady Mary’s pulling of the servants’ bell. Not that the staff move quite as quickly these days; they seem to be as much in thrall to the calls for “action” from the movie director who’s moved in, as to requests for tea or drinks from the Crawleys.

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