STACK NZ Magazine December Issue 58

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FEATURE DVD&BD
24 DECEMBER 2014 JB Hi-Fi
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actress, meanwhile, is
delighted that Mary has
regained her acerbic
wit, which she uses to
spiteful effect on her
downtrodden sister
Edith.
Poor Edith (Laura
Carmichael) is in a
world of private pain.
After the love of her life,
Charles, disappeared
in Germany and she
found out she was
pregnant, she had little
choice but to have the
baby abroad in secret.
However, she was
unable to part with her
daughter who is now
being brought up by
a local tenant
farmer and
his wife. Edith,
though, is in
despair at having
her child nearby
and not being able
to raise her.
“Even with the
money and the
power and the title,
there’s no escaping
the pain of having to
give up your chlld,”
says Carmichael.
“You can’t buy your
way out of this
situation.”
Not that life is any easier for those
downstairs. Last series’ shocking rape
of lady’s maid Anna (Joanna Froggatt)
by visiting valet Green comes back
to haunt her and her husband Bates
(Brendan Coyle) when the police start
looking into Green’s death. Did Bates
push Green under the wheels of a
London bus to avenge his wife’s rape?
One person who knows is Coyle.
“All I get in the street is, ‘Did he do it?’
And, yes, I do know whether he
did it!” says Coyle chuckling.
The actor knows the secret
is safe with him, which is
just how we like it.
T he magic of
Downton Abbey
is that each series
leaves us wanting more
so, hurrah and three
cheers, the latest series
arrives on DVD and
Blu-ray this month.
And it is worth the
wait.The new series
sticks to the show’s
winning formula of
dramatic goings-on
above and below stairs,
against a meticulous
period backdrop, with a
sprinkling of guest stars,
and Dame Maggie Smith
delivering withering
put-downs.
But not everything
is the same. It is
now 1924 and the
winds of change
are blowing through
Britain. Heavens above,
there is even a Labour
government, which does
not go down well with
Downton’s owner, Robert,
the Earl of Grantham
(Hugh Bonneville).
Robert faces his worst
nightmare in the shape
of fiercely socialist local
schoolteacher Sarah Bunting
who is drawn to Robert’s widowed son-
in-lawTom Branson.
She is opposed to everything Robert
stands for and is not afraid to say so,
which makes dinners at Downton
rather fiery affairs!
“It has been fun to play Robert’s
outright loathing of this annoying
woman,” says Bonneville. “It’s partly
that she’s left wing, but mainly she’s
just bloody rude.”
Whatever Robert thinks of the
firebrand teacher, she re-awakens
old feelings in socialistTom. As she
challenges why he continues to live
with a family of aristocrats, he begins
to question where his future lies.
He is not the only one with decisions
to make. Widowed Lady Mary (Michelle
Dockery), has turned a corner in her grief,
and is ready to love again.
But who will she choose – the eminently
suitable Lord Gillingham or government
worker Charles Blake?
“It’s not a decision she wants to make
quickly,” explains Dockery. “Whichever
man she chooses will have to take on
the responsibility of Downton and she
also has her son George to consider.”The
visit
The cast of DOWNTON ABBEY give Judy Ewens the lowdown on what happens
when the stately home opens its doors for a fifth series.
The new series sticks to
the show’s winning formula
of dramatic goings-on above
and below stairs
Downton
Abbey
is out
Dec 10