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Showing posts with label Downton-Abbey. Show all posts

Celebrities and scientists, including actress Joanna Lumley and leading primatologist Jane Goodall, have joined a campaign to save 24 monke...

Celebrities and scientists, including actress Joanna Lumley and leading primatologist Jane Goodall, have joined a campaign to save 24 monkeys facing “cruel and futile” experiments in Sweden.

They have signed a 40,000-name petition calling on the Karolinska Institute to halt the research and release the animals from the Astrid Fagraeus laboratory.


Other petitioners include comedian Alexei Sayle, Downton Abbey actor Peter Egan, American pop star Moby, and evolutionary biologist Professor Marc Bekoff, from the University of Colorado.

The 24 rhesus macaques were supplied by a primate breeder in the US for a malaria study.

Claire Palmer, director of the international anti-vivisection group Animal Justice Project, which organised the petition, said: “Whilst we are against all animal experiments, primate experiments are particularly unpopular, as is clear by our celebrity and public support on this campaign.

Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes has said he would “certainly” write a movie version of the popular drama. Speaking in an intervie...

Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes has said he would “certainly” write a movie version of the popular drama.

Speaking in an interview with ITV’s News At Ten, the 66-year-old said he would be happy to see his multi award-winner on the big screen.

“I’d like a Downton film. I mean, I won’t be mysterious. If they decide to do it, I’ll certainly do it. I think it would be great,” he said.


The final episode of Downton Abbey was the most watched TV show on Christmas Day in 2015.


Since its conclusion, there have been numerous reports about the possibility of a feature film.

Hugh Bonneville, who starred as Lord Grantham, recently recalled being “absolutely terrified” while doing his first scene with Dame Maggie Smith on Downton Abbey.

The actor, 52, said he is already beginning to feel “nostalgic” following the end of the hit drama which was first broadcast in 2010. He said working alongside Dame Maggie, who played the Dowager Countess, made him raise his game.

Downton Abbey‘s penultimate episode was one full of drama, from Edith and Mary’s blowup six seasons in the making to Barrow’s attempted s...

Downton Abbey‘s penultimate episode was one full of drama, from Edith and Mary’s blowup six seasons in the making to Barrow’s attempted suicide, but fans should expect to shed a different kind of tear when the series finale airs Sunday on Masterpiece on PBS. “I think there’s always been lots of twist and turns in Downton, and lots of people have very tragic news and sad news — that their estranged from their children, or illness, or death. And yet, the overall direction of travel of the show is a positive one,” executive producer Gareth Neame tells Yahoo TV. “I think it felt right, even though you got some sad stories, like Carson’s health declining, that overwhelmingly we supply a pretty happy ending.”


Does that mean Poor Edith will get one, even after Mary forced her to tell Bertie that Marigold was hers — an omission that made Bertie call off their engagement because he felt he couldn’t trust Edith? Can viewers forgive Mary?

“We did debate it for a while,” Neame says of Mary’s reveal, “because we thought it was really such an unbelievably bitchy thing for Mary to do. We just thought, ‘Would this be a step too far for the character?’ I thought very strongly no, that Mary’s a robust enough character and we quite like it when she is very, very tough. She’s a snob, and she’s selfish and opinionated. She’s been pretty bad towards her sister. To [reveal that] final massive bombshell, it really makes the characters in the scene just all stop and there’s silence in the room. Every time we watched it — when we were making it and editing it — there was silence in the room. It had the same effect on us as viewers.”

When the Downton Abbey series finale aired in the U.K. last Christmas, some fans found it a bit too cheery. “Some people liked it, some p...

When the Downton Abbey series finale aired in the U.K. last Christmas, some fans found it a bit too cheery. “Some people liked it, some people didn’t like it because they said it was just such a happy ending for everybody,” director Michael Engler says. “My feeling about it was, it’s not that it was a happy ending for everybody, but there’s a sense that everybody has found where or with whom they belong. It’s like the right ending. … You wanted to leave the characters in a place that would be memorable and would be hopefully promising a future that you could imagine for them, that you would want for them.” 


Now that America has seen the last of the Crawleys (for now), Engler and executive produce Gareth Neame spoke separately with Yahoo TV about the scenes that made us tear up (who’d have guessed it’d be the handshakes from Robert that would get us?), the moments that made the cast misty, and the sweet hug from Sybbie that wasn’t scripted.

Let’s start with Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) getting her happy ending with Bertie. As Robert (Hugh Bonneville) hilariously points out in this episode, Edith is someone who “has hardly known a day’s happiness in the last 10 years.“ As wonderful as it’s been to watch her come in to her own, it’s equally gratifying to see Robert appreciate that she’s an interesting woman. What was their pre-wedding conversation like to film?


Michael Engler: When we were rehearsing, the first time Laura came down the stairs in the full dress and veil, Hugh turned and looked up at her and he started crying. He literally just started crying. You could see he has become a kind of father figure to her, or, certainly a big brother. They had developed that kind of relationship over time, and he could just look at her and feel such pride — the same sort of pride and sadness and joy and everything a father would feel in a moment like that, of knowing that he’s not going to see her very often anymore in the same way. All of it was infused by that awareness the cast had of the show coming to an end.

When Downton Abbey premiered in the United States in January 2011, it was just another entry in PBS’ Masterpiece schedule. It had premier...

When Downton Abbey premiered in the United States in January 2011, it was just another entry in PBS’ Masterpiece schedule. It had premiered earlier in Britain, where it got good-not-great reviews (the Brits thought they recognized a frothy spot of bother in the backyard of their own history, thankew veddy much). It arrived in America at a time when Masterpiece Theatre was going through an identity crisis, trying to boost its ratings by splitting into subdivisions such as Masterpiece Mystery and Masterpiece Contemporary — the latter as foolish a re-branding as Coca-Cola’s New Coke. Little did PBS know that it wasn’t re-branding it needed at all; what was necessary for a resurgence was something buried deep in the very roots of the network: a lively soap opera whose mix of upstairs posh and downstairs cook-and-wash would hit the spot for American Anglophiles in a way no other PBS entry had done since Upstairs Downstairs, the ur-Downton from the mid-1970s whose co-creator and co-star, Jean Marsh, once accused Downton of ripping off. 


Downton creator Julian Fellowes was, in 2011, a British writer who had already won an Oscar for another bit of canny Anglo-angel-food-cake for American audiences: his script for Gosford Park, a Robert Altman-directed Agatha Christie-style murder mystery with a cast that included the future Countess Dowager, Maggie Smith. 

During his show’s premiere season, Fellowes told The New York Times that the wisest thing he’d done was “that we treat the characters of the servants and the family exactly the same. Some of them are nice, some of them are not nice, some of them are funny, some of them are not, but there is no division between the servants and the family to mark that.”


Sure, Downton has had its uneven plot-lines, and even uneven seasons, but Julian Fellowes, who wrote all the scripts, maintained a narrative drive that carried us past the dull patches. 

When it premiered, the most esteemed American TV shows on the air were Breaking Bad and Mad Men. Downton Abbey seemed like something completely different, but it wasn’t: Like those American shows, this import offered a picture of a culture in slow, steady decline, colored by often bleak, dark humor yet filled with characters we cared about. It will leave us on Sunday night with many viewers weeping — with sadness and gratitude — into their cups of tea. a

Laura Carmichael and Michael Fox out together in North London on March 5. (Photo: Noble Draper) Lady Edith got the ultimate happy endin...

Laura Carmichael and Michael Fox out together in North London on March 5. (Photo: Noble Draper)

Lady Edith got the ultimate happy ending on Sunday’s series finale of Downton Abbey, but Laura Carmichael comes out even further ahead.


As the finale aired on this side of the pond, there was a rare sighting of the actress, 29, with her real-life boyfriend, Michael Fox, who played Andrew on the show. The casually dressed pair was snapped running errands in North London on Saturday. She carried a few grocery bags and he balanced a bouquet of flowers with his cell phone. (Sunday was Mother’s Day in the U.K., so they could have been visiting family.)

Of course, their relationship would have been a big no-no on the small screen. Carmichael’s Lady Edith, who married up during the finale and had a grand wedding, was out of young Andy’s league as a downstairs servant. However, the newly literate footman didn’t have the unhappiest of endings as he paired off with Daisy.

Downton Abbey closed out its run on Sunday night with a finale that tied up every loose end with a smiley-face sticker: Clearly creator Jul...

Downton Abbey closed out its run on Sunday night with a finale that tied up every loose end with a smiley-face sticker: Clearly creator Julian Fellowes had decided there would be no surprise deaths or lingering unhappiness settling over this series like a funereal fog. Instead, to quote the Anglican hymn Lord Grantham probably doesn’t know because he’s not a regular church-goer, all things bright and beautiful suffused Downton with a rainbow of contentment. 


My biggest worry had been about Mr. Carson’s wine-pouring hand, and while even Fellowes knows that only God can stop the palsy, he is a god-like dramatist who engineered the return of the now-thoroughly-redeemed Barrow so that they can go into their lackluster futures helping each other in co-butlering. 

Lady Edith was reunited with the P.G. Wodehousian Bertie, and made amends with her sister, telling Mary what the ice queen already knew: “You make me miserable for years and then you give me my life back.” Me, I liked it better when Edith simply called Mary a bitch. 

That said, I should emphasize that I am eternally pro-Mary. Glad to see she’ll be as happy as Mary can be with her used-car salesman — you know, the Guy Who Should Have Stayed On The Good Wife. 


(Speaking of things American, thank goodness Shirley MacLaine didn’t make a return cameo — Fellowes must have wisely concluded that her character was, along with Paul Giamatti as Lady Grantham’s brother, the low point of broad humor in this series.)

The baby boy born to Anna and Bates ought to finally put a smile on Anna’s sad face, but given her neurotic inability to be happy, I’m sure she’ll soon be turning a stricken gaze upon Bates, and confess she’s sick with worry that the infant is having trouble feeding at her unworthy breast.

After six years of white-tie dinners, hospital dramas, murder trials, suitors courting Lady Mary, suitors leaving Lady Edith, Carson’s ho...

After six years of white-tie dinners, hospital dramas, murder trials, suitors courting Lady Mary, suitors leaving Lady Edith, Carson’s horror at nicknames, and a dead Turk, we’ve come to the end of Downton Abbey, the TV show.

Downton Abbey, the fictional place? As Lord Grantham says, “We never know what’s coming, of course. But I’d say we have a good chance.” (No, they don’t, not with the Wall Street crash and World War II coming, and even further modernization that would have the Dowager Countess rolling in her grave. But let’s not spoil it for them.)


The series finale wrapped up nearly every dangling thread. No longer can we say “Poor Edith,” because Bertie came back to marry her and make her a marchioness (take that, Mary). Thomas went from a repentant villain who tried to commit suicide to the next butler. And love seems to be on the horizon for everyone from Daisy and Andy, to Mrs. Patmore and Mr. Mason, to maybe even Tom and Edith’s editor.


Maybe we are sentimentalists like Henry Talbot, but it’s fine that Downton Abbey gave every character a happy ending, like Oprah gives away cars. For a series that began with the sinking of the Titanic, how can we begrudge everyone their two-by-two life boats?

She may have been given her own show on Apple’s Beats 1 Radio. But Charli XCX’s airwaves hero is far from cutting edge. The 23-year-o...

She may have been given her own show on Apple’s Beats 1 Radio.

But Charli XCX’s airwaves hero is far from cutting edge.

The 23-year-old Cambridge-born singer told Beats 1 colleague Julie Adengua on her show she has a soft spot for Alan Partridge.

Charli, above, said: “I’m just kinda having fun and probably being really embarrassing on the radio.

“I start like doing all these Alan Partridge hand movements whilst I’m talking. I’m trying to hone a style.

“I kind of have a crush on Alan Partridge. Everyone has a secret crush on Alan Partridge.”

As Partridge creator, divorced dad-of-one Steve Coogan, 50, is dating Downton Abbey actress Daisy Lewis, 30, so Charli is probably out of luck.

The singer also announced on Julie’s show she wants to become a music mogul by launching her own label, Vroom Vroom – named after her new EP.

Since the first episode of Downton Abbey, Ladies Mary and Edith have been on a never-ending see-saw. When one’s up, the other’s down. (Wh...

Since the first episode of Downton Abbey, Ladies Mary and Edith have been on a never-ending see-saw. When one’s up, the other’s down. (When Sybil was alive, she was off doing her own thing on the jungle gym.)

Last week, Mary put the brakes on her romance with Henry Talbot, while Edith got a marriage proposal from Bertie Pelham. But the see-saw has swung back to Mary’s favor, after she blows up Edith’s relationship with that secret festering in her icy heart. Then, to add insult to injury, Mary resolves things with Henry and they get hitched in a quickie wedding, while Edith gets dumped by Bertie.

Poor, poor Lady Edith. There’s one more episode left, the Christmas special (airing March 6) — will this Cinderella get her happy ending then? And will her wicked sister make up for what she did?

Here’s what went down this week at the Abbey:

Mary and Henry

Mary is moping about her breakup, and Tom pushes her to call Henry. “He’s the one for you, trust me, and give him a chance,” he says, but she shrugs him off. People “like us” (meaning herself and her titled family, not Tom and certainly not Henry) have to be careful about who they marry, especially if they’re inheriting a fortune.

Henry happens to drop by the Abbey after doing some “car things” in Durham (which, as Lord Grantham points out, probably are non-existent). His visit is highly annoying to Mary, and things just get worse when Henry asks her if money is the only reason she’s fighting their relationship. Now, she’s even angrier that he’s calling her a snob, and storms off.

Yikes, just days after it was revealed that Katie Price and Peter Andre are finally on good terms following their bitter divorce, Katie has...

Yikes, just days after it was revealed that Katie Price and Peter Andre are finally on good terms following their bitter divorce, Katie has admitted that she can barely remember her humongous wedding to him.

We can, Kate, and it was big, pink, and spectacular.

The couple tied the knot in September 2005 after meeting in the I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here jungle, and it was the “fairytale” wedding that Katie always dreamed of, but she can’t remember any of it because she was struggling with postnatal depression, having given birth to their son Junior just three months earlier.

Speaking on Loose Women, the mum-of-five admitted: “I’ve been married three times and they’ve all been different kind of marriages. One was abroad, one was in Vegas, and then with Pete it was where ‘Downton Abbey’ was filmed, Highclere.

"So we got married there but I had really bad postnatal depression and not anyone knew that there so it’s sort of, kind of, a blur and I wasn’t on antidepressants.

"So I remember bits of the wedding but it’s - I wish - no I don’t wish I could go back and do it all over again, but you know, it was such an amazing wedding - everything about the fairytale that I wanted, but I had postnatal depression.”

Lady Edith isn’t the only one starting a romance in the final season of Downton Abbey. In Sunday’s episode, Lady Mary and Henry Talbot got ...

Lady Edith isn’t the only one starting a romance in the final season of Downton Abbey. In Sunday’s episode, Lady Mary and Henry Talbot got caught in the rain and ducked for cover — and a beautifully-framed kiss.

In fact, it was such a gorgeous shot that we wish the kiss would’ve lasted longer so we could’ve appreciated it more. “I always feels like I’ve succeeded when people say that,” director Michael Engler tells Yahoo TV, “because you always leave them wanting more, rather than leaving them wanting less. That said, it was a very satisfying moment, and it was a beautiful location. We made rain in the middle of London, at night, so it was pretty spectacular. Who’s more beautiful than Michelle Dockery and Matthew Goode? So to watch them kissing in the rain, in London, in a beautifully-lit moment like that was pretty wonderful.”


The location was Middle Temple, in the heart of London’s legal quarter. “I’ve been going to London for years, and it’s the first time I ever went in there,” says Engler, a two-time Emmy nominee who was just up for a Directors Guild of America award for helming the Downton series finale. “That’s a pretty magical spot. It’s been used on a lot of other shows because it really does look like a perfect London street. A lot of it is closed off to traffic, and it’s very isolated. It’s a gorgeous and completely unspoiled part of London where you really don’t have to change a thing, except for the occasional electrical outlet or sign that is modern.”


Engler wanted the moment to feel different than those Mary had shared with her late husband, Matthew. “Matthew was such a regular guy, and he brought Mary down to a very regular place, which was what was so beautiful about it. They had such a friendship by the time they ended up together, and they were such real people,” Engler says. “This is a little bit more of a romantic, surprise moment, of that frisson between two people who are very attracted to each other but don’t yet know where it should go, but they take the plunge and have a kiss. I wanted it to feel a little bit more heightened in that way, and so, yeah, I think we succeeded in that.”

Last year, Marvel and Fox had put aside their differences and banded together to create two spin-off’s based on the X-Men franchise (owned ...

Last year, Marvel and Fox had put aside their differences and banded together to create two spin-off’s based on the X-Men franchise (owned by Fox). The first, Legion, has found its cast in the form of Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens and Parks and Recreation’s Aubrey Plaza. They’re set to star in the show’s pilot alongside Jean Smart and Rachel Keller. 

Legion, which is adapted from the Marvel character who first appeared in New Mutants in 1985, focuses on David Heller (Stevens), a man who’s long dealt with a mental illness and finds himself in an out of psychiatric hospitals. But an encounter with another patient leads him to believe that the voices and visions in his head are more than imaginary and are a part of his mutant abilities. Plaza stars as Lenny, his friend who battles drug and alcohol addiction but manages to keep an optimism about her. Smart plays Melanie, David’s therapist while Keller plays Syd, a spiky woman with a belief in happily ever after.


Noah Hawley (Fargo) wrote the pilot and is producing the show alongside the X-Men team Bryan Singer, Lauren Shuler Donner and Simon Kinberg. Legion up for a potential series at US cable channel FX and its pilot will shoot in March. The second X-Men spin-off in development will be called Hellfire.

A dress and scarf designed by Pippa Middleton will join other unique items to be auctioned off for the British Heart Foundation. A sele...

A dress and scarf designed by Pippa Middleton will join other unique items to be auctioned off for the British Heart Foundation.

A selection of once-in-a-lifetime celebrity lots, from a date with Made In Chelsea’s Ollie Locke to a coat owned by The Saturdays singer Mollie King, will be up for grabs in an online auction ahead of the BHF’s Roll Out The Red fundraising ball.


Other goodies include a Valentine’s weekend for two at Downton Abbey’s Highclere Castle, VIP tickets to a Manchester City match and signed football memorabilia, plus designer treats from Longchamp to Aspinal of London.

Pippa will give the welcome speech at the ball hosted by Natasha Kaplinsky and has also offered up two of the limited edition items she designed for Tabitha Webb.

“The BHF has already made vital discoveries through research in the prevention and treatment of heart and circulatory conditions but there is still so much work to be done,” she said.

Lily James is back in a corset this week, nearly a year after her breakout role in Disney’s Cinderella had a very happy ending as it beca...

Lily James is back in a corset this week, nearly a year after her breakout role in Disney’s Cinderella had a very happy ending as it became one of 2015’s biggest hits. This time, though, she’s packing some serious weaponry inside that garment.

The beautiful 26-year-old Brit is Elizabeth Bennett: Undead Hunter in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the big-screen adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s best-selling 2009 literary mashup. In the film, like in the novel, the highly trained Bennett sisters are on the frontlines of early 19th century Britain’s bloody battle against invading zombies (while of course, also finding some time for love and marriage, with another Disney live-action alum, Maleficent star Sam Riley, playing reluctant suitor Mr. Darcy).

James, who also plays Lady Rose Aldridge in TV’s popular period drama Downton Abbey, told us she had to get out of “tea and biscuit” mode to prepare to fight for her life in PPZ. Now, though, she has clearly caught the action bug. In fact she may have been just a little too eager to put the hurting on walkers at points. Just ask the extra whose head she “properly kicked in” (by accident) while filming. Read on for the full story.

The 22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards are in! Here is the complete list of winners: Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture...

The 22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards are in! Here is the complete list of winners:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture 

Beasts of No Nation
The Big Short 
WINNER: Spotlight 
Straight Outta Compton 
Trumbo

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo 
Johnny Depp, Black Mass 
WINNER: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role 
Cate Blanchett, Carol 
WINNER: Brie Larson, Room
Helen Mirren, Woman in Gold
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn 
Sarah Silverman, I Smile Back

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series 

WINNER: Downton Abbey 
Game of Thrones 
Homeland
House of Cards
Mad Men

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series 
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
John Hamm, Mad Men
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot 
WINNER: Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

Claire Danes, Homeland 
WINNER: Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder 
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife 
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey 
Robin Wright, House of Cards

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
WINNER: Idris Elba, Luther
Ben Kinglsey, Tut 
Ray Liotta, Texas Rising 
Bill Murray, A Very Murray Christmas
Mark Rylance, Wolf Hall

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Nicole Kidman, Grace of Monaco
WINNER: Queen Latifah, Bessie 
Christina Ricci, The Lizzie Borden Chronicles 
Susan Sarandon, The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe
Kristin Wiig, The Spoilers Before Dying

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role 
Christian Bale, The Big Short
WINNER: Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies 
Michael Shannon, 99 Homes 
Jacob Tremblay, Room

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role 

Rooney Mara, Carol 
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight 
Helen Mirren, Trumbo 
WINNER: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 
The Big Bang Theroy
Key & Peel 
Modern Family
WINNER: Orange Is the New Black
Transparent 
Veep

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Louis C.K., Louie 
William H. Macy, Shameless
Jim Parson, The Big Bang Theory 
WINNER: Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series 
WINNER: Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie 
Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable 
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep 
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

Life Achievement Award 
Carol Burnett

Did we tune into Downton Abbey or a rerun of Ridley Scott’s Alien? The hospital drama turned bloody — literally — during what may well ...

Did we tune into Downton Abbey or a rerun of Ridley Scott’s Alien?

The hospital drama turned bloody — literally — during what may well be the most memorable dinner in Downton history. Not only is there a future prime minister at the table, but Lord Grantham spews blood all over the fine china when his ulcer bursts. The awful incident does reveal one long-kept secret: Mary finally figures out the truth about Marigold’s identity.

Now, a look at what happened with the couples this week:

“Can’t we stop this beastly row?” Robert asks — then vomits blood all over the table and on his wife, who sits across from him. 

Everyone is shocked, but Dr. Clarkson is present to tend to him. Cora rushes to his side, as Robert continues to eject blood. “If this is it, just know that I have loved you very, very much,” he chokes out. As gross as the scene is, we couldn’t help but say awwww at his dramatic declaration.

“This isn’t it,” Cora replies firmly.

Robert is rushed to the hospital for an operation, and will recover. Crisis averted. But Lord Grantham will have to take it easy from now on. As Mary tells Tom, they’ll need to take over managing the estate. Lady Mary Crawley’s reign has truly begun.


Edith and Bertie
Edith’s got a date! She travels to London to meet up with Bertie, where they walk and talk in the park about his cousin, the Marquess of Hexham. Seems Cousin Peter likes to paint the young men of Tangiers (uh, can we book a ticket for Thomas? Or maybe Cousin Peter should come visit?).

As for the singletons:


Daisy: Mr. Mason moves into Yew Tree Farm, and asks Daisy to come live with him. She resists and doesn’t seem to want any of the other servants befriending him. She really is the worst.
Andy: He volunteers to help Mr. Mason with the physical chores at the farm, especially with raising the pigs, but is dismayed when Mr. Mason gives him some books to read first. Turns out, he can’t read! Thomas comes to the rescue and offers to teach him, even though Andy has been treating him like dirt lately.

Fashion, the front row, feel good theatre and films – it’s all in a week’s work for our Showbiz pals. Find out what the stars got up to ove...

Fashion, the front row, feel good theatre and films – it’s all in a week’s work for our Showbiz pals. Find out what the stars got up to over the last seven days. Rita Ora dressed for summer in Paris by wearing a very teensy dress. She was attending the Atelier Versace Spring-Summer preview at […]

Fashion, the front row, feel good theatre and films – it’s all in a week’s work for our Showbiz pals.

Find out what the stars got up to over the last seven days.

Rita Ora dressed for summer in Paris by wearing a very teensy dress. She was attending the Atelier Versace Spring-Summer preview at fashion week. As you do.

British model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley wears a creation as part of Versace’s spring- summer 2016 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Downton Abbey’s Joanne Froggatt (REX Features)

Will and Susanna at London’s Ham Yard Hotel (Ian West)

Pixie Lott (Anthony Devlin/PA)


Toby and Catherine (Joel Ryan/AP)

The characters of Downton Abbey keep telling us that things are changing, but the more things change on the show, the more they stay the sa...

The characters of Downton Abbey keep telling us that things are changing, but the more things change on the show, the more they stay the same. Isobel and the Dowager Countess are still butting heads over the hospital, just as they did back in Season 1. Cora is still trying to make peace, while Robert is still trying to persuade her to stay out of it. Really, upstairs, the status quo continues to reign. It’s downstairs where true change is happening.

Mr. Carson, conservative as he is, is throwing aside convention to marry Mrs. Hughes, even if he can’t quite work up the fortitude to stand up to Lady Mary. Daisy, for all her youthful poor judgment, is agitating for the social upheaval we know is coming, while Barrow is feeling the brunt of the coming layoffs. As Lord Grantham said, who has an under-butler these days? Poor Barrow. He might soon displace Edith as the most pitiable character on the show.

Downton Abbey premieres Sunday, January 3 at 9 p.m. on Masterpiece on PBS. For more on Downton Abbey Michelle Dockery, Hugh Bonneville (...

Downton Abbey premieres Sunday, January 3 at 9 p.m. on Masterpiece on PBS. For more on Downton Abbey

Michelle Dockery, Hugh Bonneville
(Credit: Nick Briggs/PBS Masterpiece)

Michelle Dockery
(Credit: Nick Briggs/PBS Masterpiece)


Elizabeth McGovern
(Credit: Nick Briggs/PBS Masterpiece)

Michael Fox, Sophie McShera
(Credit: Nick Briggs/PBS Masterpiece)

Rick Bacon, Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Michelle Dockery
(Credit: Nick Briggs/PBS Masterpiece)


Elizabeth McGovern, Robert James-Collier, Laura Carmichael Fox, Kevin Doyle
(Credit: Nick Briggs/PBS Masterpiece)