Secrets of Downton Abbey: We go behind the scenes of popular period drama

Secrets of Downton Abbey: We go behind the scenes of popular period drama

Our favourite aristocrats and their downstairs pals roar into the 1920s for the fourth series of period drama Downton Abbey next Sunday.

Viewers have been kept on tenterhooks wondering how new mother Lady Mary Crawley has been coping with the sudden death of her husband Matthew.

But before all is revealed on screen, here stars of the hit ITV show, filmed at Highclere Castle, Hampshire, reveal some of their behind-the-scenes secrets...

Downton Abbey filming

 

Couple so close, both on and off screen

Elizabeth McGovern tells how she and co-star Hugh Bonneville have often worked together and are close off screen as well as being married on screen.

In Downton they play the Earl and Countess of Grantham, and Elizabeth, 52, revealed: “We’ve played husband and wife twice before this and one time my husband was directing.

“We’re very comfortable with each other.” She tells how it all helped when it came to learning the roaring twenties’ dance routines.

“We managed to muscle through but there were some funny moments,” she admitted.

“When Hugh and i get started, we can’t really stop. We’re like a sort of cannon. if anybody’s in our way, there’s absolutely no stopping us.

Lady Edith is trendier in the latest season

Lady Edith is very much sexier this time around

Laura Carmichael, who plays Lady Edith Crawley, reveals how she has enjoyed her trendier, sexier image this series.

She tells how the costume designer wanted to show how her character would be exposed to different fashions because of her time spent in london.

Laura, 27, says that despite her polished new look, she’s nothing like Lady Edith herself.

She admitted: “i’m so scruffy” and she revealed her pasty white looks shock some people.

She was with cast members Sophie McShera (Daisy Mason) and Phyllis Logan (Mrs hughes),

relaxing by a pool recently.

“I think people were confused and wondering, ‘hang on, isn’t that Mrs Hughes, Daisy and Lady Edith by the pool?'" she said.

Mr Carson shows Dame Maggie he has balls

Trickster

He may look stern but actor Jim Carter, who plays Mr Carson, knows how to cause a stir when Dame

Maggie Smith is around. Allen Leech (Tom Branson) explained: “Jim loves his magic tricks. He did one on Maggie that involved disappearing balls.

"When they reappeared  they looked like something very different! let’s just say, Maggie opened her hand and there was something very different."

How plants and plugs help make it so realistic

Plants hide plug sockets

Downton abbey is such a hit because of the minute attention to detail, believes Laura Carmichael.

“Everyone works so hard to make it look like a movie,” she says. “We have four set runners

going around tweaking lampshades and moving plants to cover plug sockets.

Doubtful about the hair, Thomas

Hair raising

Servant Thomas Barrow may look his usual dapper self but for this series it’s at the hefty cost of £4,000.

Since the last season, actor Rob James Collier shaved off his hair for another role, so Downton producers had to find him a wig.

Rob, 36, says: “A good friend of mine is trying to get into directing and was filming a short. He asked if I’d play a man’s descent into madness, which meant shaving my hair off.

I asked â€" or should I say begged â€" producers and they very kindly let me go ahead and paid for a wig.

Michelle Dockery reveals how she spent hours doing research for her part as newly widowed lady Mary Crawley.

“I looked at blogs on widows to try to understand how Mary would feel,” she said.

“I felt it was important to get it right. What struck me was the numbness people go through.

“Normally I joke around between takes but with these scenes I didn’t.”

Allen leech, who plays Tom B ranson, says Michelle Dockery is known as the best dancer among the cast.

“The minute she gets on the dance floor you’re best off leaving,” he said.

“She’s trained and she’s very good.” but it’s not just on set that they get to practise their dance moves. Allen, 32, made sure the (dry) ice was broken for newcomer

Paul Giamatti, who plays Cora’s brother Harold Levinson. he said: “We took him to a heavy house night at Q Club in Reading. There was a lot of dry ice.

"People were standing at the bar going, 'am i drunk or is that Paul Giamatti?'"

Our pictures are taken from behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey, published by HarperCollins. to order your copy at the special price of £15.99

(RRP £20) with free PP, call the Mirror bookshop on 0871 803 6772.