IT is a tiny glimmer of hope for distraught Downton Abbey fans as they prepare to bid farewell to Britain’s best-loved costume drama.
For though the series drew to a close on Sunday night with the final episode after six series and five years, the Earl of Grantham, his faithful butler Carson and the other beloved characters are set to return on the big screen.
Julian Fellowes, the show’s Oscar- winning writer, has revealed that he is working on plot lines for a movie, telling The Mail on Sunday: “I think I have got a few ideas.”
He said the movie was a real possibility and that he had discussed the idea with the show’s co-producer Gareth Neame.
Lord Fellowes said: “I think it’s very possible and it would be fun for us to do. I certainly have no objections because the film would be another adventure.
“It would allow us a freedom of scale that we can’t have while making episodic television.”
Hinting that the film’s plot could carry on from where the television series leaves off, he said: “My own feeling would be that a film now would need to include the characters from the series as they were in the series.”
The news will be welcomed by the drama’s ten million British fans who now have to find a new Sunday night ritual as they wait for a feature-length Downton Special that will air on Christmas Day.
Speculation about a possible film version has been rife ever since ITV announced that Downton would be coming to an end.
Lord Fellowes is of course no stranger to the big screen, having written and directed a series of hit movies.
He won an Oscar in 2002 for his screenplay for Gosford Park and followed that up with the hit films The Young Victoria, with Emily Blunt, and Separate Lies, starring Emily Watson and Rupert Everett.
Lord Fellowes insisted there has been no firm decision on the Downton film project, saying: “There are some people who think the film will be a good idea and there are others who are not sure.”
But his comments are the clearest indication yet that Downton will have a new lease of life after tonight’s cliffhanger episode, which The Mail on Sunday has seen. We have decided not to reveal any of the plot lines, but it is not giving too much away to say that the romantic lives of both Lady Mary and Lady Edith are pivotal to the episode, with the revelation of a secret from the past resulting in life-changing consequences.
Downton Abbey is Britain’s most popular drama, and pulls in an audience of more than ten million fans every week.
Lord Fellowes thinks even that figure may not be a true reflection of the show’s popularity. He said: “Nobody knows how to count the ratings any more. They don’t include catch up, they don’t include Sky when you delay it.
“We are probably nearer 12 million because there are so many elements they don’t include.”
Mail on Sunday