'Edith is feeling her power'
Harry Hadden-Paton and Laura Carmichael play Bertie and Lady Edith Pelham
- Caroline Frost
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How do we find your characters in this film?
HARRY HADDEN-PATON
With Edith and Bertie, you don’t see the trials and tribulations, the holes in their roof, the plumbing that needs fixing in their stable cottages. We’re in a place of happiness; I’m not sad about that. I think audiences really respond to the hope that there are mature relationships that can be happy.
LAURA CARMICHAEL Edith is feeling her power. We see her enjoying the authority and awareness of someone who has the editorship of a magazine. In this film, you get to see just how comfortable she is, plus how things have turned out with her sister Mary [Michelle Dockery] in terms of who’s helping who out.
Edith’s relationship with Mary has developed — was that mirrored in real life?
LC Michelle and I are so close off screen, we’re able to tap into that natural sisterly chemistry. We’ve both got two sisters in real life, so we understood that bond very well – although neither of us has feudy relationships like that in real life, fortunately. But we both understood the closeness and in-jokes, being able to squabble, then be close again the next day.
Harry and I have joked about our own spin-off
Laura Carmichael
Talking of family ties, Harry, your sisters are on set here today as extras. How have you managed to sneak them in?
HH-P Well, we’re in week ten of filming, I finish my scenes on Saturday, so this is my last big set piece, and there’s a bit of a precedent for this. On big occasions, producers are very allowing about having friends and family joining in. For example, when I got married to Lady Edith in the show, I had my real best man as my best man on screen. Then, in series six, we had a big get-back-together scene at the Ritz, which we filmed in the middle of the night, and the entire Ritz dining room was comprised of crew in full make-up and costume pretending to be other diners. The producer was the maître d’! So the lines have sometimes been a bit blurred between real and fictional with these surreal celebrations.
Edith and Bertie are in a place of happiness
Harry Hadden-Paton
Laura, Lady Edith’s storyline has been a rollercoaster. Dare we mention when she was jilted at the altar, back in series three?
LC The jilting was really brutal, but after that, Julian Fellowes had a surge of interest in what you could do with someone who no longer just wanted to get married, so it got a lot more fun. Edith had affairs and all the rest, and then she joined the newspaper. At that point, I felt like I was on an away day, apart from the rest of the cast. It felt like I had my own spin-off within the series.
Could there be a spin-off show for Edith and Bertie?
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LC Harry and I have joked about it, but I don’t think so. Downton Abbey is about a family group, I don’t think you could pick any of them off and follow them, it would be too hard.
Authors
Caroline Frost
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