A ROYAL RETURN - ‘I FELT I WAS ON ANOTHER PLANET AMONG ALL THESE VERY ENGLISH ACTORS'

AMERICAN STAR ELIZABETH McGOVERN TALKS ABOUT THE NEW DOWNTON ABBEY FILM HER RELATIONSHIP WITH HER CO-STARS AND LEADING A DOUBLE LIFE AS A ROCKER

- MARC BAKER

It’s been three years since we last went on an adventure with Britain’s favourite aristocratic family down at Downton Abbey. But after an extended break, mainly due to the pandemic, the Crawleys are back with their new film Downton Abbey: A New Era.

And no one is more excited for their return than American actress Elizabeth McGovern – who reprises her role as Cora Crawley, the Countess of Grantham, in the much-anticipated sequel.

The film also takes the Crawleys away from their fictional base at Highclere Castle for a well-earned glorious romp through the south of France, where they uncover a mystery at a villa.

And Elizabeth, 60, who has been in the show since it began in 2010, is confident the sequel will be another worldwide hit when it’s released in the UK on 29 April and in the US on 20 May.

“People ask me why the show has succeeded over the years and I have no idea,” she says. “I don’t understand it. I am just grateful. But viewers connect to it for different reasons.”

Here, Elizabeth – who shares daughters Matilda, 28, and Grace, 24, with filmmaker husband Simon Curtis – lifts the lid on life on the Downton Abbey set, the divide between the younger and older actors among the cast and being a huge supporter of the MeToo movement...