THE man in front of me is trying to explain why he abandoned his betrothed at the altar. ‘I’ve been stopped in the street by people saying: “How could you? How could you have done that to a young girl, she had her future with you.” I say: “No, she didn’t, look what she’s done since—she’s been off with all sorts, she’s had a very good time. She had a lucky escape.”’
Before you judge him, the man in question is the actor Robert Bathurst and the young girl was Lady Edith Crawley, jilted by Sir Anthony Strallan in Downton Abbey. Viewers may have been aghast, but he feels his character was misunderstood. ‘It was a rather sweet friendship, old Anthony and Edith. It was after the First World War, when a lot of women were looking for something stable, but he felt she could do better and so, for perfectly honourable reasons, he left—not knowing that he was going to get shouted at in the street forever more.’
Another of Mr Bathurst’s characters who might divide opinion is the pompous, yet rather likeable David Marsden in ITV’s Cold Feet, which first aired in 1998. ‘I’ve enjoyed playing him. He was much more brittle before—you’ve got to find chinks of humanity, to make sure you’re not just playing one note.’ After a 13-year absence, the show returned in 2016 for four more series, the last of which recently concluded.
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