Julian Fellowes: Downton Abbey stars are difficult to pin down for film

Screen writer Julian Fellowes has told of the difficulty of pinning down the cast of TV drama Downton Abbey to start shooting the film version, despite being “delighted” for their success.

Hugh Bonneville, who played Lord Grantham, has just finished the new series of W1A as well as Paddington 2, and has a role in John Deery’s The Rock Pile, while Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary) is filming Netflix show Godless.

“Hugh goes from job to job and is in big demand, which I’m delighted about but it just makes it difficult,” said Fellowes.

He also praised Joanne Froggatt’s role in ITV drama Liar, as “excellent”.

Despite tweets from Downton’s official account promising a “big announcement” last week, which were later deleted, Fellowes said logistics made filming times difficult to lock down, although the script had been written.

He said: “My job is to write the script and whether or not we can get three months that correspond in everyone’s career. I hope it happens.”