Downton Abbey: A New Era | 2022
- Locations |
- Hampshire;
- Essex;
- Bedfordshire;
- France
- DIRECTOR |
- Simon Curtis
- CAST |
- Hugh Bonneville,
- Michelle Dockery,
- Elizabeth McGovern,
- Penelope Wilton,
- Maggie Smith,
- Michael Fox,
- Lesley Nicol,
- Robert James-Collier,
- Allen Leech,
- Phyllis Logan,
- Dominic West,
- Laura Carmichael,
- Jim Carter,
- Brendan Coyle,
- Kevin Doyle,
- Tuppence Middleton,
- Imelda Staunton,
- Samantha Bond,
- Sue Johnston,
- Hugh Dancy,
- Laura Haddock
As the Downton Abbey series eases into a new age, there's a trip to the continent and, for romantics, quite a choice of wedding venues as well as a wonderful vintage cinema.
The second Downton film tries a little too hard to top the first one's Royal visit with Lady Violet (Maggie Smith) unexpectedly inheriting a villa in the South of France and a film crew descending on the great house to make a film "on location" (I wonder what gave them that idea?).
As the entire population of Earth knows (and probably a few aliens too), 'Downton Abbey' is Highclere Castle in Hampshire so we'll move on quickly.
A New Era opens with the wedding of Tom Branson (Allen Leech) and Lucy Smith (Tuppence Middleton) solemnised at the Church of St Mary, which stands in the grounds of the 18th century Queen Anne-style Belchamp Hall in Essex. It stands at the border with Suffolk, and the nearest town is Sudbury, a couple of miles east.
As you can see, the reception is held in the hall's extensive grounds. Romantic Downton Abbey devotees will be delighted to know that this privately owned and and Grade II-listed country house really is available as a wedding venue.
And if there's a Downton fan thinking of getting hitched to a Lovejoy fan, well, you have everything sorted.
Viewers of the other long-running TV series will probably have already recognised Belchamp as the show's 'Felsham Hall'. In fact, the workshop of the rogue antiques dealer (Ian McShane) stands on Belchamp's grounds, and can be booked as holiday accommodation.
In an unforeseen cinematic revelation, up there with Jurassic Park's formerly unmentioned 'Site B', Lady Violet is revealed to have had a whirlwind romance in her youth with a wealthy Frenchman. We learn he's now died and left her a villa "near Toulon" in the South of France.
This involves a jaunt to sunnier climes. Most of the Upstairs folk, along with the indispensable Carson (Jim Carter), head for the continent. That's no ordinary ferry they take, but the ex-Royal Yacht Britannia which spent 43 years carrying the late Queen Elizabeth II on her tours.
Retired from service in 1997, the Royal Yacht Britannia is permanently berthed at Ocean Terminal, Leith in Edinburgh, Scotland, where it attracts more than 300,000 visitors each year.
The French villa is La Rocabella, 435 Rue Général Weygand in the seaside town of Le Pradet, on the Mediterranean coast just five miles east of Toulon. We're being spoiled now – this is another potential wedding venue for Downton fans.
But you don't even have to leave England to enjoy the ambiance. The alfresco party at the Villa, with a shockingly modern jazz band, was filmed alongside the Orangery at English Heritage property Wrest Park, Silsoe in Bedfordshire. This 19th-century mansion was built in the style of a French chateau.
Meanwhile, it's all happening with the British Lion film company back at back at Downton. Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) is inventing the art of 'looping' (post-recording dialogue for a film) as the formerly silent movie is hastily adapted for sound, Mr Molesley (Kevin Doyle) discovers his talent as a screenwriter and butler Barrow (Robert James-Collier) hooks up with hot movie star Guy Dexter (Dominic West).
The film's director Jack Barber (Hugh Dancy) takes Lady Mary into 'Thirsk' to experience the excitement of the movies first hand.
They give the 'Electric Palace', which is showing a new talkie called The Terror, a miss and press on to the 'Rialto' to see their current leading lady Myrna Dalgleish (Laura Haddock) in her latest box-office smash.
They're nowhere near 'Thirsk' of course – and there is only one cinema. The wonderful old picture house really is the Electric Palace Cinema, though you'll find it in the Essex port of Harwich on King's Quay Street. Economically, the Electric's auditorium was also used as 'The Rialto' where the pair watch the film with a musical accompaniment.
The Electric Palace Cinema, dating from 1911, is one of the few purpose-built cinemas to survive complete with its silent screen, original projection room and ornamental frontage still intact.
Although it closed down in 1956 after being damaged in the disastrous 1953 floods, it was re-opened in 1981 as a community cinema, which also hosts regular jazz and folk concerts.
