Downton Abbey creator says Bafta is ‘out of step’ for not awarding show more

Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes has said the Baftas are “out of step” for not recognising his ITV period drama with more accolades.

The series, which ran for six seasons from 2010 to 2015, earned three Golden Globes and six Primetime Emmys in the US but was never handed a major Bafta award in the UK.

Downton was instead recognised with a “special award” by Bafta in 2015, which was considered by some to be a consolation prize in place of the series winning a prize in a major category.

“If I say ‘Bafta-led’ it sounds as if I’m seething with rage – I’m not really,” Fellowes told The Times. “I’ve had a very good run of it. But I do think [Bafta et al] are out of step.”

Fellowes’s remarks come ahead of the release of the franchise’s third and final film: Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale later this month.

The conclusion will follow the 7th Earl of Grantham, Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville) as he plans to pass down his estate to his daughter, Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery).

However, news of Mary’s divorce from Matthew Goode’s Henry Talbot puts her impending stewardship in jeopardy as the family’s financial troubles could see them sell and leave the abbey for good.

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Fellowes said he isn’t expecting critics to be kind about the film upon its release. “I don’t need to read a review anymore – I could tell you what it says beforehand,” he said.

“I wasn’t trying to attract new viewers any more and I was aware we were saying goodbye.”

In her two-star review of the previous Downton film, A New Era, The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey compared the movie to “a dinner party guest that won’t shut up and go home”.

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She wrote: “The first film, released in 2019, was designed to pay a final farewell to Downton’s 47 TV episodes and five Christmas specials – an opportunity to tie up a few loose ends and resolve things with a hearty slap on its own back.

“A New Era manages to uncover even more threads, and makes neat little bows in the most languid way possible. It’s as much of a film as an encore to the encore can be.”

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale lands in cinemas on 12 September