It’s been almost 15 years to the day since “Downton Abbey” first aired on British network ITV.
Six seasons, five Christmas specials, 69 Primetime Emmy nominations, 11 Golden Globe nominations and a hugely successful film trilogy spin-off later, and the heavy wooden door to the Crawleys’ now-famed stately home is finally being closed for good. As Carnival Films CEO Gareth Neame notes, “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” — being released globally on Friday via Focus — “definitely is the end.”
Or is it?
Neame was already a successful TV producer before he took an idea he says had been “percolating in my mind for many years” about the waning power of the British aristocracy in the early 20th century and gave it to his friend Julian Fellowes. “Downton” would become the show to cement both their legacies and, as Neame explains, provide a crucial foundation for today’s U.K. TV industry, becoming the first British drama series to “achieve a Hollywood value in global sales” and lure studios and streamers across the Atlantic. As he claims: “There wouldn’t have been ‘The Crown’ without ‘Downton’ and there wouldn’t have been ‘Bridgerton’ without ‘Downton.’”
Carnival has since made numerous hit shows — most recently “The Day of the Jackal” reimagining starring Eddie Redmayne and the Colin Firth-led “Lockerbie: A Search for Truth” — and is keeping its toes in the historical “haves and have nots” waters with U.S.-focused “Downton” prequel “The Gilded Age” (which Neame acknowledges was a “slower burn” but is now coming into its own on HBO).
But for all the company’s success elsewhere, its small and big screen adventures with the Crawley family and their array of butlers, chauffeurs and cooks will forever be its calling card. It’s perhaps why, despite Neame’s claim that the “The Grand Finale” is exactly what it says it is, he admits a return — especially in this era of reboots — can never truly be “ruled out.”
So is this absolutely, definitely the end of “Downton”?
It is definitely the end and the clue’s in the title. But I reserve my right to change my mind.
“Downton” has triumphantly closed its doors before, only to swing them back open again…
The TV show came to a definite end. Because although I already had the ambition to take it to the big screen at that point, there was no guarantee that would work. So there was an ending for the TV show, for sure. But this is the full stop on all of these characters. Because the second film, I felt was Violet’s story, Maggie Smith’s character, but it didn’t really have a conclusion for any of the other characters. So this is the end point for all of them.
I hope it’s not an abrupt, unfortunate end?
No! It’s just the last time we will see these characters and we will have a sense of where they’re all going to.
When you started making the first film, did you plan for it to have sequels or become a trilogy? Or did you decide film-to-film depending on the box office?
I was pretty confident about how “Downton” would translate to the big screen. I don’t know why, I just always felt there was something quite theatrical about the show. And it had quite cinematic production values. And that first film was so successful in the box office and by far and away Focus’ highest grossing film ever in their entire history. So then there was the idea to keep rolling the thing out. And I think a trilogy of films on the back of six seasons of the TV show and five Christmas specials is pretty good innings. So we were ready to do one film and that would be it, but we responded to how well it did.
It’s obviously a sprawling ensemble. Was it easy to get the cast back together for this final hurrah?
It’s never straightforward. But there was goodwill on their part to do it. It was just sort of the right time, the right money, getting the script we were all happy with and a director that we wanted to work with.
You’re obviously carrying on the “Downton” legacy with prequel series “The Gilded Age.” It feels like it had a slower start but has really started to come into its own, especially now in its third season.
It’s really interesting, because “Downton” was an overnight hit — it was a massive hit from Episode 1 in the U.K. And it was a huge hit in the U.S., but it kept growing across the first three seasons until it really hit its apex. And “Gilded” has been a slower burn, but it’s a very significant hit for HBO now.
Why do you think it took longer to get going?
There’s such a different relationship that Americans have with their own history compared to us on this side of the Atlantic. The idea for the show came about really because when “Downton” was such a massive hit in the U.S., we kept saying to everyone: you’ve got your own version of the aristocracy and the ins and outs and the haves and haves nots and the upstairs and downstairs. And it was in the Gilded Age and the late 19th century. It was just something that is so rarely depicted on screen, partly because people didn’t know about it, partly because it was technically very difficult to execute before visual effects. So I suspect that the audience has just become more accepting of the idea that there was an Americana of “Downton” as well.
Would you like to see “Gilded Age” enjoy a similar trajectory to “Downton”? Maybe six or so seasons and then a few films?
I haven’t really thought about it. “Downton” going to the big screen was something I only started really planning for around Season 5. It was so successful that ITV would have wanted it to go on for years. But I knew that, creatively, that wouldn’t have been right, and I knew that I couldn’t hold that cast together for much longer. I thought, we’re not quite ready to end “Downton,” but I’m not sure how much longer we can keep going with the TV series. So it only really started to take shape when the legacy of “Downton” became clear. And I don’t think we’re quite in that position yet with “Gilded.”
In a way, “Downton” can be credited with giving rise to high-end TV in the U.K. It was one of the first big British shows to have such an extraordinary success around the world.
It was absolutely key. From a business perspective, it was a really critical moment in the evolution of British television. I made the decision to sell the company to Universal because I wanted to have a big, powerful studio behind the company. I think I was the first British producer to make that kind of move. Within a year or so, “Downtown” came out and was a massive hit in the U.K. At Mipcom that autumn in 2010, I had various meetings with buyers who said they definitely wanted the show, but were used to buying that kind of genre from BBC Worldwide or ITV Global and, with Universal distributing, were worried what it was going to cost. And that’s exactly why I moved to Universal. The sales team did a phenomenal job and their view was, if a broadcaster is going to pay us, say, $100,000 for an episode of the medical show “House,” we’re not going to give you “Downton” for any less. And they got their number.
So this was the first time a British TV show achieved a Hollywood value in global sales. And it sold to every territory in the world. On a U.S. network television metric, it was at that point that I think everyone in the industry thought: we need to be in the U.K. And that’s when you saw Netflix set up in the U.K. and other studios sending executives to London and everyone realizing that it’s possible to make a lot of money from a successful British show. So I feel that there wouldn’t have been “The Crown” without “Downton” and there wouldn’t have been “Bridgerton” without “Downton.” And many, many other shows. I don’t think it’s overstating it to say that “Downton” spearheaded a charge of British TV drama globally.
We’re in the age of reboots of beloved British IP. HBO’s “Harry Potter” reboot is filming right now some 25 years after the first film. So if “Downton” started in 2010, would you be open to coming back to it, maybe around 2035? Have there been any discussions at all with Universal?
It’s a completely reasonable question, because, as you say, you look at these major bits of IP and there is a culture now and an appetite to revisit these things. So it certainly couldn’t be ruled out at some stage in the future. We’ll see whether it gets made again within my lifetime or not.
