Jim Carter knows his way around Highclere Castle. It was here, in the house that doubled for the fictional Downton Abbey, that Carter found fame as everybody’s favourite stuffy old bloke with a heart of gold and a small outcrop of shrubbery where his eyebrows should be: Mr Carson, the Grantham family butler. He was back there last summer shooting the big-screen version of the series, giving him another opportunity to wallow in its glories, and today he has taken temporary control of the house once more, providing Event with the most privileged of personal tours as he prepares for a Downton musical spectacular, coming this June, where a symphony orchestra will perform music from the series.
Jim Carter knows his way around Highclere Castle. It was here that Carter found fame as everybody’s favourite stuffy old bloke: Mr Carson
‘For six years I spent six months of the year in this place,’ he says of the acclaimed television series that came to a conclusion in 2016. ‘When we were shooting the movie, and I was sitting on a deck chair outside in the grounds, watching red kites circle overhead, it reminded me that… let’s just say, it was no hardship. This will do as an office.’
He is speaking in one of the castle’s magnificent reception rooms, beneath the chandelier that, when it was first lit by electricity in an early episode, so startled the Dowager Countess, played by Maggie Smith. ‘Yes, it was in here it happened,’ he says, before essaying a wry impression of Smith acting shocked.
Mind you, it is not the only room in which extraordinary Downton things have happened. To walk around the house in Carter’s company, into the bedroom where Lady Sybil died of undiagnosed pre-eclampsia, and the imposing dining room where the carpet needed a thorough dry cleaning after Lord Grantham’s vomiting episode, is to be transported into the world so brilliantly realised in the series.
Everywhere in the building the spirit of Carson seems to hang, a sense enhanced by the fact photos of scenes in which he was involved can be found in all the rooms, placed there for visitors to connect the Castle to the series that changed its very identity. Because the truth is, thanks to its pitch-perfect portrayal in the title role, Downton Abbey has made Highclere a star. For six series of the roaringly successful drama, the building did not simply bear witness to high tragedy and high comedy, to birth, marriage and death, it became an integral part of the action. Naturally enough, when the movie version was proposed, Highclere was cast once again in the starring role. ‘Of course it had to be shot here,’ says Carter. ‘This place is iconic.’
Not that he can reveal much more about the movie than where it was filmed. He has been sworn to secrecy, signing a strict non-disclosure agreement. ‘I can’t tell you any plotlines, for fear of my very life,’ he smiles, his eyebrows raised meaningfully. ‘To be honest – and this is not me being evasive – I won’t really know what it is until I see it. What I can tell you is that it takes up the story from the point the TV series finished [see panel below].’
In 2010 Carter had no inkling what Downton Abbey was to become. Maggie Smith’s involvement persuaded him to join the cast: ‘You don’t turn down Maggie,’ he says
There is one detail, however, that Carter is happy to reveal. Imelda Staunton, his wife of 35 years, has a role. ‘I wish I could say it’s because I slipped a fiver to the casting director,’ he says. ‘But one day at home she said, “Oh, this script’s just landed. And I said, “That’s lovely, what is it?” And she said, “Guess. Downton Abbey!” I nearly spat out my tea.’
In the film, Staunton plays a relative of the Crawley family. ‘We only had two days working together. We were in one scene together when I’m serving her at the dining table. We shared a smouldering look but I don’t think the camera caught it.’
When the genial, dry, twinkling Carter first came to Highclere in 2010 he had no inkling what Downton Abbey was to become. He had been lured into the series by writer Julian Fellowes’ promise that it was to be ‘a Gosford Park for the small screen’. That and the fact that Smith was involved. ‘You don’t turn down Maggie,’ he says. ‘Like all these things you do it in hope rather than expectation. Nobody can define why it was so successful, the alchemy just worked. The script was brilliant, the cast were terrific, but the house was vital. It’s a wonderful place but on a human scale. You could relate to it as a character.’
One key absentee is Lily James, who will not be reprising her role as Lady Rose MacClare. The Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again star said, ‘My character Rose moved off to New York, so it would be a bit far-fetched to bring her back.’
Not that every moment was shot at Highclere. ‘The downstairs, the kitchens and so on were all sets in Ealing studios. Often there were sequences when I’d move from one to the other. I seem to have spent half my life going through one door here, then coming out another six weeks later in Ealing, desperately trying to remember in which hand I was holding the cup of tea.’
For Carter, life was never the same from the first moment he walked through one of those doors. When he was cast, a then 62-year-old career actor with a full rather than stellar CV, he could stroll down any high street unnoticed. Mr Carson changed all that. Now he is recognised anywhere the series has been screened, which is everywhere.
The most unexpected encounter, he recalls, was at Angkor Wat in Cambodia. It happened when Carter was on a charity cycle ride. ‘I was dressed entirely in Lycra, sweating buckets, with a crash helmet on. Somebody said, “Oh, Mr Carson.” I thought, no, really?’
Wherever he goes, those who approach him always say the same thing. ‘The young ones claim they are only asking me for a selfie because I’m their granny’s favourite. And the middle-aged ones say I’m their mum’s favourite. Keeps the ego in check.’
He will be back at Highclere in June to host that Downton musical spectacular, in which a symphony orchestra will perform music from the series on an outdoor stage. He will narrate the evening, but he won’t be wearing Lycra. ‘No, no, no. I’ll be in character as Mr Carson, in white tie and tails. When you come here, you need to dress accordingly. After all, you are in the presence of a star.’
‘Music From Downton Abbey’ is on June 22 at Highclere Castle. Tickets at livenation.co.uk