Of course, sadly missing from the grand reunion that was The Grand Finale was the late Maggie Smith, who played Robert’s mother, Violet. Dockery remembers Smith’s wit and sardonic humor on set—and her own Dowagerisms—fondly. A final scene sees Mary survey the empty Downton Abbey hallway as memories of the Dowager Countess and Mary’s late sister Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) flash before her. The sound department actually played the music that would overlay the scene as Dockery acted.
“In some ways, that was a great idea—in others, not so much. I kept bursting into tears!” she says. “The poor makeup department! I had to attempt to look as stoic as Mary is. But it’s a beautiful ending, and a touching tribute to Maggie.”
Dockery first saw the film at a cast screening a few months ago. What first set her off: when Robert asks Mr. Bates, his faithful valet, “Do you remember where it all began?” “I just cried and cried from there,” she says. Bonneville, sitting behind her, grabbed her hand for the last 15 minutes and didn’t let go.
A phenomenon from its first season in 2010, Downton Abbey stood out from the steady supply of small-screen Brontë and Austen adaptations for being a new story—albeit with jaunty nods to real-life nobility and historical figures. “When we first aired, period dramas weren’t being celebrated like they are now,” says Dockery. (Just this year, we’ve had the likes of Miss Austen, the Mitford sisters drama Outrageous, and, of course, Season 3 of Fellowes’s The Gilded Age air.) “It was a risk to do it—the appetite wasn’t there. I’ll never forget the call when I got it, and I feel proud that we’ve made something that’s resonated.”
“It was the beginning of a new golden age for television,” Dockery continues. “You see the influence Downton has on shows like Bridgerton, and Julian is going forth with The Gilded Age. I’m sure that’s a lot of the original Downton audience.” Dockery, will always appreciate Fellowes’s ability to “write for women so well, with strength and vulnerability and joy.”
Photo: Zoe McConnell
