Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey by Rowley Emma

Author:Rowley, Emma [Rowley, Emma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466848252
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2013-10-29T00:00:00+00:00

PROPS

Dressing for Dinner

Downton’s dinner parties would make the most practised host fret. ‘If you are doing a dinner party scene,’ Jim Carter (Mr Carson) explains, ‘you have to reset the levels of the glasses, the food on the plates, the candles, in every shot for continuity. It’s relentless.’

Lisa Heathcote, meanwhile, makes sure the seated actors do not struggle during butler service. ‘They’re helping themselves, so I have to cut up the food into little, manageable portions,’ she says.

These Abbey dinners are usually served on a traditional Spode dinner service, bought by the prop department, and classic manners are observed throughout. ‘Food always comes in – and is taken away – from the left, and drink comes in from the right,’ notes Alastair Bruce, historical advisor. The menu card is removed after the main course and before the pudding, and the footmen serve with a seat between them, to avoid jostling each other. ‘It is old-fashioned, it’s the way it’s done and we observe it meticulously,’ Bruce says.

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