Downton Abbey's Phyllis Logan on How Mrs. Hughes Would Be Doing During Lockdown
In difficult times, people often turn to comfort food: dumplings, curries, mashed potatoes. And for some, the television equivalent of eating chicken noodle soup comes in the form of Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes's much-beloved period drama about the Crawley family and the crowd of people who work "downstairs" on their English estate.
The show has been off the air since 2016 in the U.S. (a film adaptation also premiered last year), but it remains enormously popular, and has a certain allure during a global pandemic.
"It is a bit of escapism, and there's nothing wrong with that in this particular moment in time, when it's all a bit too real and all a bit oppressive," actress Phyllis Logan, who played Mrs. Hughes on the series, tells Town & Country. "[Downton Abbey] offers a complete escape into another world, a world which is kinder in many respects, and one that looks more beautiful."
Mrs. Hughes would have fared well during lockdown.
"She's not one to just roll over and die with her legs in the air. She would maybe set herself a few challenges: learn how to cook properly, do a bit of gardening, maybe take up learning the bagpipes. She likes the hustle and bustle of being in the house and the kitchens and organizing," Logan says, hypothesizing what the head housekeeper would have done during the pandemic.
"She likes to organize so she might be one of these people who organize deliveries to some people who can't work and have no money and can't afford to feed themselves. She'd have Mr. Carson digging up his carrots, and she'd be taking them round like Florence Nightingale. She'd be taking them 'round to the needy."
As for who else in the Downton universe would be dominating during quarantine? Logan thinks Lady Mary would have a firm handle on the crisis, but that the whole cast of characters would be doing okay.
"I think people were made of stronger, sterner stuff in those days," she says. "All of the characters would have their own way of coping with it but in a positive way. I'm trying to think who would be the best at it...Maybe Lady Mary, as she seems to be quite forthright about most things. She would probably be gripping it with both hands and planning for a future without the pandemic. She'd probably have all sorts of things up her sleeve to put into place once the danger was passed."
Downton was previously available to stream in its entirety on Amazon Prime and the PBS Passport App, it moved to Peacock this week; all six seasons of the show and the film launch on the new NBCU platform today.
Logan also hinted at the possibility of a second Downton Abbey film. "I think everybody's of a like mind. It might be possible. It's certainly not totally impossible," she says. "All I can say is, if everybody crosses their fingers, it might just happen."
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