Interview: DOWNTON ABBEY'S Dan Stevens and Cara Theobold

With the return of its all-star cast plus guest star Academy Award®-winner Shirley MacLaine, DOWNTON ABBEY, Season 3 airs over seven Sundays on PBS beginning on January 6, 2013. BWW brings you a series of interviews with the award-winning cast of this popular PBS series. Next up, actors Dan Stevens and Cara Theobold.

AN INTERVIEW WITH Dan Stevens

The plot point in series three of Downton Abbey that most excited Dan Stevens was nothing to do with marriages, inheritances or scandals. It was getting to play some cricket, 1920s style.

Stevens is a keen cricketer himself, and loves the game. He says getting dressed up in flannels and striding out to the middle at Highclere’s own cricket pitch was a dream come true.

“It was perfection. I was all padded up, out in the middle, had an entire team of extras bowling at me and fielding. And when I got out, I was able to stay in so we could do another take.”

Apart from making a few runs, however, Matthew Crawley has some other rather pressing matters to cope with this series.

“Firstly it’s preparations for the wedding. Obviously we left after getting engaged at the end of the Christmas episode last year. And now he’s looking to settle down with Mary.”

Matthew is also looking to find his role in the estate he is set to inherit.

“It’s a question of whether they’re going to stick around or not. Matthew’s a bit iffy about staying in the house. I think he wants a certain amount of independence before taking on Downton. So I think it’s his idea that maybe they’ll go and live elsewhere. And then as the series progresses he gets a bit more involved with the estate and sees a few weak spots in the management.”

Having to face up to organisational problems that previously they had been able to ignore was a common problem for large estates between the wars.

“I think a lot of houses of about this time, throughout the last century had to reappraise the way they were doing things. You just have to accept that a lot of these houses were just eating into their capital.”

The question is whether Matthew is able to – and indeed wants to – do anything about it.

“There’s a slight lack of sensitivity on Matthew’s part that I think, occasionally shows its face... well let’s just say he doesn’t always pick his moments in the best way. So, yes, that’s a big part of what he’s up to this year.”

Matthew’s relationship with Mary, so often a source of fireworks and heartbreak, has evolved, says Stevens.

“His relationship with Mary has changed. They’ve both matured a little. I think it’s that growing sense of responsibility becoming more of a reality. The older they get the further on it goes and the more involved he gets in the estate.”