Sunday With: Julian Fellowes

As millions prepare to tune in to the final episode of Downton Abbey March 6 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS, creator and executive producer Julian Fellowes, 66, reflects on his six seasons as the show’s sole writer, reveals what’s next for him and discusses his Sunday routine at his historic manor house in Dorset, England.

What’s your typical Sunday like?

Saturdays and Sundays are the only days we can sleep late. I like a proper breakfast—bacon and eggs and toast and marmalade. I’m Catholic, and I always feel I’ve sort of touched base a bit if I go to church. I like the kind of reassurance of it. I also like Sunday lunch: roast chicken, roast beef, roast lamb. In the afternoon, we walk along the river. In the winter, I always think tea is important; you can see food plays a pretty major part in my life. And then in the evening, we don’t often go out on Sunday, so it’s a nice night for supper on a tray in front of a movie or something at home. And then I sink contented into my comfortable bed.

What do you watch on Sundays?

We would watch Downton Abbey, but of course that’s done now [in England]. We watch Academy [Award] movies if it’s that time of the year, because I like to cast my vote, and I’m always keen to have seen all contenders in every category I vote in.

Why do you think Americans fell so hard for Downton Abbey?

The truth is, I don’t really know. I’m thrilled and delighted that they have, and they’ve proved to be among our most loyal fans. I couldn’t be more grateful. I think one of the winning elements of the show is that we didn’t differentiate between the characters. We let the audience choose from any one of these 20
or so men and women. And we treated them all equally.

Which character did you identify with most?

In a way, they’re all me. I write by putting myself in their situation and thinking, If I were this man, if I were this woman, what would I think about that? In a sense, I’m the parent of all of them.

Are you ready to say goodbye?

I think it’s certainly a peak of my career and very possibly the peak of my career. So to say goodbye to it is sad in a way. But we’re going while some people will be sorry to see the back of us, and I think that’s right. Don’t wait until everyone’s longing for you to go.

Have we really seen the last of Lord Grantham and his family?

There’s talk of a film, a play or a musical. I don’t know if any of these things will come to pass. Nevertheless, we may not have seen the end of them. But I have seen the end of having to produce 11 hours of television every year.

Your next big TV project, The Gilded Age for NBC later this year, explores the world of American robber barons. Why turn your attention to America?

You have this extraordinary surge after the Civil War of enormous fortunes that people made in shipping and oil and railways. At the same time, there was a sense of America taking its place in the world. It could square its shoulders and move forward to take up its position as the dominant power of the coming century.

That’s certainly ripe territory for drama.

In that new confidence and those great fortunes you find this extraordinary renaissance period of artistic patronage and moneymaking, and a sort of development of a European aristocratic way of life, but in an American style. Rather like the [American] girls who went over and married English noblemen, they injected energy into a world that was in need of energy. The Old World was dying, and America was just getting ready to fly!

The Ultimate Downton Abbey Quiz

Fellowes 411

On his nightstand: Love Fiercely: A Gilded Age Romance

Favorite newspaper: The Sunday Times

Favorite condiment: “I’m a very big aficionado of marmalade. Only homemade, that’s the rule.” (He gave this preference to Maggie Smith’s character in the 2002 movie Gosford Park, whose character was based on his great-aunt. She sniffs, “Bought marmalade—I call that very feeble.”)

Dream dinner date: “My wife. Number 2, Marilyn Monroe, an enduring fascination for me. And after her, Marie Antoinette, if my French was better.”

Favorite snack: “Small, beautifully made sandwiches”

Hot ticket: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest Broadway musical, School of Rock, for which Fellowes wrote the script

On his desk: MacBook Pro laptop. “I sit down in front of my computer in the morning after breakfast and bang on, and stop for lunch, and bang on again. That’s the only way I can get it done.”

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