Steam Engine Hugh

On the set of DA
Source: IG Bonhughbon

Tom and Bangarang Mary

Lady Mary debuted some new bangs while hanging with the chauffeur (ahem, former chauffeur) Allen Leech and musician Suzanne Santo out in London last night. Not sure if the new hairstyle is a personal venture for Michelle or if the hair department has ditched the Lady Mary wigs for Michelle's natural tresses but I'm sure we will soon find out! Are you loving the new look?

Who Says You Can't Go Home?

From IG: Theladydockers

     It is official! Downton Abbey has returned and so have I! I cannot begin to express how thrilled I am that this film has finally gotten the green light and they began filming today! The Wife, Michelle Dockery aka Lady Mary posted the first photo from the set (above) while trouble-makers Hugh Bonneville and Allen Leech revealed they ditched the set to go see fellow absentee Elizabeth McGovern in her play God of Carnage. But never fear, the MIA stars will be on set to film their own scenes soon, and Michelle will likely be playing hooky to attend the Emmy's this Sunday as she is nominated for her Netflix mini-series, Godless.

From IG: BonHughBon

     We know very little about the story line but details are seeping out as time goes on. Maggie Smith has been confirmed to return, though her commitment to a film had previously been questionable as she lamented that Violet would be far too old by then to carry on. This hints that the timeline probably follows the end of season 6 rather closely. Mr. Carson's real-life wife Imelda Staunton has been confirmed for the film, but they will sadly be separated in class, as she will reside upstairs and he will remain the happy little retired househusband to Mrs. Hughes at the cottage. Matthew Goode has been confirmed in the script as well, however his part will be much smaller as he has other filming commitments and is expected to pop in at the end. At least Mr. Fellowes didn't kill him off too. Sadly Lily James confirmed that Lady Rose will not be gracing the big screen since she is technically off gallivanting in New York with Atticus and her little baby. In spite of the very hush hush premise for this undoubtedly fantastic movie, Elizabeth McGovern assures us that we will "love it."

Please continue to visit for updates about the film and photos from the set! Thanks and welcome back!

Dressing Downton

Finally after an abysmal two year wait, the Dressing Downton traveling exhibit finally made its way to the West coast in lovely Anaheim. I have been waiting since it was first announced in 2015 and I was appalled at the projected timeline for a Cali appearance, but apparently places like Wisconsin and South Bend Indiana has more appeal and takes more precedence than beautiful, sunny, overcrowded, worst traffic in the nation California. This may sound a bit egotistical but since when?! Anyways, they finally landed at my back door and I couldn't wait to get to the museum! With dear mama in tow, we headed out to what was surprisingly a nearly sold out exhibit. Even after three months in SoCal the show was still selling out their tickets and we had to scramble to secure ours for this wonderful Saturday afternoon.

Because of the fact that the exhibit began running two years prior to the end of the show, the costumes from seasons 5 and 6 were not included in the showing, but the glamorous threads of seasons 1-4 stood proudly on display and I was a little geeked to be so close to the outfits worn by the various members of my favorite cast. Sadly, neither Mary nor Edith's wedding dresses were on display, as it was explained to me that they were not included in the contracted collection to be shown. Each episode can be costumed by different people, so not all the designers are consistent, but some of the names of award nominated costumers for the first four seasons are Susannah Buxton, Caroline McCall, Dulcie Scott, Heather Leat, and Poli Kyriacou. Other designers may have been Anna Robbins, Michael Weldon, and Kathryn Tart, however their names don't seem to appear until seasons 5 and 6, so I'm not sure if any of the costumes here are part of their work. But for those of you who are nowhere near the limited showings of the exhibit, here's a first hand glimpse at the Downton Duds!

Lady Mary

Matthew and Mary

Violet, Cora, and Robert

Edith

Sybil

L-R: Cora and Robert; Rose and Jack Ross; Cora and extra costumes

L-R: Martha Levinson; Martha, Violet, Edith; Violet

L-R: Footman's Livery and Mrs. Hughes; Matthew and Carlisle

Mary, Branson, Sybil, and Edith

Violet's best

Gift shop...Obviously we don't spend our Sunday nights there anymore but the castle bag was too good to pass up...I didn't get the middle one but I wanted to

Moi

 Mumsy

Our Final Emmy Night

It was an extraordinary night on Sunday as the cast and crew hit the red carpet at the Emmy Awards, but sadly it was not a statue filled night for Downton. With the exception of Maggie Smith and a few creative Emmys the weekend before, no awards were collected for the show. In my opinion, season six was probably one of the best seasons of Downton Abbey, swooping upward from the slight drag that began in season four and ending with a spectacular bang. Unfortunately the twits of the Academy did not feel similarly, but I will admit that it was a night of tough competition, one that leaves little argument for declarations of snubs and robberies. I mean let's be real, as amazing as DA was, no one was going to beat Game of Thrones and the Battle of the Bastards. No one. 

But it was a great evening, as I've said, it was wonderful to see the cast and crew together for a small reunion. At times I was in despair over not having better stalking skills to track them in LA for a few more photos and autographs (meeting Julian would have been fantastic). But I learned a hard lesson a few years back when I found that I was far too easily overwhelmed in the aggressively competitive crowds of autograph hunters that clog the streets during awards season and I need to keep my ass at home. I can only hope for the movie to be realized so I can hustle out to the premiere and bask in the glory of my beloved show revived (please note this is my official request to have the premiere in LA because I have been informed that selling my kidney on the black market to fly to London or New York would be inadvisable, so please and thanks).

With the predictable win of Maggie Smith came some gentle (?) chiding from Emmy host Jimmy Kimmel as he kindly pointed out that Maggie has made little effort no effort to attend the Emmys for her Downton nods. 

Of course she won yet again, her fourth for the show, and Jimmy reminded her that if she wanted her award, she would have to collect it from the Lost and Found. Maggie, never one to miss a perfectly timed comeback, responded in the only way Dame Maggie Smith can.

Additionally The Wife presented for the first time ever at an American Awards show (the first awards show period?) Anyways she looked wonderful

I apologize for the quality, this was literally the best I could do, a GoPro camera set up in front of my TV, let's see how long they last

Emmy Extravaganza: The Wife!

Finally the amazing babes of the Far Far Away site, after multiple delays, have posted a wonderful collection of the Downton Ladies on Emmys night! So of course, you can head over to their site for beautiful HQ photos, because there's a ton of them, but for a brief peek you can check out some of my favorites right here

So first up is of course, The Wife, because there's simply no point in denying my boundless bias for this woman any longer. Not only did she look utterly breath-taking, but she was having a blast the whole night long

Getting Ready

Photo credits IG: (L) MicaelaErlanger

(R) Chadhodge

Red Carpets Galore

Lady Mary and Lady Publicist

And Mrs. Patmore was on hand to serve tea and serve as a pillow for sleepy (drunky?) Lady Mary

Photo Credit to Lesley Nicol's Twitter

Rockin' to the theater

Pre carpet car jam with #notoriousbig #juicy #emmys

A video posted by Michelle Dockery (@theladydockers) on Sep 19, 2016 at 3:52pm PDT

Emmy Extravaganza: The Cast

Joanne Froggatt and Laura Carmichael lit up the red carpet during their arrivals to Sunday's Emmys and they both looked gorgeous. Joanne was accompanied by her husband and Laura was accompanied by rumored-but definitely not talking about it-boyfriend Michael C. Fox, who played Andy on the series. The girls both partied it up after the show and met up with their sister and boss, Michelle Dockery, aka Lady Mary