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Sophie McShera

Sophie McShera: born 1985

Sophie McShera cleans up nicely in real life

Sophie McShera says it’s easy to look good in real life after playing shy, greasy haired Daisy on Downton Abbey. McShera’s television career started in 2007 with a minor part on long running soap opera Emmerdale. She also worked on Doctors and Survivors in 2008. Her biggest role before Downton Abbey came when she joined the regular cast of the BBC school drama Waterloo Road, playing A-level student Ros McCain. Sophie McShera joined the cast of Downton Abbey after leaving Waterloo Road.

McShera started acting as a hobby. Her brother Liam was taking tennis lessons and she signed up for drama classes at Footsteps Theatre School in Eccleshill. The theatre had five girls auditioning for The Goodbye Girl in London, but one of the girls couldn’t go. They needed someone with an American accent to audition. Sophie spent the summer watching Saved by the Bell and felt she could pull it off. She got the job. After that she played the role of Annie in the musical and ended up doing a national tour with her Irish grandmother as a chaperone. Look for Sophie McShera in 2013 on the ITV sitcom The Job Lot, set in a busy unemployment bureau.

Downton Abbey costs an average of one million pounds per episode to produce.

As of 2013, Downton Abbey is the highest rated PBS "Masterpiece" drama series of all time, seen by an estimated 120 million viewers in 200 countries and regions.

Gillian Anderson reportedly turned down the part of Lady Cora Grantham.

The real estate that "plays" Downton Abbey, Highclere Castle, has been the home of the Carnarvon family since 1679. In 1922, George Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, co-discovered the Tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun. On the show, the names of the Earl of Grantham's beloved dogs, Isis and Pharaoh, are nods to the real castle's connection to Egyptian history.

According to Julian Fellowes, the parts played by Hugh Bonneville, Brendan Coyle and Maggie Smith were written for the actors.

It was reported that Steven Waddington auditioned for the part of Bates.

When Downton Abbey first aired, Julian Fellowes (creator and producer) was annoyed at the media for pointing out anachronisms like TV aerials and the use of the word 'boyfriend'. (The word 'boyfriend appeared in print in 1889, long before the period setting of Downton). Fellowes said "they think to show how smart they are by picking holes in the program to promote their own poshness and to show that their knowledge is greater than your knowledge". In a later article coinciding with the start of the second season, Fellowes apologised and commented "I behaved rather badly by getting the hump."

Sophie McShera

Sophie McShera: born 1985

Downton Abbey Trivia

Hunks of Downton Abbey

Extras

Shirley Maclaine Interview