Dan Stevens makes Broadway debut - and it's all thanks to Downton

The actor took to the New York stage in The Heiress, an adaptation of Henry James’s novel Washington Square, on Saturday. He was chosen for the role, opposite Hollywood actress Jessica Chastain, following the success of Downton Abbey in America.

The British show has won a series of Emmy awards in the past two years.

Stevens, who plays Downton heir Matthew Crawley, said: “I have Downton to thank a huge amount. It is possibly bigger here [in the US] than back home, and the way it works is you need a bit of profile to get roles in theatre. Even politicians talk about Downton. It’s like, ‘Really? You don’t have a country to run?’”

He added: “You grow up dreaming of Broadway. When this play came along with this role and this cast, it was an absolute no-brainer.”

The Heiress, which has its official opening on November 1 at The Walter Kerr Theatre in Times Square, is being touted as one of the hits of the new season. It tells the tale of naïve young Catherine Sloper (Chastain, 35, also making her debut), who is torn between her dominant father (David Strathairn) and her lover, played by Stevens. It is a revival of the 1947 play by Ruth and Augustus Goetz.

Stevens, 29, said his character, fortune-hunter Morris Townsend, is similar to Matthew Crawley — who saved the day in last night’s episode by using an inheritance to secure the future of Downton Abbey: “They’re both middle-class outsiders. But Crawley is walking into a huge amount of wealth and Morris isn’t.”

The Croydon-born actor has also been hopping back to London to be a judge of the Man Booker Prize. On October 16 the show will take a night off from previews so he can return to select a winner: “I don’t know how I’ve been able to fit it all in. Being a judge has been exhausting but exhilarating.”