Michelle Dockery: “I’d be thrilled to do another Downton film”

“He’s the photographer of the moment,” says Dockery. “What he did this year, I just think he’s extraordinary. And more than ever, this is a time for change. And Misan is really at the helm of that. His Vogue cover is historic, and it’s a real moment.”

And how is her own industry harnessing the positive energies catalysed by BLM? Dockery – who was nominated for three consecutive Emmys for Downtown Abbey and received a fourth for Netflix’s 2017 Western series Godless – says she’s seeing it already. “There’s definitely a change in casting, and behind the camera.”

Personally, too, she recognises the need to question the status quo.

“When you’re reading a script, if there’s no definition over where the character is necessarily from, then it should be open to [actors from] all backgrounds. And I think that is being challenged much more in our industry. That is something that needs to be constantly looked at.”

Dockery spent lockdown at home in northeast London “close by” Stoke Newington. She was snapped on her doorstep in late May with Jasper Waller-Bridge, talent agent brother of Phoebe, as the couple joined in with the weekly Clap For Carers.

“In lockdown, Thursday was the day of the week, wasn’t it?” she reflects. “We really looked forward to it, and it was an opportunity for everybody to come together and applaud what the NHS and keyworkers were doing. It was an important time.”

Equally, it was a boost for blocks of flats, and streets, and neighbourhoods. At a time when we were all necessarily isolated, London, I suggest, never felt closer.

“Yeah, because you weren’t seeing anyone other than the people you were living with,” she agrees, “so it was a time to come out and see everybody else in the street. I got to know my neighbours much more. It was something I’ll never forget.” In fact, she adds, “I still feel like we should be doing it, shouldn’t we?”

That sentiment, of unstinting support for our health professionals and carers, may be born of personal experiences. In 2015 Dockery’s fiancé, John Dineen, died of cancer after a long illness. In her childhood, her mother worked as a care home assistant. I ask if that gave her extra insight into how gruelling it’s been inside the country’s care homes during the pandemic.

“Of course, that was the thing that used to play on my mind: how are people managing? I used to go with my mum when I was a little girl, I’d help her take the food in.

“It’s been a really challenging time for people,” she continues, “and I’m just in awe of the work that’s had to be put in to make sure everybody’s safe, with doctors, nurses and carers doing what they can to make the system still work during a time like this.”

All of which means that our next trip to the 1920s can’t come soon enough. After 2019’s first Downton Abbey movie proved more successful than even seasoned Crawley watchers anticipated (it grossed almost $200 million worldwide, over 10 times its reported budget), a second feature is due to go into production in spring.

“I can’t tell you that much, except that there is potentially a second film. We’ve got that far!” prevaricates Dockery with an audible smile. “It’s exciting to think that we can do another one. It felt like after the first film there was immediately an appetite for a second one.

“I’d be thrilled to get back together with the gang and do it all over again. We have so much fun doing it. But that’s all I can tell you, really!”

OK, but please tell us that granny – the Dowager Countess of Grantham, played by Dame Maggie Smith – doesn’t die.

“Ha ha ha!” hoots Dockery in a cheerfully un-ladylike manner. “I’m not giving any story away to you! You’ll just have to see.”

Michelle Dockery fronts the new Glenfiddich Grand Cru campaign "reimagining a contemporary future for whisky"