Downton Abbey banquets are real... but cold

A star of Downton Abbey has revealed that the cast tuck into real banquets while filming dining room scenes.

Laura Carmichael, 25, who plays Lady Edith Crawley, said the ITV period drama actors, who include Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern, dined on genuine foods from 1916 including quail and vegetable soup.

Carmichael said: "We eat all sorts. We had quail one day, it was real quail, it was cold. It was the first time I'd tried quail and I enjoyed it.

"That makes it sound all very posh and glamorous but we also had cold vegetable soup which did feel like vomit in the mouth."

Bonneville, 47, who plays Lord Grantham, had a particularly big appetite for the delicacies, she said, and would "eat the whole plate". Hugh does like to tuck in, I'm sure he won't mind me saying."

Downton Abbey, now in its second series, was Carmichael's first acting job and she said she couldn't get over her luck.

She added: "I'm constantly pinching myself."