24 S MAGAZINE ★ 25 AUGUST 2019
a man and her instinct was to save
him. Now she’s left not knowing
what to do.”
Kate has now swapped her
Brummie glad rags for a fancy frock
to play Princess Mary, daughter of
King George V (Simon Jones) and
Queen Mary (Geraldine James) in the
movie Downton Abbey. The Royal
family pays a visit to the castle and
causes quite a stir among the
Crawley family and their staff.
“I shot Downton and Peaky Blinders
almost simultaneously in the autumn
of last year. They’re set in the same
time [the 1920s] but they’re very
different worlds,” she says. “I play
plain Princess Mary in the English
countryside and Linda Shelby in the
heart of Birmingham,”
Already a fan of Downton Abbey,
the actress brushed up on her history
and had a lesson in etiquette for the
part. “The Royal family believed that
they were a service to their country.
They were not glamorous people,”
she says. “I learnt how to stand and
behave properly at dinner. The way
you hold yourself completely changes
your energy.”
A fan of the show, Kate was
welcomed into the Downton
family with open arms when she
joined the likes of Dame Maggie
Smith, Hugh Bonneville and Michelle
Dockery on set at Highclere Castle.
“Downton gives me a warm, fuzzy
feeling,” says Kate. “It felt surreal
that I would be a little part of that
world. On the first day of filming I
walked across the lawns and toward
the iconic castle. It was a proper
pinch-me moment.”
Looking at her CV, it would be
reasonable to assume Kate has an
affinity for a period drama. But this
is not the case, she insists. It is all
a complete coincidence.
“I’ve gone where the work is,” she
says. “The most contemporary drama
I’ve done, The Crown, was set in- I’m forever in these worlds
that don’t look like our own. They’re
all period costume dramas, from
Tudor to the Napoleonic era. While
they’re not modern, every project had
a different challenge.”
Kate appeared in the first season
of The Crown as Venetia Scott, a
plucky young secretary who worked
for Winston Churchill (John Lithgow)
in Downing Street. One of the few
fictional characters in the drama,
Venetia fell victim to the Great
Smog that plagued London in
December 1952.
“I’d like to give a big shout out
to John Lithgow,” says Kate,
animatedly. “He is, among the many
wonderful people I’ve worked with,
the fab human beings, one of the
kindest and most generous men
I know. I adore him. Watching him
embody Churchill was really special.”
Then, of course, there’s Claire Foy,
who plays the Queen in the Netflix
series. In her first TV role, Kate was
able to watch the actress at work as
the infamous Anne Boleyn.
“I was very lucky to star in Wolf Hall.It was a nice way into the industry,”
she reflects. “I spent a lot of time in
the background, sewing, as a lady in
waiting. Just observing Claire was a
real joy. She puts so much fun and
energy into her work while also being
professional and brilliant. It really
taught me a lot about the kind of
actress I wanted to be.”
The audition for Wolf Hall was
Kate’s first. Taken on during her third
year of drama school, the budding
actress dressed the part (or so she
thought) and printed out the script for
every single episode – just in case.
She smiles, “Looking back, I think
I was very overdressed. But I was
beyond nervous. If Peter [Kosminsky,
the director] hadn’t given me that
chance, I don’t know what I’d be
doing now.”
On Kate’s first day on the set,
the director announced to the cast
and crew she had got the part,
immediately putting her at ease.
“Peter recognises the nerves and
anxiety that you experience in those
BBC first couple of days on set,” KateIn Tudor drama
Wolf Hall as
Jane SeymourKate plays Eliza in
Miss Scarlet And The Duke“I look at the
range of women
I’ve been able to
play and feel
very fortunate”