Downton’s Cast in Other Period Dramas

Willow and Thatch

7 years ago

Do you miss watching your favorite Downton Abbey characters?

We can help. Many of Downton’s actors have been in costume dramas before (and after!) Downton Abbey. Here are suggestions of period movies and television mini-series to watch after Downton, all based on the cast members and creator of the PBS Masterpiece period drama that stole our hearts.

Downton Abbey, courtesy ITV for Masterpiece

To help keep this site running: Willow and Thatch may receive a commission when you click on any of the links on our site and make a purchase after doing so.

The first list is made up of all the historical / costume / period dramas the cast of Downton Abbey have appeared in (as of January 2018).

The second list contains information about period dramas with two or more Downton cast members, and has an infographic you can enlarge to see how cast of the movies and series connect.

It didn’t make the infographic in time, but now there’s news that Lily James, Penelope Wilton, Jessica Brown Findlay and Matthew Goode will all appear in the upcoming The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which is based on the New York Times Bestseller.

The third list is composed of the other period dramas that Downton’s creator Julian Fellowes has been involved with (as of January 2018).

Period Dramas with the Downton Abbey cast

Below is the list of the costume dramas, period television movies and mini-series in which the stars of Downton Abbey have appeared – from bit parts to starring roles. There are some historical docudramas and period comedies in here as well. When possible, the titles are linked to where you can stream the costume drama online, watch trailers, and/or buy the DVD. You’ll find some rare, obscure, out-of-print titles here too.

Some of these films were only released in the UK, so you’ll need a good, affordable multi-region DVD player like this one to watch the PAL/Region 2 discs. It is guaranteed to play both PAL/NTSC DVDs from any Country or any Region 0-6. For any period drama lover who is building a DVD library of their own, it seems well worth the $40.00 or so to be able to watch all these gems.

Hugh Bonneville (Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham)

Mansfield Park (1999), Madame Bovary (2000) BBC, The Cazalets (2001), Doctor Zhivago (2002), Daniel Deronda (2002), Stage Beauty (2004), Beau Brummell: This Charming Man (2006), Miss Austen Regrets (2008), Lost in Austen (2008), From Time to Time (2009), The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses (2016), Viceroy’s House (2017), Breathe (2017)

Elizabeth McGovern (Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham)

Ragtime (1981), The Wings of the Dove (1997), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999), The House of Mirth (2000), Daphne (2007) BBC, A Room with a View (2007), Cheerful Weather for the Wedding (2012), Woman in Gold (2015), The Chaperone (2018)

Maggie Smith (Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham)

Othello (1965), Much Ado About Nothing (1967), Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Travels with my Aunt (1972), The Millionairess (1972) BBC, Death on the Nile (1978), Evil Under the Sun (1982), The Missionary (1982), A Private Function (1984), A Room with a View (1985), The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987), The Secret Garden (1993), Richard III (1995), Washington Square (1997), Tea with Mussolini (1999), The Last September (1999), All the King’s Men (1999) BBC, David Copperfield (1999) BBC, Gosford Park (2001), Ladies in Lavender (2004), Capturing Mary (2007) BBC, Becoming Jane (2007), From Time to Time (2009)

Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary Crawley)

Fingersmith (2005) BBC, The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009), Return to Cranford (2009) BBC, The Turn of the Screw (2009) BBC, The Hollow Crown (2012) BBC, Anna Karenina (2012), Restless (2012) BBC, Godless (2017)

Dan Stevens (Matthew Crawley)

Frankenstein (2004), The Line of Beauty (2006) BBC, Dracula (2006) BBC, Marple: Nemesis (2007), Sense & Sensibility (2007) BBC, The Turn of the Screw (2009) BBC, Summer in February (2013), Beauty and the Beast (2017), The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)

Matthew Goode (Henry Talbot)

South from Granada (2003), He Knew He Was Right (2004) BBC, Marple: A Murder is Announced (2005) BBC, My Family and Other Animals (2005) BBC, Copying Beethoven (2006), Brideshead Revisited (2008), Birdsong (2012), Dancing on the Edge (2013), Belle (2013), Death Comes to Pemberley (2013), The Imitation Game (2014), Roots (2016), Allied (2016), The Crown (2017), The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)

Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith Crawley)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Madame Bovary (2014), A United Kingdom (2016), Man in an Orange Shirt (2017)

Penelope Wilton (Isobel Crawley)

Country Matters (1972), The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981), Othello (1981) BBC, King Lear (1982) BBC, The Monocled Mutineer (1986) BBC, Carrington (1995), Wives and Daughters (1999) BBC, Victoria & Albert (2001) BBC, Pride & Prejudice (2005), Marple: They Do it with Mirrors (2009), South Riding (2011) BBC, Belle (2013), Zoo (2018), The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)

Samantha Bond (Lady Rosamund Painswick)

Mansfield Park (1983) BBC, Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced (1985) BBC, Rumpole of the Bailey (1987), The Ginger Tree (1989), Emma (1996), Fanny Hill (2007), Lark Rise to Candleford (2009) BBC, The Queen (2009), Agatha Christie’s Marple: Why Didn’t They Ask Evans (2009), Home Fires (2015), Murdoch Mysteries (2016)

Jessica Brown Findlay (Lady Sybil Crawley)

Labyrinth (2012), Jamaica Inn (2014), The Outcast (2015), Victor Frankenstein (2015), Harlots (2017), The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)

Lily James (Lady Rose MacClare)

Cinderella (2015), Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016), War & Peace (2016), The Exception (2016), Darkest Hour (2017), The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)

Allen Leech (Tom Branson)

Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor (2003), Rome (2007), From Time to Time (2009), The Tudors (2010), The Imitation Game (2014)

David Robb (Dr. Clarkson)

Villette (1970), Conduct Unbecoming (1975), The Glittering Prizes (1976) BBC, Romeo and Juliet (1976), I, Claudius (1976) BBC, The Cedar Tree (1976), The Standard (1977), The Four Feathers (1978), Wuthering Heights (1978) BBC, The Legend of King Arthur (1979), Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (1980), The Flame Trees of Thika (1981), Ivanhoe (1982), Morte d’Arthur (1984), The Last Days of Pompeii (1984), Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story (1985), First Among Equals (1986), The Deceivers (1988), Parnell & the Englishwoman (1988), Behind the Lines (1997), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Roman Mysteries (2007), Sharpe’s Peril (2008) BBC, The Young Victoria (2009), From Time to Time (2009), Garrow’s Law (2009), Wolf Hall (2015), Against the Law (2017)

Harry Hadden-Paton (Bertie Pelham)

The Hollow Crown (2012) BBC, Versailles (2017), The Crown (2017)

Jim Carter (Charles Carson)

A Private Function (1984), The Monocled Mutineer (1986), Lost Empires (1986), A Month in the Country (1987), The Tenth Man (1988), Christabel (1988) BBC, The Rainbow (1989), Precious Bane (1989), The Fool (1990), Stalin (1992), A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1992), Lipstick on Your Collar (1993), The Advocate (1993), The Madness of King George (1994), Richard III (1995), A Merry War (1997), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1997), Shakespeare in Love (1998), Legionnaire (1998), The Scarlet Pimpernel (2000), The Way We Live Now (2001) BBC, Hornblower: Duty (2003), Helen of Troy (2003), Bright Young Things (2003), Pompeii: The Last Day (2003), Von Trapped! (2004), Modigliani (2004), The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton (2006), Burlesque Fairytales (2009), Creation (2009), Cranford (2007) BBC, My Week with Marilyn (2011), Return to Cranford (2009) BBC, Knightfall (2017), King Lear (2018)

Phyllis Logan (Mrs. Hughes)

The White Bird Passes (1980), Another Time, Another Place (1983), The Doctor and the Devils (1985), The Inquiry (1987), The Kitchen Toto (1987), And a Nightingale Sang (1989), Silent Cries (1993), All the King’s Men (1999) BBC, Uncovering the Real Dickens (2002) BBC, The Real Jane Austen (2002) BBC, Poirot: Sad Cypress (2003), The Royal (2008)

Brendan Coyle (John Bates)

The Glass Virgin (1995), Rebel Heart (2001) BBC, North & South (2004) BBC, Allegiance (2005), Lark Rise to Candleford (2008), The Raven (2012), Murdoch Mysteries: A Merry Murdoch Christmas (2015), The Rising: 1916 (2016), Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

Joanne Froggatt (Anna Bates)

Lorna Doone (2000) BBC, Island at War (2004), Robin Hood (2009) BBC, Dark Angel (2016), Mary Shelley (2018)

Lesley Nicol (Mrs. Patmore)

Black Adder II (1986) BBC, The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe (1988) BBC, The Grand (1998), Marple: A Murder is Announced(2005) BBC

Sophie McShera (Daisy Mason)

Cinderella (2015), Galavant (2015), Timewasters (2017)

Kevin Doyle (Joseph Molesley)

Shine on Harvey Moon (1984), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1996), The Libertine (2004), Foyle’s War (2007), The Royal (2007), Good (2008), The Tudors (2009), Room at the Top (2012), The Crimson Field (2014), A.D. The Bible Continues (2015)

Raquel Cassidy (Baxter)

Land Girls (2011), Cliffs of Freedom (2018)

Douglas Reith (Lord Merton)

An Englishman Abroad (1983) BBC, The Prince and the Pauper (1996), Elizabeth I (2005), The Queen’s Sister (2005), Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (2006) BBC, Enid (2009), W.E. (2011), Outlander (2017)

Paul Copley (Mr. Mason)

Days of Hope (1975) BBC, A Bridge Too Far (1977), Secret Army (1977) BBC, Treasure Island (1977), A Christmas Carol (1977), Zulu Dawn (1979), Tenko (1984) BBC, Silas Marner (1985) BBC, War and Remembrance (1988), Wonderworks: Young Charlie Chaplin (1989), The Remains of the Day (1993), Jude (1996), Horatio Hornblower: The Duel (1998), Horatio Hornblower: The Fire Ship (1998), Horatio Hornblower: The Duchess and the Devil (1999), Horatio Hornblower: The Wrong War (1999), Hornblower: Mutiny / Retribution (2001), Hornblower: Duty (2003), Born and Bred (2004) BBC, The Shadow in the North (2007), The Royal (2011), The Sound of Music Live (2015), Call the Midwife (2016)

Siobhan Finneran (Sarah O’Brien)

The Royal (2006)

Rob James-Collier (Thomas Barrow)

Sorry, he hasn’t been in any other period dramas as far as I know!

Downton Abbey Cast Connections

There are some period dramas in which two or more stars of Downton have appeared together; or which were written by Julian Fellowes and have one or more Downton characters cast in their roles, as of April 2016. Click on the title of the film to see its availability on DVD, click Watch the TRAILER or Available to STREAM to watch the movie online.

For these films see the Willow and Thatch Downton Abbey Cast Connections info-graphic below, and read the key below for a full explanation. This was fun – and maddening – to figure out; if you like it, please share it! Click to enlarge.

Willow and Thatch Downton Abbey Cast Connections Key

Reading from top, clockwise

From Time to Time (2009): From Time To Time is a haunting ghost story spanning two world, two centuries apart. With World War II finally coming to an end and his Father still missing in action, Tolly is sent to stay with his estranged Grandmother in their ancestral home. There he discovers he can mysteriously travel between the two worlds and begins an adventure that unlocks family secrets laid buried for generations. He must solve these mysteries to safeguard their future and reunite the family once again.

From Time to Time, courtesy Fragile Films

The Downton Connection: With Hugh Bonneville (Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham), Maggie Smith (Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham), David Robb (Dr. Clarkson), and Allen Leech (Tom Branson), brought to us by Julian Fellowes.

Watch the TRAILER.

All the King’s Men (1999) BBC: The true story of England’s vanished regiment is revealed. It is one of the most compelling and curious legends of the First World War. Led by Captain Frank Beck (David Jason), a favorite agent of King George V, Sandringham Company was comprised entirely of servants, grooms and gardeners from the King’s Norfolk Estate. On August 12, 1915 the unit marched into battle against the Turks in Gallipoli and simply vanished, never to be heard from again. Queen Alexandra, played by Dame Maggie Smith (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, A Room with a View), was the driving force behind the investigation into the real fate of the battalion. But despite her extensive inquires, no trace of the men was ever discovered. Now, All the King’s Men brings the details of what really happened in 1915 to the screen for the first time. It tells the story of these amateur soldiers, the idyllic life and loves they left behind in the quintessential English country estate and the horrors of an ill-prepared campaign to which they were subjected.

Shown on PBS Masterpiece Theatre.

The Downton Connection: With Maggie Smith (Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham) and Phyllis Logan (Mrs. Hughes).

A Private Function (1984): In the summer of 1947, Britain prepares to commemorate the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. To get around food-rationing laws, Dr. Charles Swaby (Denholm Elliott), accountant Henry Allardyce (Richard Griffiths) and solicitor Frank Lockwood (John Normington) are fattening a black-market pig for the big day. Egged on by his wife (Maggie Smith), meek Gilbert Chilvers (Michael Palin) steals the swine, but the couple must conceal it from inspector Morris Wormold (Bill Paterson).

A Private Function, courtesy of HandMade Films

The Downton Connection: With Maggie Smith (Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham), and Jim Carter (Charles Carson).

Watch the TRAILER.

The Young Victoria (2009): As the only legitimate heir of England’s King William, teenage Victoria (Emily Blunt) gets caught up in the political machinations of her own family. Victoria’s mother (Miranda Richardson) wants her to sign a regency order, while her Belgian uncle schemes to arrange a marriage between the future monarch and Prince Albert (Rupert Friend), the man who will become the love of her life.

The Downton Connection: With David Robb (Dr. Clarkson), and brought to us by Julian Fellowes.