On-set historian Alastair Bruce put the actors playing the aristocrats and those playing the servants in separate rooms when he spoke with them about what the time period was like, and because the servants film mostly at Ealing Studios, they don't often see the actors playing the upper-crust family who film at Highclere Castle. Siobhan Finneran, who plays maid Sarah O'Brien, says there's genuine camaraderie between the actors playing the servants. "I loved filming all the scenes round the servants' hall table," Finneran said. "We all get on very well and there's such a good atmosphere there, where you can get a bit lost at Highclere."
By Patrick van IJzendoorn
