To think that Hugh Bonneville was not the right choice to play Lord Grantham?

[BupcakesandCunting]

He isn't really patrician-looking enough. He seems more like a very posh cuddly bear than a lord. When Downton first came about and I saw Hugh Bonneville was to be involved, I thought he would be playing a butler, like Carson.

I think that Ralph Fiennes or similar would have been better and I think he is the only bit of weak casting in the show. He just doesn't convince me.

Hugh Bonneville is not the problem with Downton. It's the breathless blink-or-you'll miss it storylines and the sometimes crap dialogue. IMHO.

He was great in 2012, which shows he can act. He is just pompous in Downton, which I don't think was what they were going for.

Compare and contrast the quality of Gosford Park - which had subtlety, with Downton, which couldn't sustain its quality after the first series.

I will probably still watch it though ....

I saw Hugh Bonneville as a butler in something the other night but can't remember what it was, unfortunately.

And the chap who plays Carson was Pecksniff once in Martin Chuzzlewit. I can never remember the actor's name so, to me, he's always Pecksniff!

Who's that Scottish (?) fellow who marries the maid who helped move the body in the first series? I don't like him. He breathes really heavily through his nose before he speaks, every time, like Leslie Grantham. Don't like him at all.

Bates. People are mad for Bates. You'll be in trouble for comparing him to Dirty Den .

I liked mr Pamuk. Mary needs a few more night time Pamuks and less Matthew Crawleys.

He is nose breathey. Most definitely.

I liked Mr Pamuk too. But I have a massive, massive crush on Sybil. I think her voice is amazing, every time I watch it I try to subtley alter my screechy Margatian tones voice to sound like hers but I just end up sounding like someone's standing on my neck

Sybil has a lovely voice, posh, low and husky.

And you're right Bates is a bit of a heavy breather and also a nostril flarer. I liked him in the first series when he was sitting in his sad little bedroom crying after being fired. That was a bit of a moment.

But when I saw him in bed with parlour maid wife I felt a bit 'ugghh'.

sybil and edith are the only decent ones out of the lot of them. saw jessica findley brown (aka sybil) in albatross the other day and thought she was really rather good.

the thing that annoys me most about downton is how the family are so involved in the servants lives, always going downstairs for little visits...that wouldnt have happened!

Who the fuck drools over Nigel Havers?

Who?

That other guy looks just like H Bonneville. You know, Cold Feet posho. He'd have been good.

Me. I drool over Nige Havers.

Problem?

This Cold Feet posho? He plays Strallan, Lady Edith (who I love)'s future chap I hope.

Havers looks like a posh rodent.

I offer that free to his agent if ever Disney come calling.

Oh squoosh me too, made me squirm.

Nigel Havers looks precisely like a posh rodent. I do think he'd be better in the role than Hugh, though.