Matthew Goode came aboard Downton Abbey in its fifth season to play Henry Talbot, who would become the second husband of Michelle Dockery’s Lady Mary Crawley. However, following a brief appearance in the first Downton Abbey movie, Goode was absent from Downton Abbey: A New Era and will not be present in Downton: Abbey: The Grand Finale when it’s released on the 2025 movies schedule. While it’s a shame Henry won’t be part of this closing chapter for the historical drama saga that’s been going since 2010, I do adore the memory he recently shared about his involvement in giving the late Maggie Smith her “favorite day on a set” on the original series.
Goode has been making the press rounds to promote his new TV show Dept. Q, which can be streamed now with a Netflix subscription. In an interview with Deadline, the actor mentioned how he has “great stories” from the sets of Downton Abbey, including the aforementioned moment with Smith, who played Lady Violet Crawley. Goode started by saying:
It was the wedding of our characters, and we shot it out very secretively somewhere out in the countryside. I think in Oxford somewhere. And our green room for 20 actors was the garden of an ex-Concorde pilot. This is going to sound jolly unprofessional, and it is a bit unprofessional, but it’s fucking funny. He came out with a bottle of rosé and just put it on the table, a bottle of Minuty, which was a nice Aix-en-Province rosé. And obviously all the other actors, they looked at it and they’re like, ‘No. Well, obviously we can’t do that.’ I’m just a bit naughty. I don’t know if it’s coming across or not. And it was really hot, and it was looking at me and the perspiration was rolling down the bottle and I said, ‘I’ll have a glass, thank you so much.’
Ok, drinking on the job normally is never a good idea, particularly if you’re an actor having to spout off a lot of lines. However, given the hot weather and that Matthew Goode presumably didn’t have to get in front of the cameras anytime soon, I also get why he asked for the glass of the rosé. He continued:
And I sat and I quaffed it bloody quickly. And I said, 'Is it OK if I have another one?' And then you started to see all the other actors, particularly the ones that didn’t have any lines that day, just a big ensemble piece, none of us had that much to do, really. So we all started drinking. We went through 22 bottles of rosé. No one was drunk. But my god, were we merry. And if you’ve made Maggie Smith happy, then it can’t be wrong.
I’m glad Maggie Smith got a kick out of the alcohol-fueled shenanigans that day, so I guess kudos to Matthew Goode for deciding to imbibe a little bit. Had all those actors and extras needed to be available for scenes soon after, then it had the potential to be a disaster. Instead, Maggie Smith ended the day with a cherished memory, and clearly it still means a lot to Goode. He concluded by saying this about the aforementioned pilot who had the garden:
He was a gentleman and it was a gorgeous house and gorgeous garden as well. And also we gave them good stories because then suddenly they’ve got a ton of half-cut, quite famous people in their garden having great fun. So, they’ve got anecdotes for the rest of their life. I wouldn’t do it again though for any future producers listening.
That’s wise of him to provide assurances that this isn’t regular behavior for him. At least Downton Abbey fans now have another wonderful moment from Maggie Smith’s life to think about. Smith’s time in the franchise came to an end in Downton Abbey: A New Era, when she passed away in 1928 surrounded by her loved ones. A New Era was released in May 2022, and in September 2024, Smith died at the age of 89.
While both the actress and her character are gone, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale will pay tribute to Maggie Smith, and Michelle Dockery described the movie as a “real tribute” to her. We’ll see how this is accomplished when The Grand Finale is released on September 12. Use your Peacock subscription to stream the original series.
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