00:00Is 90 a lot of complaints, really, in your book about the rape scene in Downton?
00:05Well, I don't, you know, not in an audience of, I mean, I think it's now about 10 million,
00:10it'll roll up to about 12 when they take in all the iPlayers. I think if 90 people are unhappy
00:16and 11 million, 999,000 or whatever it is, are OK. I mean, I want them to be unhappy. I
00:25don't want
00:26this to be a minor event in the history of the show. This is a character we love who has
00:31been
00:31seriously attacked. And the response should be unhappiness and I hope involvement. And I hope
00:38as she makes this, you know, to use Tony Blair's word, journey, that we will follow her through
00:45that journey. And I hope it is useful and helpful as well as interesting. I mean, I'm sorry, of course,
00:53if people are unhappy, but we were very careful not to do it in the ordinary television way of
00:59having some gruesome scene where you see everything. I mean, you saw nothing. It's just that you know
01:04what's happened. And that's what we're interested in, is the emotional response to what's happened.
01:10Is it significant that, of course, Downton is so much in the national consciousness that there'd be
01:15such an outcry, even, you know, anything like this? Well, I mean, you know, on a certain level,
01:19of course, it's very flattering to think. I mean, these things happen three times a night on every
01:26day of the week on television, and you don't read about them. So there is some something kind of
01:32rewarding in feeling that the characters are so taken into the public's heart that they really are
01:38sort of personally aggrieved at what's happened to them. And I, you know, I love them for that.
01:44So I just hope they'll sort of keep faith with us. And for I mean, Anna's in a terrible position,
01:51because apart from anything else, she thinks if Mr. Bates finds out, he'll do something stupid,
01:57and possibly ruin his life. So how does she deal with that? You know, and again, I think that's a
02:05situation modern people have to face. To what extent are they entitled to plunge everyone they
02:11know into this? People talk very simply on chat shows about, oh, well, you must immediately report
02:16everything to police. But it's terribly complicated when you're caught in the middle of all that.
02:21And you're trying to do what's right, but you're also very shocked and very hurt. You know, and I hope,
02:29if it's not too ambitious to say it, that how Anna deals with it will be useful. I mean,
02:34if we help one person, then it's worth it.
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