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'Downton was a lovely adventure.'

3 May 2016

‘I am potentially lazy and I need to be driven. Some people bounce out of bed and can't wait to start working. I'm not like that. I work because I have to work - I promised such-and-such for the 17th and I've got to get it finished. That's part of who I am...

Downton was a lovely adventure. We were on this incredible magic carpet ride. It was an extraordinary experience and when I'm old and dying it will be one of those things I remember and bore my grandchildren with...

As a writer, you're supposed to be this incredibly sensitive person picking up every nuance of human behaviour. Yet you also need to be Attila the Hun with a skin as thick as a trunk. I did find the personal attacks quite hard. It was like a cat playing with a vole...

In this industry you're just trying to be undisappointing.'

Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey, whose latest project is Belgravia, available as a serial in 11 episodes from the website or a downloadable app, in the Sunday Telegraph.