How many Downton Abbey actors (and producers!) have also been in Bible movies?
The list is long, and includes Hugh Bonneville, Penelope Wilton, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Kevin Doyle, James Faulkner... and series creator Julian Fellowes!
A few months ago, I posted a list, complete with pictures, of actors from the Star Wars universe who have also appeared in Bible movies and TV shows.
Then, about a month ago, I posted a list of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts actors who have also worked in the Bible-movie genre.
As I started to think about what other franchises I could look at for Bible-movie overlaps, one possibility kept coming to mind: Downton Abbey. It’s not sci-fi or fantasy, and it might not feel like a conventional franchise, but it’s very British—and if there’s one thing you get a lot of in Bible movies, it’s British actors.
In fact, Downton Abbey was created by a British actor (and writer), Julian Fellowes, who happened to play the emperor Nero in a biblical TV-movie back in 1981. That was two decades before Fellowes won an Oscar for writing Gosford Park, a story about British servants and aristocrats that became the inspiration for Downton Abbey.
The more I thought about this, the more I realized I had seen quite a few of the show’s actors—including some of the regulars, from Hugh Bonneville and Jim Carter to Penelope Wilton and Phyllis Logan—in Bible movies, too. I even got to interview one of them—James Faulkner, who plays Lady Rose’s Jewish father-in-law Lord Sinderby—when he played the lead role in Paul, Apostle of Christ five years ago.
So, that settled it. Downton Abbey was the next “franchise” I had to look at.
A few quick points:
As before, I limited my search to all the credited actors, and I did not investigate any of the actors who were listed at the IMDb as “uncredited”.
The “Bible films” I was interested in were films and TV shows that adapt biblical narratives; this includes basically fictitious stories that have some biblical plot points, like Ben-Hur, as well as films that stage biblical stories in modern settings (with modern clothes, etc.), like The People’s Passion and The Gospel of Us.
Films with a more tenuous connection to the Bible, like The Da Vinci Code, Good Omens, or Holy Flying Circus, are listed under ‘Honourable Mentions’.
The Downton Abbey actor with the most Bible-movie experience is easily James Faulkner, who has at least three Bible-movie credits to his name, arguably four if you count his performance as Herod Agrippa in I, Claudius. (In that case, the character is biblical—see Acts 12—even if the miniseries is not.)
The Bible movies with the most Downton Abbey actors are The Bible, A.D. The Bible Continues, and the 2010 version of Ben-Hur, with three actors apiece. Three films from The Bible Collection are also represented here, one of them twice.
This was a fun list to compile, and it was especially fun to figure out who some of the more obscure characters were in some of the older films.
I want to thank my friend Matt Page for checking his copy of the Jesus of Nazareth novelization to help me figure out exactly which fictitious member of the Sanhedrin a certain actor played (the character’s name is in the credits, but it is never spoken in the dialogue, so the novelization helped us figure out who spoke which lines); and I especially want to thank David Maybrick and Paul Prescott for answering my electronic queries and helping me to confirm precisely which ‘Roman Soldier’ and ‘Man in Crowd’ they played in The Passion and Son of Man, respectively.1
And now, without further ado, the list, with the actors listed under the season or movie in which they made their first appearances:
The series
Downton Abbey series 1: 1912-1914 (2010)
Hugh Bonneville (Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham) played Pontius Pilate in Ben-Hur (2010).
Penelope Wilton (Isobel Crawley) played Mary in The Passion (2008).
Jim Carter (Mr Charles Carson) played Afranius in Incident in Judaea (1992).
Phyllis Logan (Mrs Elsie Hughes) played Claudia Procula in The Inquiry (1987).
Kevin Doyle (Mr Joseph Molesley) played Joseph of Arimathea in A.D. The Bible Continues (2015).
Brendan Patricks (Evelyn Napier) played Marius in A.D. The Bible Continues (2015).
Lionel Guyett (Taylor) played Haggai in Jesus of Nazareth (1977); he’s the figure to the right—the one without the staff—in the second photo below.
Julian Fellowes (the creator of the series) played Nero in Peter and Paul (1981).
Downton Abbey series 2: 1916-1920 (2011)
Iain Glen (Sir Richard Carlisle) played Jacob in The Red Tent (2014).
Kevin McNally (Horace Bryant) played Nahor in The Bible Collection: Abraham (1993).
David Maybrick (Stretcher Bearer) played a Roman Soldier in The Passion (2008).
Downton Abbey series 3: 1920-1921 (2012)
Michael Culkin (Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of York) played Hiram of Naphtali in The Bible Collection: Solomon (1997).
Tim Pigott-Smith (Sir Philip Tapsell) played Tullius in The Day Christ Died (1980); he also narrated The Lumo Project: The Gospel of Mark (2015).
Phoebe Nicholls (Susan MacClare, Marchioness of Flintshire) voiced Mary in The Miracle Maker (1999).
Downton Abbey series 4: 1922-1923 (2013)
Andrew Scarborough (Tim Drewe) played Joshua in The Bible (2013); he also played Josephus in Roman Mysteries (2007), which is sort of Bible-adjacent.
Guy Williams (King George V) played Aurelius in A.D. The Bible Continues (2015).
Di Botcher (Nanny West) played The Mother in The Gospel of Us (2012).
Pete Lee-Wilson (Porter) played Gad in The Bible Collection: Joseph (1995) and Ahijah in The Bible Collection: Solomon (1997).
Downton Abbey series 5: 1924 (2014)
Michael Fox (Andy Parker) played Shem in The Ark (2015).
James Faulkner (Daniel Aldridge, Lord Sinderby) played Herod Agrippa in I, Claudius (1976)—which isn’t a biblical movie, but the character is biblical—as well as Menahem in Peter and Paul (1981), Marcellus in Ben-Hur (2010), and Paul in Paul, Apostle of Christ (2018).
Louis Hilyer (Inspector Vyner) played Amram in The Ten Commandments (2006) and Aaron in The Bible (2013).
Alun Armstrong (Stowell) played the Gamesmaster in A.D. Anno Domini (1985).
Richard E. Grant (Simon Bricker) voiced John the Baptist in The Miracle Maker (1999).
Jane Lapotaire (Irina, Princess Kurigan) voiced Sarah in Testament: The Bible in Animation (1996) and played Old Sarah in The Young Messiah (2016).
Patrick Brennan (Mr Dawes, Headmaster at the Downton School) voiced Japheth (and Lot, and a Narrator) in Testament: The Bible in Animation (1996).
Downton Abbey series 6: 1925-1926 (2015)
Rick Bacon (Philip Henderson, on the right) played Herod Antipas in The Bible (2013).
Patricia Hodge (Mrs Pelham) played Procula Pilate in The People’s Passion (1999).
Ronald Pickup (Sir Michael Reresby) played Jacob in In the Beginning (2000).
Paul Prescott (the man who speaks At the Hospital Meeting; he’s the second man who can be seen in full from the right side of the image, sitting in the back row of chairs, with the grey hair and the beard) played Man in Crowd in Son of Man (1969).2
The movies
Downton Abbey (2019)
Stephen Campbell Moore (Major Chetwode) played Messala in Ben-Hur (2010).
Susan Lynch (Miss Lawton) played Miriam in The Ten Commandments (2006).
Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)
This film did not, apparently, introduce any new actors with Bible-movie credits.
Honourable mentions
At least a dozen actors with Downton Abbey experience have appeared in movies and TV shows that feature biblical characters or have some sort of tenuous connection to the Bible but are not adaptations of biblical stories, per se.
The Second Coming (2003) is a two-part miniseries about a man who learns that he is the Son of God and has to find some way to prevent the apocalypse.
Neil Bell (Durrant in season 3) played a Homeless Man.
John Henshaw (Jos Tufton in season 3) played Clive Saxon.
William Travis (a Stall Keeper in season 3) played Dave Morris.
The Da Vinci Code (2006) takes place in the modern era but has a few flashbacks to the time of Jesus and his disciples.
Yves Aubert (Arsene Avignon in season 4) played a Louvre Computer Cop.
Holy Flying Circus (2011) is a comedic dramatization of the controversy over Monty Python’s Life of Brian, which was itself a parody of the Bible-movie genre.
Charles Edwards (Michael Gregson in seasons 3 and 4) played Michael Palin.
Michael Cochrane (Reverend Travis in seasons 2, 3, and 6) played Malcolm Muggeridge.
Alex MacQueen (Mr Stubbins in Downton Abbey: A New Era) played the BBC Head of Rude Words.
Holy Night! (2011) is an animated film about Christmas toys and decorations come to life, including figurines based on Mary, Joseph, and other characters.
Trevor White (Major Patrick Gordon in season 2) voiced Sam.
Messiah (2016) is a short film in which Jesus returns to modern-day Hackney and is taken in by the police for questioning.
Matthew Jure (a Hotel Porter in season 5) played Jesus.
Britannia (2017-2021) takes place during the Roman occupation of Britain in the AD 40s; in Season 2, it introduced a subplot tied to the death of Jesus.
Ben Bradshaw (a Chemist in season 5) played Elder 5.
Good Omens (2019-2023), about an angel and a demon, takes place primarily in the modern era but includes a few flashbacks to the biblical era.
Jordan Long (a Taxi Driver in season 3) played Officer Fred.
Cunk on Earth (2022) is a mockumentary on the history of civilization that features a look at the rise of Christianity, including a brief cameo by Jesus.
Kieran Hodgson (First Student in season 4) played B8-Hoven.
And, I think that about covers it. Did I miss any actors? If so, please let me know!
On a related note, James Faulkner responded to a tweet of mine five years ago, confirming that I had identified his character in Peter and Paul correctly. So that’s three actors from Downton Abbey who have confirmed my Bible-movie sleuthing!
Here’s a better look at Paul Prescott as the man from the hospital meeting. He appears in at least two shots—one when he is standing and speaking, and one when he is sitting and smiling—but he is quite far from the camera in both of them. For the gallery above, I used the shot in which he is sitting, because he is slightly closer to the camera and can thus be seen in slightly more detail. The triptych below has cropped images from both shots, plus a cropped image of Prescott as the man in the crowd from Son of Man.
