Lily James talks about her role in hit show Downton Abbey

As Downton Abbey returns to our screens, the actress playing Lady Rose is relishing her role in the period drama, writes Jeananne Craig

DOWNTON Abbey actress Lily James introduces herself: “Hello, I’m really hot and sweaty ...”.

Like her rebellious alter ego, Lady Rose MacClare, the actress, who looks flawless, isn’t one for airs and graces. But the 25-year-old’s openness backfired on a recent holiday in south-east Asia, when she a told a boatload of fellow tourists she was an actress. “We all had a few drinks, and people say, ‘What do you do? Oh, you’re an actor, oh really, in what?’ And you’re like, ‘Umm, Downton Abbey’, and they’re like, ‘Argh!’, and you’re stranded on a boat,” James says. “From then on, I pretended I worked in a cake shop.”