Writer, actor, and member of the House of Lords Julian Fellowes might not describe himself as a romantic novelist - but the new series of Downton Abbey proves otherwise.
This week's episode had all the right ingredients, not least a smiling (for a change) Lady Mary, played by Michelle Dockery ( pictured above on her way to a secret liaison.)
But romance is not romance without those who disapprove. And who better than veteran actress Maggie Smith delivering her lines with the precision of a very sharp knife? 'In my day,' she pronounced on the return of her wayward granddaughter, 'a lady was incapable of feeling physical attraction until instructed to by her mama...'
We know it's all ridiculous but we love to believe it and that's what makes it so compelling.
While Lady Mary was presumed to have been at a 'conference on land management' in Liverpool she revealed, with a perfectly straight face, that she had 'learnt a great deal I did not know before.'
The tongue-in-cheek lines never fail to hit the spot and the tv audience clearly love it...
Romantic novelist? I wonder what they would think of Sir Julian at Mills and Boon?
