Seven Questions for Guilt and Downton Abbey Actress Phyllis Logan
Actress Phyllis Logan is known to millions of fans as the devoted and kind Mrs. Hughes from Downton Abbey. In Guilt Season 2, Hughes takes a jaw-dropping turn to portray Maggie Lynch, a wife and mother with a ruthless edge. In an interview with MASTERPIECE, Logan discussed the epic twists and turns in the series, her complicated character, and the Scotland we see in Guilt.
Plus, for Downton Abbey devotees, Logan looked back on her favorite moments from the series, and talked about the question everyone is asking: Will there be another Downton Abbey movie?
There are so many jaw-dropping twists and turns in Guilt Season 2. What advice would you give fans as they watch this incredibly startling and intricate season?
What can I say? Hang on into it. Keep on. Because you’re absolutely right. Neil Forsyth, who has written all of Guilt, is extraordinary. He’s just an incredible writer. He’s so smart and inventive. Some of the things he came up with are jaw dropping. But he does it with such reality and such humor that you just completely buy into it. All the characters are just so either bizarre or silly, but you somehow love all of them, even the ones who are terrible people, really, like Mark Bonnar’s character. He’s an absolute shocker, really, some the things he does. But you can’t help but like him.
Your character Maggie Lynch is a 180 degree turn from Downton Abbey’s Mrs. Hughes. What was it like taking on a role that was such a huge departure?
Well, that was certainly part of the draw for me because she couldn’t be more different from Mrs. Hughes from Downton Abbey, as people might remember me from. So that was certainly a great enticement, the fact that Maggie was just a bit of a horror, really. It’s lovely to play a nasty character rather than somebody that everybody says, “Oh, she’s lovely. That’s so nice.” It’s just great to mix it up a bit and be the demon of the piece.
Mark Bonnar (Max McCall) and Emun Elliott (Kenny Burns) play such bigger-than-life roles in this season. Maggie is more of a slow burn in Season 2 isn’t she?
When you first meet her, you would imagine that she is what she appears to be, this woman who’s slightly disabled, and she has got somebody that looks after her in assisted living. She’s got her daughter who she sees all the time. They have a fairly reasonable relationship. But things are not all they seem to be, as we discover as this series progresses. There are a few skeletons lurking in quite a few cupboards.
There are so many intense scenes in Guilt with your character’s husband and daughter. What was it like filming such emotional intensity during COVID?
That was a big challenge for everybody, mainly for the pure production side of things because they had to make sure that everybody adhered to the rules and were wearing masks all the time. Obviously, as actors, we had to take our masks off when we were acting. I just felt so bad for all the crew because they were there for 12-hour days just with masks on the whole time…We had to try just keep a certain distance if you went in a scene that required you to be very close together.
It’s a challenge in many, many departments, all departments, really. But we got through it, amazingly. I was staying in a hotel where they didn’t have a restaurant. They had a menu of about three items, which I must have gone through about 10 times. It was quite lonely. I had my birthday on my own in my bedroom and just doing Zoom calls or FaceTimes with various friends, relatives, and whatever.
We see such a different side of Scotland in Guilt. As a native of the country, what is your insider’s take on the Scotland we see in the series?
Everybody’s used to seeing Edinburgh, the castle, things like that. Every time I’m in Edinburgh, it’s stunning to just look up and see this amazing ancient castle looking out over the borders of Edinburgh. But it was nice to see just ordinary little estates with a lot of ordinariness going on. It’s the people that are more important than the location. It’s the characters you meet and how they get themselves around the city and know places to go. And so you do get to see a sort of secret world. It’s like going down into the tunnels underneath what you see on top. It’s like burrowing down deep into the innards of a city.
Downton Abbey continues to be so popular for PBS fans who are still finding the series for the first time or watching again. What are some of your cherished memories or moments as you look back at it now?
There are so many because we spent six months a year for six years doing it, plus a Christmas special. Now we’ve done two movies. There are so many things to choose, but I always loved doing the big ensemble numbers, like particularly in the first season when we were about to enter the first World War and it was a beautiful summer’s day. We were all on lawn of Highclere Castle. Everybody was dressed in the best outfits, and it all looked beautiful. It was so moving as well when Lord Grantham had to tell us all the bad news that we were now at war with Germany.
Also, conversely, I used to love doing little intimate scenes with either Mrs. Patmore or Mr. Carson in my sitting room or in Carson’s study when we would have a wee sherry and discuss the day’s events. I always treasured those little times because it gave Jim [Carter] and I a chance to not put on a front…allowed us a chance to kind of loosen our corsets and just be.
America wants to know. Do you see any future for another Downton Abbey project?
Do you know something? We said this last time, never fully knowing if there would be a [film] number two. I’ll say the same again, hoping that that’s going to bring on a number three.
I think the will is there among the makers of it and the participants as actors and the producers. I think there is a will, perhaps, to do another one. Three sounds a good number, doesn’t it? But you just never know. It’s all dependent on many, many things.
We managed to get through [film] number two, and that was all [filmed] during COVID as well. We had that as well as being in France. Well, some of them were in France, not that I’m bitter or twisted about it at all. But some got to France and that threw up endless amounts of trials and tribulations.
But if there were to be a third film, hopefully we wouldn’t be doing it during a pandemic. So, it might make things easier. But everybody, put up a prayer, keep your fingers crossed, and hope we get another one.
