Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/209310
Cotton jacket and skirt, Jil Sander. jilsander.com. Silk and lace bra, Carine Gilson Lingerie Couture. carinegilson .com. Locket necklace, Tiffany & Co. Copley Place, 617-3530222; tiffany.com. Gloves, Miu Miu. miumiu.com Styling by Samira Nasr Michelle Dockery is well aware that much of the television-viewing world is grieving for her—or at least for her aloof Downton Abbey alter ego, Lady Mary Crawley. In the gripping final moments of the show's last season, Mary's dashing husband, Matthew, played by Dan Stevens, perished in an automobile crash after leaving his wife cradling their newborn son in a hospital. Our image of the young family was suddenly and tragically replaced by Matthew lying lifeless on the side of the road. "The reaction was incredible on Christmas Day at home…. It was such a shock," Dockery says of the season finale airing in her native England. "It just goes to show how much people have taken the show into their hearts." Downton Abbey returns to the air January 5 on Boston's PBS station WGBH-TV, revealing life post-Matthew and Lady Mary surviving as a widow. But the truth is, since the show debuted in 2011, much of the focus has been on Mary thanks to a steely portrayal by Dockery, who landed the part when producers spotted her onstage in a West End production of Pygmalion. "I feel so fortunate that I've got the role," she says. "And looking back, I can't believe it when I think about the audition, sitting there in front of the producers and the directors. It's amazing what's happened for all of us." What's happened is that from the moment the show began airing in the UK and in America a few months later, there's been a Downton frenzy of ravenous viewers who can't get enough of the upstairs-downstairs dynamic of a turn-ofthe-century English family trying to hold on to their aristocratic ways, not to mention their castle. Dockery's Lady Mary is the often-frigid eldest daughter with the greatest real-world perspective. "I love playing her because of her behavior at times. I find she can be quite shocking," Dockery 126 BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM 124-127_BC_F_CoverStory_Holiday_13.indd 126 11/1/13 12:24 PM