Joanne Froggatt is "proud" of her controversial 'Downton Abbey' rape scene.
The actress' character, Anna Bates, was seen being dragged off by valet Mr. Green in Sunday's show after resisting his advances, and while many viewers were shocked by the unexpected twist, Joanne thinks it was important to address such a controversial subject in the ITV drama.
Speaking on BBC One's 'Breakfast', she said: "I was really proud of the show for tackling a subject like this. It's a really brave thing to do and I really do believe that Julian [Fellowes] has written that in a way that is not gratuitous at all, he does very much go on to explore the emotional journey of Anna.
"He's done a beautiful job of hitting the right note with it. I think we all just felt a big responsibility to get it right."
Julian, the series' creator, has also defended his decision to include the rape, which was not shown on-screen, saying although it was shocking, it was handled with care.
He added: "The whole point of the way we do things on 'Downton' is we don't do them gratuitously.
"If we'd wanted a sensational rape we could have stayed down in the kitchen with the camera during the whole thing and wrung it out.
"The point of our handling is not that we're interested in sensationalising but we're interested in exploring the mental damage and the emotional damage."
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