Julie Walters has admitted that she was never cast in Downton Abbey because of her refusal to play "downstairs" characters.
Julie Walters
The award-winner has played working-class roles before in popular hits including Billy Elliot and Educating Rita, but says she wouldn't have fitted with the ITV period drama despite having liked to have starred in it.
Speaking to The Sun newspaper, she explained: "I wanted to go upstairs and have a romance with Hugh Bonneville [who plays Robert Crawley]."
Recently Julie caused a stir when she suggested that the working class were not properly being represented on-screen.
"Soon the only actors are going to be privileged kids whose parents can afford to send them to drama school.
"That's not right. It feels like we are going backwards.
She worries that TV will in the future be saturated with middle-class dramas similar to Downton Abbey.
She explained: "Working-class kids aren't represented. Working-class life is not referred to. It's really sad.
"I think it means we're going to get loads more middle-class drama.
"It will be middle-class people playing working-class people, like it used to be."
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