Tom Chambers

Tom Chambers

Tom Chambers was refused a role in 'Downton Abbey' because he wasn't posh enough.

The 36-year-old actor - who is best known for playing Sam Strachan in 'Holby City' - auditioned for the part as the new love interest of windowed Lady Mary Crawley - played by Michelle Dockery - but was turned down by show bosses because he wouldn't have fitted in.

Speaking to The Birmingham Mail, he said: "I was told I didn't have enough blue blood in me to join the series.

"I was extremely eager to get the role, so it was disappointing, but you have to become very thick-skinned about the things that don't come your way.

However, Tom - who went to Repton School in Derbyshire - is pleased he was rejected from the British period drama because he wouldn't have landed the lead role in the BBC One drama 'Father Brown' otherwise.

He explained: "If I had got the job, I wouldn't have been able to do this, so it wasn't so bad in the end. I'm delighted to be joining such an exciting series."

The fourth series of the show - which kicks off in September - will show Mary struggling to manage as a single parent with a baby after her husband Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) was killed in a car crash in the Christmas Day special of the hit programme.

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