Hugh Bonneville: I would never say never to a job on EastEnders

The earl of Grantham is not too high and mighty to slum it with the plebs. Downton Abbey actor Hugh Bonneville has said he’d jump at the chance of a job on EastEnders.

He had a brush with Walford in 1995 when he played a school head master in a single episode.

“I might go back. I am a jobbing actor and I will take whatever comes along, thank you very much. I would never say never,” he told The Mirror in an interview.

Having played the head of an aristocratic dynasty filmed at Highclere Castle in Hampshire, Bonneville would need to get used to less impressive surroundings if Albert Square beckoned.

He remarked on what hard work it is to appear in a popular soap, saying: “The actors who work in soaps are the hardest working actors. The amount of material they have to learn is so much. It’s phenomenal.”

Speaking of Downton Abbey, which saw the departure of key cast-members Jessica Brown-Finlay and Dan Stevens in series three and the Christmas special, Bonneville said he wasn’t sure if a fifth series was in the pipeline.

Writer Julian Fellowes is currently writing series four but is committed to penning an American drama called The Gilded Age.

“I honestly don’t know how long Julian can go on with Downton – I don’t know if there will be a fifth series. I am sure the money men would like it to go on for ever and ever because it does sell extremely well around the world,” Bonneville said.

“I hope Julian quits while he is ahead but he is a wise soul.”