Rainy Days Cause Delays: Will Season 3 of Downton Abbey be Finished Filming in Time?

Are you excited for the third series of Downton Abbey? If you’re anything like us, chances are you literally can’t wait for September to get here so you can see what’s been happening in the Grantham household.

However, according to reports, the costs of filming the new series have tripled. Why? Well it won’t stop raining…

The Daily Star Sunday reports that the third series of Downton Abbey has been thrown into chaos because of the rainy British weather.

Apparently, the cost of making the ITV1 drama has literally skyrocketed due to rain delays and script changes at the last minute. Because of all this, the cast and crew are now rushing to get the series finished by their end-of-August deadline.

Speaking about the impact the weather had on one episode, Gareth Neame, the show’s executive producer said: “We got what we needed in the end but we did have to pay for it three times. The first two series it didn’t rain at all but this year it’s hardly stopped.”

“We have had a lot of rescheduling and last-minute changes. It’s been difficult because you never knew what scenes you would be doing. The cast would learn two weeks’ worth of scripts and could then do any scene. We managed to get through it,” added Brendan Coyle, who plays Mr Bates.

Learning two weeks’ worth of scripts? That’s pretty impressive. Still though, we’d hate to have to do it – we can barely remember our own name, never mind long bits of dialogue.

“The rain has been really disruptive. There was a big outdoor scene that they were waiting weeks to do. They were having to change things round all the time, it’s been an absolute nightmare,” said Lesley Nicol, also known as irate cook Mrs Patmore.

“In fact, we did something recently and the sun came out for those three days. At last! We were lucky. But initially it was difficult,” she added.

What’s the betting that the sun will split the trees as soon as the series starts showing in September?

Season three of Downton Abbey will be made up of nine episodes, and, as usual, there will be a once-off Christmas Special aired on St Stephen’s Day. We can hardly wait! Are you excited for Downton to return?