Mediaboss Marketing

Filming may be getting under way on the new Downton Abbey, but Hugh Bonnevilles mind was on other matters over the weekend: legislation to control the press and shagging.

The 49-year-old actor, who plays the Earl of Grantham in the series, has been vociferously supporting the Hacked Off campaigners. He has written to his local MP to get him to vote against David Camerons alternative proposal for a Royal Charter to regulate the press, and urged his 100,000-odd followers on a social networking site to follow suit.

Mandrake can think of at least two people who are unlikely to have heeded his call. Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey, is a staunch Conservative who was made a peer by the Prime Minister. He was unavailable for comment, but he will be mindful that todays Commons vote on press regulation is now being seen as a test of Camerons authority.

Rowan Atkinson, too, does not take the line that Bonneville does on freedom of expression. Strongly opposed to the Racial and Religious Hatred Act of 2006, he appeared in a controversial Comic Relief sketch on BBC One on Friday when, dressed as the Archbishop of Canterbury, he exclaimed: Jesus said 'love your neighbour. Lets be perfectly clear: he doesnt mean 'shag your neighbour.

Bonneville saw it with his family. He felt that he had no alternative but to walk out of the room.

See the original post here:
Hugh Bonneville opposes David Cameron's press proposals