Downton Abbey bosses have locked stars into watertight contracts – to avoid another shock exit like the death of Matthew Crawley in last year’s Christmas Day episode.
為了防止 《唐頓莊園》上一季圣誕特輯中大表哥馬修突然離世的劇情重演，投資人和演員們簽訂了無懈可擊的合同。

The move comes after creator Julian Fellowes failed to stop Dan Stevens, who plays Crawley, from quitting the ITV drama despite going to extraordinary lengths.
由于制作人朱利安·費羅斯沒能成功阻止飾演大表哥的演員丹·史蒂文斯的離開，劇組不得不下此狠招。

Fellowes, the Oscar-winning writer of the film Gosford Park, told The Mail on Sunday last week he even offered Stevens alternative storylines that would give the actor time to pursue other projects.
曾因《高斯福莊園》榮獲奧斯卡最佳編劇的費羅斯上周日告訴《每日郵報》，他甚至提出為了便于丹·史蒂文斯同時接拍其他劇集而修改故事主線。

His suggestions included relocating Stevens’s character to Washington so that he would only have to appear in a few episodes.
他提出的建議把包括讓“大表哥”遠(yuǎn)赴華盛頓，這樣丹·史蒂文斯可以在后面劇集中再露面。

Fellowes also tried to postpone Matthew’s death at least to the beginning of the next series, so that the Christmas Day episode could have ended on the good news that Matthew and Lady Mary had become parents.
他甚至希望將“大表哥”的死推遲到第四季開頭的幾集，以便第三季圣誕特輯能以馬修和瑪麗為人父母圓滿結(jié)局。

Fellowes said: ‘We asked Dan if he’d come back at the beginning of series four and die in the first episode so that we could have Christmas sort of clean with the arrival of the new baby. But Dan was set on a clean break at the end of series three and he said, “I really feel it’s right for me to go and finish now.”
費羅斯說：“我們問丹能否在第四季回歸，然后第一集再安排死去，這樣圣誕特輯就能以迎接新生兒作為結(jié)局。但是丹決定在第三季徹底結(jié)束，他說‘我真的覺得還是讓我離開，并在這里結(jié)束好’。

Fellowes added: ‘I was terribly disappointed at the time but Dan was totally within his rights.
費羅斯補(bǔ)充說“我對于這個時間點很遺憾，但是丹有這個權(quán)利。”

‘I don’t want to pretend he did anything out of order, because he definitely did not. He gave his notice but it caught us on the hop.’
“我并不想假裝他違反了什么規(guī)則，因為他完全沒有，他給了我們提醒但依然讓我們措手不及?！?/div>

The death of Matthew Crawley provoked an angry backlash from viewers who believed that the Christmas Day episode should have had a more upbeat ending.
馬修·克勞利的突然死亡讓觀眾們憤怒不已，因為他們堅信圣誕特輯應(yīng)該是個充滿希望的結(jié)局。

The character was killed just weeks after Lady Sybil, who was played by Jessica Brown Findlay, died in childbirth.
這個人物的死亡僅僅在杰西卡·布朗·芬德利扮演的三小姐茜玻因難產(chǎn)而死亡的幾周后。

There was a further setback for the show when it was revealed that Siobhan Finneran, who plays the scheming but hugely popular housekeeper Sarah O’Brien, had also decided not to appear in series four.
這部劇集也遇到了更多人員離開的挫折，當(dāng)時有消息披露飾演詭計多端而又極受歡迎的貼身女仆沙拉·奧布萊恩的西沃恩·芬納蘭也決定不出演第四季。

點擊查看唐頓莊園又走人：壞女仆O'Brien嫌角色太卑鄙離開>>

Fellowes said: ‘The advantage of a servant character leaving is that you don’t have to kill them off. They go off to do another job and that’s fine and you don’t have to explain why they never came back.’
費羅斯說：“仆人角色離開的好處就是不用安排他們死去，可以安排他們?nèi)プ銎渌ぷ?，而你又不用解釋為什么他們不再回來?！?/div>

It is understood that there will be fewer departures and deaths in the new, fourth series, which is Britain’s most successful TV export ever and has been shown all over the world, attracting an estimated global audience of some 120?million.
不用說，在第四季里離開和死亡將越來越少，這部劇集是英國有史以來最成功的海外輸出范例，并在全世界播出，預(yù)計吸引了1.2億觀眾。

Key characters including Hugh Bonneville (Lord Grantham), Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary), Elizabeth McGovern (Lady Cora), Maggie Smith (the Dowager Countess of Grantham), Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith) and Lily James (Lady Rose) have all signed contracts that will bind them to the show at least until the end of series five.
主要角色包括休·博內(nèi)威利（飾演格蘭瑟姆伯爵），米歇爾·道克瑞（飾演大小姐瑪麗），伊麗莎白·麥戈文（飾演夫人寇拉），麥吉·史密斯（飾演格蘭瑟姆伯爵老夫人），勞拉·卡爾邁克爾（飾演二小姐伊迪絲）和莉莉·詹姆斯（飾演表小姐羅絲）都已經(jīng)簽訂了長期合約，確保他們都能拍到第五季結(jié)束。

Gareth Neame, the show’s executive producer, said: ‘I can tell you that we have now signed up the main cast members until series five, so there won’t be any more shock exits for a while.’
《唐頓莊園》的執(zhí)行制作人加雷恩·尼姆說：“我可以告訴大家，我們已經(jīng)和主要演員簽約到第五季，所以接下來暫時不會有演員突然退出?！?/div>

Fellowes also eased the minds of fans by confirming that Maggie Smith, who plays the irresistible Dowager Countess, would be appearing in every episode of series four, including the Christmas Day episode.
費羅斯同時確認(rèn)飾演受人喜愛老夫人的麥吉·史密斯將在包括圣誕特輯在內(nèi)的第四季中的每一集出演，以此安慰廣大粉絲的心。

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