TV legend shares advice on grief following sudden loss

The actor who played Mr Brown in the Paddington movies franchise, and Lord Grantham in ITV’s Downton Abbey, which featured scenes shot in Bampton, Oxfordshire, also portrayed Oxford fantasy author CS Lewis earlier this year in a West End stage production of Shadowlands.

The actor has also reprised his role as Ian Fletcher in six-part comedy Twenty Twenty Six, which focuses on the 2026 World Cup.

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Now 62, Bonneville has been speaking about the death of his brother Nigel when he was the same age.

Hugh Bonneville (Image: PA)

He told Oxfordshire Living magazine: “My brother Nigel died in his sleep aged 62, about nine years ago.

“I woke up the next day and thought ‘why have I not planted that copper beech I have been meaning to plant for 20 years’.”

Bonneville lost his mother, his father and his brother in a six-year period.

Starring in the stage production of Shadowlands, a story about love and loss, has been “catharthic”, he revealed.

It’s the true story of CS Lewis finding love with American poet Joy Davidman, before she lost her fight with cancer.

“Doing a play about grief, which involves a treatment of grief has been very cathartic, and I think one grieves every day,” he said.

“I miss them every day but it’s part of the tapestry of life – we all go through grief in different ways.

“A memory one day can make you laugh out loud and the next day the same memory can make you burst into tears.

“Grief is a strange thing. A friend of mine described it as waves on a shore. Sometimes it’s a little ripple that trickles over your feet and sometimes it knocks you like a tsunami.

“I don’t think that lessens over time but the trickle is always there – the little wave effect is always there.”

Downton Abbey ran for six seasons from 2010 to 2015, followed by a movie but Bonneville said he doesn’t expect to appear in any more spin-offs.

Over the years, tourists, including American fans of the series, have travelled to Bampton with cameras and selfie sticks.
 
They tour sites like St Mary’s Church, which hosts weddings, christenings and funerals in the show’s fictional village.
 
Sightseers choosing to take a guided tour around Bampton and other Downton Abbey locations can be set back as much as £500 each.

Residents in the west Oxfordshire village are divided over the Downton effect – some have welcomed the attention while others would prefer to live a quieter life.