‘Downton Abbey’s’ Joanne Froggatt on Her Emmy Nomination: ‘I Actually Cried Slightly’

TheWrap speaks to the actress about Thursday’s nomination for the PBS drama

Joanne Froggatt emmy noms downton abbey pbs
PBS

PBS’s “Downton Abbey” star Joanne Froggatt has been through the Emmy thing before, but that didn’t make the second time any less special for her.

“I am possibly even more thrilled this time around,” Froggatt told TheWrap on Thursday after learning she was nominated for a second time since 2012 for supporting actress in a drama series.

“It was such a wonderful experience being nominated for the first time two years ago,” she continued. “I felt very thankful to have that experience in my life and to be able to experience a second time is pretty amazing. So I am really overwhelmed. The fact that I can call myself a two-time Emmy nominee is a pretty amazing thing to be able to say.”

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Froggatt’s Anna Bates had a tremendously emotional couple of seasons following a rape by another worker. While husband John Bates deals with Anna’s sudden distance from him, the rapist is discovered dead. That causes Anna to expect that John may have killed her assailant.

TheWrap: When and where were you when you heard that you had been nominated a second time?
Joanne Froggatt: I was rushing back to my house, sort of avoiding the Internet, and then my husband swung the door open as I pulled up in my car. He said, “You did it!” I got a big hug from my husband and got very excited and actually cried slightly. It has been a very exciting afternoon.

So, there was a little twist in the holiday special. Did Bates kill Anna’s attacker?
There is sort of a question mark behind the whole situation of Mr. Green’s death. I can’t think of any point that Anna really believes that Mr. Bates has done it. She has this doubt in her mind, because as far as she knows Bates doesn’t know who attacked her, who raped her. Her fear is that if he did find out he would do something as redemption and do something that he and they both would regret. So when she hears that Mr. Green has died it’s just quite a coincidence, she has got this undying fear that Mr. Bates may have been involved in some sort of way. That is on her mind but it is something that she can’t discuss with him.

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A lot of the acting between them happens in the silence in a way.
It’s very much the theme of the show, so much is not said. And every time I look at my script and the scenes, looking at my dialogue, I am thinking to myself, “What am I actually saying in this?” I think that is true in every day life; we are often saying something else or meaning something else when we are saying a sentence simply. That’s quite interesting trying to find that within the script.

Are you one to prepare a speech in case you win or not?
I think it is always a good idea to have something in mind of what you would say. I would never write anything down, I sort of see it as bad luck in a way. I certainly will have something in my head that I would say. It is not something that I would be focusing on too much. I will just wait and see what happens on the night.

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