The historical advisor to ITV’s successful series, Downton Abbey, revealed in mid-November that religious references were deliberately left out for fear they would alienate increasingly secular audiences.
Alistair Bruce, whose role is to ensure historical accuracy in the drama, said that the beginning of a meal is never shown because no one was ever allowed to see a grace being said. Bruce said: ‘I think that the view was that we’d leave religion out of it.’
Describing how he was even stopped from featuring napkins folded in the shape of a bishop’s headpiece, Bruce said: ‘Everyone panics when you try to do anything religious on the telly.’
