As the maid Edna Braithwaite in Downton Abbey, Myanna Buring seduced the “upstairs” Tom Branson. In real life, the actress has found it more of a challenge to win over the bosses of Theatreland.
“For a long time, I wasn’t seen or considered by theatre casting agents because I was deemed to be a TV actor, as opposed to a thespian,” she tells Mandrake at the first night of Strangers on a Train, the West End play in which she appears.
“It’s not like I hold some big grudge, but I did find that people were not willing to see me for theatre because I hadn’t done enough.”
Buring says her roles in Downton and Ripper Street have, however, turned her into an asset for theatre directors.
“I know that I was seen for this on that basis,” she says. “Also, maybe it’s because not everything rests on my shoulders in this production, so they didn’t feel like I was being trusted with too much.”
Adlington’s unladylike confession
Rebecca Adlington’s admission on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! that she sometimes urinates in swimming pools has upset David Wilkie, her fellow former Olympic champion.
“I can’t believe it,” he tells Mandrake. “It’s a stupid thing to say. If you’re a lady, you don’t admit to doing things like that; you keep it quiet."
Wilkie, who is director of the companies Pets Kitchen and Vets Kitchen, adds: "She’s let her standards down. I don’t think most professionals do pee in the pool.”
