‘Downton’: We Didn’t Ban Dogs

Don’t believe everything you hear. A publicist for Downton Abbey’s real-life castle insisted on Tuesday that the show has not banned dogs, despite a report that cast members’ dogs had run amok on the set and at the historic Highclere Castle. The initial report said that Isis, the Crawley family dog, was welcome on set after dogs have caused mischief. Ed Speelers, who plays footman Jimmy Kent, admitted his border collie “ran off and up to the part of the house you’re not allowed to go,” and even ran into Hugh Bonneville’s (who plays family patriarch Earl of Grantham) dressing room. Still, the earl and countess of Carnarvon, who own Highclere Castle, insisted “there is no ban from us.”