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"Downton Abbey star Brendan Coyle has admitted that he is not opposed to a film version. Rumours of a movie based on the hit period drama, in which Coyle plays valet Mr. Bates, have recently circulated.  &amp;quot;If it&amp;#039;s a great, great script, [I&amp;#039;d do it],&amp;quot; said Coyle during a recent press call for his new Sky1 drama Starlings. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;d have to regard it on its own merit at the time. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a good idea. [Julian Fellowes] is a terrific writer, so it would have to be something, I imagine, completely removed from the series.&amp;quot; Coyle admitted that he has no clue what has led Downton to become a &amp;quot;cultural phenomenon&amp;quot;. &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t know what tipped it over,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;Nobody does. There&amp;#039;s always theories that in times of austerity we look to nostalgia for comfort. There&amp;#039;s all those social theories. &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s [also] something about the open-ended, rolling nature of the story lines. You don&amp;#039;t know what is going to happen, it&amp;#039;s not finite in the same way a classic novel is, so... you get engaged in it in a different way.&amp;quot;  Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville (Robert Crawley) has dismissed speculation that a film version is currently in the works. &amp;quot;Julian Fellowes was at the Golden Globes and was... in conversation with people who work in films,&amp;quot; he explained. &amp;quot;But to deduce from that that there is going to be a movie is a step too far. We&amp;#039;ll have to do series three first and see what happens.&amp;quot; Coyle will next be seen in Sky1&amp;#039;s Starlings which begins on Sunday (May 13) at 8pm.  Downton Abbey airs on ITV1 in the UK and on PBS in the US. &amp;gt; Dame Maggie Smith leaving Downton Abbey? Watch the cast of Downton Abbey discuss the proposed movie below:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/downton-abbey/news/a376741/downton-abbey-star-brendan-coyle-a-movie-is-a-good-idea/>