Downton Abbey (TV Series)

Episode #1.2 (2010)

Siobhan Finneran: Sarah O'Brien

Quotes 

• [the servants are discussing Matthew Crawley, Lord Robert's heir, and his mother Isobel] 

  Thomas : So what d'you think we'll make of them?

  Sarah O'Brien : I shouldn't think much. *She* hasn't even got a lady's maid.

  Anna : It's not a capital offence.

  John Bates : She's got a maid - her name's Ellen. She came a day early.

  Sarah O'Brien : She's not a lady's maid. She's just a housemaid that fastens hooks and buttons when she has to. There's more to it than that, you know.

  Anna : We want some *very* precise reporting when dinner's over.

  Thomas : Are we to treat him as the heir?

  Sarah O'Brien : Are we heck as like! A doctor's son from Manchester? He'll be lucky if he gets a civil word out of me.

  Anna : [drily]  We're *all* lucky if we get a civil word out of you.

• [Sarah O'Brien is talking about Matthew and Isobel Crawley] 

  Sarah O'Brien : I'm sorry but *I* have standards. And if anyone thinks I'm going to pull my forelock and curtsey to this Mister Nobody from Nowhere...

  [Lady Cora comes into the Servants' Hall. All the servants stand up] 

  Cora, Countess of Grantham : O'Brien! Were you discussing Mr Crawley?

  Sarah O'Brien : Yes, My Lady.

  Cora, Countess of Grantham : Is it your place to do so?

  Sarah O'Brien : I've got my opinions, My Lady, same as anybody.

  [Mrs Hughes comes in] 

  Mrs. Hughes : Can I help Your Ladyship?

  Cora, Countess of Grantham : [to Mrs Hughes]  This is the button that's missing from my new evening coat. I found it lying on the gravel. But I was shocked at the talk I heard as I came in.

  [to O'Brien] 

  Cora, Countess of Grantham : Mr Crawley is His Lordship's cousin and heir. You *will*, therefore, please accord him the respect that he is entitled to.

  Sarah O'Brien : But you don't like him yourself, milady. You never wanted him to come...

  Cora, Countess of Grantham : You're sailing *perilously* close to the wind, O'Brien. If we're to be friends, you will *not* speak in that way again about the Crawleys, or *any* member of Lord Grantham's family. Now I'm going up to rest. Wake me at the dressing gong.

  [Lady Cora walks out of the room] 

  Thomas : I don't think that's fair - not here in the Servants' Hall.

  Sarah O'Brien : I agree. If she was a *real* lady, she wouldn't have come down here. She'd have rung for me and given me the button, that's all.

  Thomas : This isn't her territory. We can say what we like down here.

  Mrs. Hughes : Who says?

  Thomas : The Law - and Parliament. There *is* such a thing as free speech.

  Mrs. Hughes : Not when *I'm* in charge! Don't push your luck, Thomas. Now, tea's over. Back to work!

  [Mrs Hughes leaves] 

  Sarah O'Brien : Friends! Who does she think she's fooling. *We're* not friends.

  Anna : No?

  Sarah O'Brien : No. And you're not friends with the girls, neither. We're servants, you and me, and they pay us to do as we're told. That's all.