Downton Abbey's Anna Bates: Why I'm proud of the programme's controversial rape plot

Actress Joanne Froggatt has said she is “proud” of Downton Abbey for tackling the controversial rape storyline which has prompted complaints to ITV and regulator Ofcom.

The star, whose character Anna Bates was attacked by Lord Gillingham’s valet Mr Green in Sunday’s edition of the show, said it was a “brave” move by programme-makers.

ITV warned viewers about upsetting scenes before the start of the period drama, created by Julian Fellowes, but still received about 60 complaints by yesterday, with Ofcom receiving an undisclosed number.

Froggatt told BBC1’s Breakfast today: “I was really proud of the show for tackling a subject like this. It’s a really brave thing to do and I really do believe that Julian’s written that in a way that is not gratuitous. He’s done a beautiful job of hitting the right note with it. I think we all just felt a big responsibility to get it right.” Froggatt said creators of the show did not want to show graphic violence.

“Julian, and this is a credit to him, was adamant that we wouldn’t depict that kind of violence against a woman on the screen and that’s something that he didn’t want in a show of his, that he’s a part of, and that’s an incredible thing in this industry in this day and age,” she said. “The story is shocking enough, as it should be for a story of that essence.”

She said she had prepared for the role by looking at the testimonies of women who had been through a similar ordeal in those days — as well as modern women who had been reluctant to report attacks.

She added: “If a woman lost her reputation, that would bring shame upon the house — she could lose her job, she could lose her husband and society still saw it as ‘no smoke without fire’ — ‘he’s only a man, he couldn’t help himself’. It’s very interesting to see that was only a hundred years ago.”

The episode was seen by an average audience of 9.2 million according to overnight figures.