George Clooney posed for a selfie with the stars of period drama Downton Abbey ahead of his guest appearance on the show. The 53-year-old makes a one-off appearance in the drama for their Christmas special in aid of ITV's Text Santa charity campaign, which airs on Friday night. In the snap George is seen surrounded by the main characters including Laura Carmichael and Michelle Dockery as they smile for a selfie ahead of the charity sketch.
© Photo: ITVGeorge Clooney posed for a selfie with the cast of Downton Abbey
The actor plays a guest visitor to the Crawleys' home in the show, with Lady Grantham initially mistaking him for her husband. It is thought that George took on the role after striking up a friendship with Hugh Bonneville on the set of their film Monuments Men. The Downton Abbey cast were sworn to secrecy when the Hollywood star joined them to film his sketch in May, however they were obviously thrilled by their special guest.
© Photo: ITVGeorge Clooney made a one-off guest appearance in the show for Text Santa
"He came and filmed with us for an afternoon back in May when we were doing this Text Santa sketch and he was incredibly generous with his time and his talent," Hugh said. "It's interesting the number of people who suddenly came on set who'd never been on set in five years of filming! He was great – he was a good laugh and sprinkled some sort of magic dust over our experience." George filmed his scenes with Hugh and Michelle Dockery at Highclere Castle earlier this year before he married wife Amal Alamuddin in Venice. At the time of his visit it was thought George was considering the castle as a possible wedding venue, however it later emerged that he was there for Downton Abbey. The Downton Abbey Christmas special airs during ITV's Text Santa fundraiser on Friday night.
