Jessica Brown Findlay is having A Year. The actor, who rose to prominence as Lady Sybil Crawley in Downton Abbey, recently joined the cast of Apple’s sci-fi series Silo, is currently filming a 1950s-set sequel to Peaky Blinders alongside Jamie Bell and is also about to star in the fifth and final series of Industry. Here in London over the past few years, she’s appeared on stage Thomas Ostermeier’s production An Enemy of the People with Matt Smith at the Tom Stoppard Theatre (known as the Duke of York’s until earlier this year), and as Ophelia in Robert Icke’s Hamlet, opposite Andrew Scott. Beyond the busyness, she still gets out among it in London – below, she tells Broadsheet how she makes the most of living in the capital.
Hi Jessica! Tell us, who are you and what do you do?
Hi! I’m Jessica, an actress living in London with my family. I’ve just joined the third season of Silo on Apple TV, and I’m currently filming Peaky Blinders before I join the finance world of Industry series five.
Describe to us your perfect day in London.
I have a lie in. My kids are here, but somehow, I have a lie in. I’m spending the day east, where I live. I get up and go to Columbia Road Flower Market. I’ve been going there for 21 years, and I like to dress my house colourfully with flowers. I then want to walk up Broadway Market, and I inevitably bump into three or four people I’ve been wanting to see for months and we end up going for coffee. Coffee then turns to pints. It’s a hot day in London – the sun is out. We have lunch at Towpath cafe along the canal. Miraculously, all children are fed, it’s calm. I then bump into my best girlfriend; we go for wine and ice-cream at The Dreamery. We are having dinner at Brawn. I’m ordering a bunch of oysters and a whole plate of anchovies to myself, with a hunk of bread. I just love a potter around east London. I’m not doing anything new, just doing the things I do a lot with the beautiful woven-in thing of bumping into friends. OH – and I’m in bed by 8.45pm.
What is your favourite London theatre?
The Almeida. Got to be. I’m biased, as I’ve worked there a lot, but I love it. I’m very excited to see what [director] Rupert Goold does next.
What’s your favourite London restaurant?
Brawn. It’s my favourite. I love it. I went to Albers the other week, which was amazing. I also love Goodbye Horses. I have a real soft spot for getting really dressed up, (once a year around my birthday), to go to The Wolseley. That space is just beautiful. It’s one of the only places you can go in a full-length dress … you’re not overdressed.
Where would you take someone you want to impress?
A good old pub. Probably the Compton Arms. They do a very lovely Guinness. We’d probably do a pub quiz. I occasionally have a good run with quizzes – if I get a good topic that is.
What are some of your favourite shops in London?
I love a solo shopping trip and wander around Liberty. I mean, their jewellery department – I have to be very self-restrained. I love Liberty; it’s so beautiful and has a great vintage section. Then there is Liberty Joy Archive. It’s an amazing shop with the most incredible collection of vintage suits, ties, shirts and jackets – occasionally a dress, but it’s mostly shirt and tie heaven. I go around my birthday every year and let myself keep my tie collection going.
What’s a place in London that is special to you?
There’s a little circle of trees in Victoria Park where my husband proposed to me. We were walking through one day and he got down on one knee and proposed there. I love that it’s a place I can walk to whenever I want. I sat there when I was very heavily pregnant, and I then took the boys in their pram on one of our first walks; it’s a very special place to me.
What’s a hidden London gem?
Campania is a really romantic family-run restaurant. On a Sunday, Ezra Street has so much live music on the corner. You can get oysters from across the road. There is also a little deli called Corner Deli on Columbia Road where you can get a great mix of curries, and it’s such good value. You can get a delicious lunch for £6.50 and it’s perfect.
